Will John Calipari's Hogs Have Full Rotation as Arkansas Faces Auburn?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorbacks could be at full strength on Saturday when they host the visiting Auburn Tigers for a nationally televised SEC showdown at 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Both DJ Wagner and Karter Knox have missed the previous two games going back to last Saturday's 88-68 road victory over Mississippi State. Then, Arkansas went on to dominate LSU 91-62 on the road with a shortened rotation and marvelous perfomances from its freshmen duo Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas.

Wagner (ankle) and Knox (knee) were listed as doubtful prior to being out against both opponents last week. Then, veteran big man Malique Ewin took an elbow to his forehead in the second half against LSU and didn't return.

His injury required stitches in what was a bloodied mess. The foul was initially ruled a common basketball move, but was upgraded to a flagrant one technical.

That led to Thomas shooting the techinical foul free throws as Ewin spent the rest of the game in the locker room. Calipari mentioned in the press conference that he'd have time to recover and is listed as probable in the SEC availability report as of Saturday morning.

Coach John Calipari said Ewin received the stitches, but did not say if he would be available for the Razorbacks’ home game against Auburn on Saturday.

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Malique Ewin (12) is injured after contact with LSU Tigers forward Pablo Tamba (8) during the second half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Ewin averages 10 points and five rebounds per game in his first season with the Razorbacks. While Arkansas has ran with a smaller rotation his production went gone down a tad, finishing with six points and eight rebounds against LSU.

“He has till Saturday,” Calipari said. “At least he’s got time. Hopefully he’ll be alright.”

The Razorbacks would like to be at full health going down the stretch in SEC play with Knox averaging eight points and five rebounds on the season. Wagner has seen a severe drop off in production as a junior, averaging just over seven points and two assists.

Knox has played primarily starter minutes this season following a breakout freshman campaign in the second half of the season as one of the Razorbacks' bright young stars who could've potentially been a one-and-done. As for Wagner, he came off the bench for two games prior to his injury and should be expected to remain in a secondary ball handler role.

“Hopefully we’re going to be healthy and have a full team, but the reality is, probably got three guys on this team that need to play 37 minutes,” Calipari said. “Which means some other guys will play less minutes.”

Auburn will be without its leading scorer in Bud Walton Saturday as transfer guard Keyshawn Hall, who is listed as out following a home loss to Vanderbilt Tuesday night. Hall missed most of the final 10 minutes of the second half and never returned as the Tigers fell to the Commodores 84-76.

Auburn Tigers guard Keyshawn Hall (7) celebrates after making a shot against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the first half at Neville Arena. Hall scored 30 points to lead all scoring. | John Reed-Imagn Images

The 6-foot-7, 250 guard is averaging a career-high 20.7 points, seven rebounds, and three assists per game. He's shooting 45% from the field, 40% from three and 85% at the free throw line.

Hall scored 32 points in his team's 95-73 home win over Arkansas last month and said that the game meant something extra to him.

"I took this game kind of personal," Hall said last month. "Obvioulsy, I came [to Auburn], but Arkansas was one of my top four schools. They didn't recruit me as hard as some of the other guys they wanted. They thought other guys were more worhty of me so everytime I play them it's going to be personal."

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