Musick Has Built 'More Intentional' Team Ahead of Second Year in Fayetteville

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There's no question that Year 2 of the Kelsi Musick era will be an uphill battle for the Arkansas women's basketball team.

The difference is that Musick will fight that battle this season without having to drink from a fire hose in the months prior.

Of the 14 players on Arkansas' roster, only one is a holdover from Musick's first UA team: guard Emily Robinson, who followed Musick to Fayetteville from Oral Roberts last year.

The other 13 roster spots are made up of six freshmen and seven transfers. That includes Little Rock native Whitley Rogers, the No. 1 recruit in the state of Arkansas and sister of Arkansas State head coach Destinee Rogers.

"I felt like this year we've been more intentional," Musick said Tuesday regarding her roster. "We've been recruiting some of these freshmen for an entire season. We watched them all last summer. We were able to get some of these 2026s, build that relationship, build that foundation.

"In the portal, we started watching film before our season was even over. You don't know who's going in and who's not, but you can always watch film. Even if that kid doesn't go in, you can watch film on anybody. Really trying to be tedious and disciplined, really being intentional in who we're trying to get once that portal opened."

Musick's second Arkansas roster includes Power Four transfers Daniah Trammell (Sophomore, Arizona), Kateri Poole (Grad transfer, Houston) and D'Asia Thomas-Harris (Senior, Georgia Tech), Grace McCallop (Sophomore, Cal) as well as St. John's transfer Beautiful Waheed.

Getting immediate production from that talented group of transfers will be paramount if the Razorbacks are going to improve on their record from what was a tumultuous Year 1 under Musick.

Arkansas went 12-20 overall but an abysmal 1-15 in SEC play, closing the regular season with a win over Auburn in Bud Walton Arena before getting trounced by Kentucky in the SEC Tournament.

"I think it's always a learning curve in your first year when you're trying to build and revamp," Musick said. "I think one thing is, this second season, being intentional, getting players that truly fit the dribble-drive [offense], who really want to be Razorbacks, who want to be here, who want to be coached hard... Obviously, where we're at is not where we want to be."

While Arkansas' full 2026-27 schedule is yet to be released, its SEC opponents and several non-conference matchups are known.

The Razorbacks will play New Orleans (Nov. 2), Northwestern State (Nov. 6), Arkansas Pine-Bluff (Nov. 13), Louisiana Tech (Nov. 29), Wake Forest (Dec. 3), Arkansas State (Dec. 6), Central Arkansas (Dec. 15) and Missouri State (Dec. 19) in Bud Walton Arena in non-conference action. They will also play on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 in the San Diego Classic.

Arkansas will host Alabama, Mississippi State, Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas A&M in SEC play while traveling to Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

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