FAYETTEVILLE — If you’re searching for a player of the game from Arkansas’ 78-75 win over Georgia on Saturday, look no further than El Ellis.
After back-to-back DNPs against Missouri and LSU, the guard finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a season-high 37 minutes. His 3 three-pointers were huge, and he was solid defensively.
Keyon Menifield, despite stepping out of bounds over and over again, is also an acceptable answer. He had 15 points, too, including 11 in the second half.
Those two deserve the praise coming their way and the bulk of the headlines for their play. They were huge in Arkansas winning its first Saturday game inside the league.
But it wouldn’t be right to not give a couple of the Razorbacks’ big men their props. Makhi Mitchell and Jalen Graham were critical as well, and they continued their trend of more-than-serviceable combo showings.
Mitchell and Graham, who both came off the bench as Arkansas opted to roll with a four-guard starting unit, combined for 25 points on 8 of 13 from the field, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.
In the Razorbacks’ last four games, Mitchell and Graham have teamed up to average 26.3 points per outing. They also put up 20 on Kentucky, 32 at Missouri and 28 at LSU.
“They’ve been playing great,” said Tramon Mark, who scored 13 points Saturday. “I love the little two-man game they have sometimes. They’re just going to work down in the paint.
“Say if Khi’s man might help off, Jalen just dumps it off to him. Stuff like that, that really gives us easy buckets. They’ve been doing that a lot, and I want them to keep doing that. Easy buckets for us.”
Ten of Graham’s 11 points came in the first half and aided Arkansas in carrying a 34-29 lead into halftime. Mitchell closed strong, adding 10 of his 14 points in the game’s final 5 minutes.
Mitchell has thrived in his role off the bench of late. He’s now scored in double figures in four consecutive games for the first time in his college career – and he’s averaging 13.8 points in that stretch.
“I think he’s done a good job, again, if you look at [that] four-game segment, there’s a lot of free throws attempted in there in at least two of those games,” Eric Musselman said of Mitchell. “Drawing fouls, being able to convert your foul shots, finishing around the rim, he’s done a good job of that as well.
“And we’re looking to throw the ball in there a little bit more, too. Zone 1 [in the lane] scoring was a huge emphasis. We didn’t want to settle for threes like we did in Athens. A big part of that was trying to throw the ball in to Graham, trying to throw the ball in to Makhi Mitchell.
“Both of those guys, from a productivity standpoint, when we did get it in to them, I thought both of them were really good.”
If the Razorbacks hope to make life difficult for Tennessee on Wednesday, Mitchell and Graham likely need to have another big performance against a tough front line.
Why did coach muss leave j graham out of the second half against Georgia yesterday? Graham was the leading scorer in the first half scoring 10 points making 4 of 6 shots only to ride the bench in the second half. If they give the ball to Graham he will make points.
I agree it’s confusing I thought you go to something until they stopped it. He could have thirty. I know he did get scored on a couple of times but who didn’t? He wasn’t a liability on the other end.