When [autotag]Chandler Lawson[/autotag] committed to Arkansas this past June, it went somewhat under the radar.
The Hogs had missed out on two other highly-sought prospects, so the general assumption was that Lawson’s addition was nothing more than a solid frontcourt depth piece. Now, through two preseason games, Lawson has shown he might be one of the most important pieces for this [autotag]Arkansas basketball[/autotag] team going forward.
Lawson played 13 minutes against UT-Tyler, and while his stats didn’t jump off the page (3 points, 5 rebounds and an assist), he had two steals and two blocks. Fast forward eight days and Lawson was thrust into the starting lineup and was tasked with slowing down the defending Naismith Player of the Year, Zach Edey.
The 6-8, 210-pound forward played the second-most minutes out of any Razorback (32:53) and was phenomenal on both ends of the floor. On the offensive end, Lawson finished with 10 points on 3-4 shooting from the floor including knocking down one of his two 3-point attempts. But where he made the biggest difference was on the defensive end.
As the primary defender on Edey, Lawson used his incredible 7-7 wingspan to make the 7-4 All-American uncomfortable all game long. Lawson’s defensive instincts and extra effort led to three blocked shots and three steals, with his final swipe giving the Hogs a chance to win the game in regulation.
“Coach (Muss) was preparing me from Sunday to Saturday,” Lawson said following the game. “I’ve been watching film on him to see what he likes to do. It was totally a team effort. If it weren’t for my teammates giving me confidence to just go out there and ‘use your quickness,’ ‘use your length.’ If it weren’t for those guys, I probably would have laid down, but I wasn’t going to lay down tonight in front of the crowd we had.”
“I feel like I can get better. I’m just a basketball player,” Lawson continued. “You can put me out there on the floor, and I’ll pretty much guard anybody if Coach (Muss) wants me to do that. It don’t matter who – if it’s the National Player of the Year or a walk-on.”
“You gotta have heart in this game. I feel like my heart was bigger than his tonight.”
Lawson’s inspiring effort didn’t go unnoticed by [autotag]Eric Musselman[/autotag], who talked about how impressive the graduate transfer forward has been since arriving over the summer.
“First of all, his coach-ability is off the charts. He’s as coachable as any player I’ve ever coached,” Musselman said. “He really wants to please. He’s a great talker in practice – meaning he echoes play calls – he’s talking on defense, he’s in the right position.”
“Then you look at the number of games he has from an experience standpoint of starting, I thought he was phenomenal defensively.”
Lawson and the Hogs will have a full week off before their season-opener against Alcorn State on November 6. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. CT and will be streamed on SEC Network+.