Former Hog Jaxson Robinson finds landing spot via transfer portal

Former Arkansas guard Jaxson Robinson will play for this third team in three years.

Jaxson Robinson will play for his third team in three seasons next year.

The former Arkansas guard entered the transfer portal in mid-May. On Thursday, he announced he will play the 2022-23 season at Brigham Young.

It’s unclear whether Robinson will be allowed to play in the Cougars’ games, however. The deadline for transfer portal entries was May 1. After that date, any player in the portal could still transfer, but they would be ineligible for the following season without being granted it waiver.

The Ada, Oklahoma, native played just one season with the Razorbacks after transferring from Texas A&M. A 3-point specialist, Robinson played in just 16 games for Arkansas last year.

Robinson’s best stretch came during three games in late December and early January. He played 83 minutes in a win over Elon and losses to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. The rest of the season, Robinson logged just 80 minutes.

His exit leaves Arkansas with just two players back from last year’s Elite Eight team: guard Devo Davis and forward Kamani Johnson.

The Razorbacks do have the No. 2-ranked recruiting class in the country, though, and added six players via the transfer portal. They’re expected to be a ranked in the Top 25 when the season begins.

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Arkansas loses guard to Transfer Portal

Jaxson Robinson is the fourth Razorback to enter the transfer portal since the 2021-22 season concluded.

Arkansas guard [autotag]Jaxson Robinson[/autotag] will look to play for his third college in as many seasons, as he has entered the transfer portal.

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Transferring to Arkansas from Texas A&M following the 2020-21 season, Robinson made 16 appearances this season for the Razorbacks with four starts. Two highlights of his season included career-high 15 minutes played against Central Arkansas on December 1, and scoring a career-best 14 points against Elon on December 21.

Moving to the transfer portal could be considered costly for Robinson. Not only is this his second time transferring, but he entered the portal after the May 1 deadline.

Players have until May 1 to enter the portal, and be eligible to play the following season. But, since Robinson entered on May 12, he will need a waiver in order to become eligible to play in the 2022-23 season. If his waiver is not approved, Robinson will not only have to sit out a season, but will have to use a season of eligibility as well.

Since the season ended for Arkansas in the Elite 8, four Razorbacks have entered the transfer portal with three players finding a new home. Forward Chance Moore announced on April 11 his intent to transfer to Missouri State. Connor Vanover is headed to Oral Roberts, and KK Robinson is staying in the SEC by moving on to Texas A&M.

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Beyond the Box: Arkansas out of sync and running out of time

Once upon a time Arkansas was considered a potential No. 2 or No. 3 seed.

In the span of a month the Arkansas Razorbacks fans have gone from arguing about whether or not this basketball team should be a No. 2 or a No. 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament to wondering if they’ll even finish with a winning record in the SEC.

In some ways Saturday’s loss at Texas A&M is a reflection of that idea. The Hogs started hot, building an 11-point lead early. Nine minutes into the second half they were down, 65-48, looking lifeless and interested in anything other than basketball.

Then the “old” Hogs showed up, storming back to cut the Aggies lead to just one point with 1:08 to play. But it was all too much. Two made free throws by a 56% shooter, a missed jumper from JD Notae, and a boneheaded lane violation from Devo Davis squashed the comeback.

Here are a few things that stand out from Saturday afternoon that you won’t see on the basic stat sheet.

Arkansas’ youngest player stakes his claim ahead of SEC play

Jaxson Robinson is a sophomore, but he’s still the youngest player on Arkansas’ roster.

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Jaxson Robinson decided to skip homecoming, prom, skip-day and all the other usual rites of passage granted a senior in high school. The Ada, Oklahoma, native left Ada High School a year early to attend Texas A&M, ready to play college basketball.

Now, a year-and-a-half later, he’s no longer in College Station, but instead in Fayetteville – about the same distance from his hometown – and stating his case as a future star for Arkansas basketball.

Robinson scored a career-high 14 points in 20 minutes in the Razorbacks’ last win against Elon on December 21. He was perfect from the free-throw line, grabbed three rebounds and was 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. The performance was the memorable kind that can cement a player’s status.

But it’s easy to forget he’s the youngest player on the Hogs’ roster.

“I think his best basketball is way ahead of him,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “He’s a guy that kept working, kept getting better in practice. His development’s been awesome.”

Robinson played in 14 games as a freshman at A&M last year, starting once. Musselman had recruited him out of high school, so when Robinson hit the transfer portal, it was an easy call. He played in just one game in November, but he’s only missed one game in December: Arkansas’ 20-point loss to Robinson’s home state Oklahoma Sooners.

The Razorbacks open SEC play at Mississippi State on Wednesday and Robinson is expected to continue what he’s accomplished during most of the month. So much so, in fact, he’s establishing himself not just as a rotation piece, but a potentially game-changing one.

Musselman thinks his youngest player is ready.

“You go into conference play, doesn’t matter what conference you are, Mountain West or SEC, conference play is different,” he said. “Talent level becomes much more even across the board on a nightly basis.”

The bounce is back: Hogs hammer Elon

Arkansas used a band of unusual suspects to play one of its most complete games of the season, a 81-55 win over Elon.

There were frustrations to be levied for Arkansas basketball. Poor Elon found itself in the unenviable position of having to take said punishment.

Arkansas ended the first half on a 17-0 run and snapped a two-game losing streak before SEC play begins next week, beating Elon, 81-55.

Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman altered his minutes distribution against the Phoenix. Arkansas looked more like it did at the beginning of the season as it played 11 players with Musselman looking for a spark.

Jaxson Robinson provided a bulk of it.

The Texas A&M transfer came off the bench and made three 3-pointers during the big run that turned a six-point Arkansas deficit to a 12-point edge at halftime. Elon went the final 6:11 of the half without a point.

Robinson scored a career-high 14 points, one of four Razorbacks in double figures. Chris Lykes led the team with 21 points, Kamani Johnson had 15 and JD Notae 14.

Arkansas led by as many as 30 points in the second half. Elon went on a 13-0 run to make the score more respectable. Michael Graham led the Phoenix with 14 points and Darius Burford added 12.

The Razorbacks (10-2) had dropped consecutive games to Oklahoma and Hofstra on the previous two Saturdays, knocking them from No. 12 in the country to unranked. They have time off at Christmas before returning to action January 29 to open SEC play at Mississippi State.

Arkansas basketball roster breakdown: Backcourt is the bread and butter

Arkansas is blessed in the backcourt with both a mix of experienced veterans and young players who are hungry to improve.

If Arkansas wants to accomplish its goals, which are likely winning the Southeastern Conference, getting a high seed in the NCAA Tournament and advancing to the Final Four, they will have to get exemplary play from the backcourt.

Luckily for the Razorbacks, they have amassed depth there.

Even with the loss of Jalen Tate at point guard to eligibility and Desi Sills to transfer, along with Moses Moody to the Golden State Warriors, there is still plenty of talent both returning and imported in by Eric Musselman.

Here is a look at the guards and swing men who will help lead this team.

Like the frontcourt article, players are listed in order of height, not impact or skill-wise. This will be shortest to tallest, however.