Tag: Trevon Brazile

Can the Oklahoma Sooners take advantage of Arkansas Razorbacks 3-point defense in Tulsa?

When the Oklahoma Sooners take on the Arkansas Razorbacks, they’ll have opportunities from three-point range. Can they take advantage?

Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners find themselves 8-0 for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. They have ripped through their competition, including wins over a USC Trojans team with multiple NBA-caliber players, a high-scoring Iowa team, and a Providence team that beat Wisconsin earlier in the year.

The Sooners still have a few non-conference foes left before they dive head-first into what will be one final grueling and challenging Big 12 slate before they depart for the SEC and its gauntlet next season.

One of their toughest nonconference opponents remaining is Eric Musselman’s Arkansas Razorbacks. The Sooners and Razorbacks will meet again at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday. This is the rematch of last year’s game that went 88-78 in favor of the Hogs.

Much has changed from a personnel standpoint on both sides. Milos Uzan is the only starter returning for the Sooners. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks have no starters from that game this year, with the likelihood that projected first-round pick Trevon Brazile will be out after an ankle injury against Furman in their last game.

While only the Sooners come in ranked No. 22 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, this is a resume-building win for either team. It’s a game that could make a big difference when it’s time for the selection committee to evaluate teams pursuing an NCAA tournament bid.

Derek Oxford of Razorbacks Wire gave us time to share his thoughts on questions surrounding Arkansas as we head into this pivotal clash between future conference foes.

Brazile has severe ankle sprain, not ruled out for Saturday

Trevon Brazile will likely be a game-time decision on Saturday against Oklahoma, but Eric Musselman didn’t rule him out on Wednesday.

Trevon Brazile sprained his ankle badly in Monday’s 14-point win over Furman, but luckily avoided a season-ending injury like a year ago.

Eric Musselman had a Zoom presser with the media on Wednesday to preview Saturday’s Crimson and Cardinal Classic matchup with Oklahoma at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

Arkansas did fortunately get back Tramon Mark against Furman, and the junior transfer from Houston contributed 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in 26 minutes of action.

Makhi Mitchell was also made available to media via Zoom on Wednesday, and spoke about the importance of playing at a high level against a ranked Oklahoma team coming in undefeated with tons of confidence,

“It’s going to take good rim protection and good on-ball defense,” Mitchell said. “I think it’s going to pretty much take everything to win this game.”

On game anniversary of season-ending knee injury, Brazile survives another scare

Trevon Brazile was lost for the season in Arkansas’ ninth game last year. In the ninth this year, he suffered another injury.

It was about this time last year that Trevon Brazile saw his first season of Arkansas basketball cut short. Thankfully for him, it didn’t happen again Monday.

Brazile twisted his ankle in the waning minutes of Arkansas’ 97-83 win over Furman and left the game with a distinct limp. Replays showed him coming down after a jump and the ankle rolling hard, nearly touching the ground, before Brazile fell all the way to the floor himself.

Coach Eric Musselman said after the game that Brazile’s injury was initially termed a sprain, but everyone would know more in 24 hours.

“The doctors were messing with it,” Musselman said. “It is a sprain, a pretty good sprain and it’s already swollen.”

Brazile, in his second year after transferring from Missouri, has averaged 11.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks through nine games. He was named preseason All-SEC despite only playing in nine games last year because he torn his ACL in the team’s ninth game.

Brazile named SEC Player of the Week after double-double in win over Duke

The 6-foot-10 sophomore erupts for 19 points and 11 rebounds in win over Duke.

After missing the majority of last season with a torn ACL, Arkansas sophomore Trevon Brazile has shown no signs of drop-off this season.

His impact has been no bigger than the monster game he produced in last week’s 80-75 win over No. 7 Duke in Bud Walton Arena. For his effort, Brazile has been named the SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week.

The 6-foot-10, 220-pound Brazile finished with 19 points against the Blue Devils, making a career-high four 3-pointers, while pulling down a career-best 11 rebounds. It was his third double-double in the last four games, and the fifth of his career.

He made his final 3-pointer to put the Hogs up by 12 with 2:16 left, which proved to be pivotal as the Blue Devils made a final run.

Brazile made four of his five field goals in the first half, including a pair of threes, then sank two more triples in the second half, tallying eight points, along with five rebounds and two blocked shots.

The Springfield, Mo. native, has been named to the Watch Lists for the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Year and Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Awards, and was voted a preseason first team All-SEC selection by the coaches and media.

Beyond the Box: 3-point shooting, defense lifts Hogs over No. 7 Duke, 80-75

In front of a record Bud Walton Arena crowd, the Hogs were able to get back to their winning ways against No. 7 Duke. Here’s some key numbers that helped them do it.

It was another special night in Bud Walton Arena as Eric Musselman’s Hogs were able to upset No. 7 Duke, 80-75, in front of a record 20,344 fans.

Arkansas entered Wednesday night’s game in desperate need of some positive momentum. Losers of three out of their last four contests, including an upset loss to UNC-Greensboro in their most recent home game, the Hogs needed this win in the worst way.

With leading scorer [autotag]Tramon Mark[/autotag] still sidelined with a lower back injury, Arkansas’ two other statistical leaders – [autotag]Trevon Brazile[/autotag] and [autotag]Khalif Battle[/autotag] – were able to rise to the occasion behind a raucous crowd and get the job done.

Over the past four games, the Razorbacks have struggled in basically every facet of the game. However, a stagnant offense, costly turnovers and abysmal transition defense were the three big things that had stood out above the rest.

On Wednesday night, none of those issues were prevalent for much of the night. Arkansas looked like a completely different team than the one we saw in the Bahamas just five days ago.

Let’s take a look at some key numbers from this game and see exactly how they were able to correct their issues from the Battle 4 Atlantis and translate that into a big-time win over Duke.

How Tweet it is: Hog fans rejoice on social media after big win over Duke

The Arkansas basketball team pulled off the 80-75 upset of No. 7 Duke on Wednesday night.

Coming off back-to-back losses and missing its leading scorer, Tramon Mark, the Arkansas basketball team stunned the doubters Wednesday night with an 80-75 win over No. 7 Duke in front of a record crowd at Bud Walton Arena.

Sophomore Trevon Brazile paced the Razorbacks (5-3) with a double-double, with 19 points and 11 rebounds. The Hogs reached a double-digit lead in the second half, but had to hold off the Blue Devils (5-2) in the final minutes.

The victory was No. 100 for Eric Musselman as the Razorbacks head coach.

Here are some of the posts tweeted out on X following the win:

Social media reacts to Arkansas’ insane double-OT win over Stanford

Plenty of praise for Tramon Mark and Trevon Brazile from Arkansas faithful.

It wasn’t quite the Creighton game from last year in Hawaii, but Arkansas-Stanford was a memorable one.

The No. 20 Razorbacks rallied then held off the Cardinal in the quarterfinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Bahamas, 77-74, and will face Memphis at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Arkansas faithful were biting nails as the game went into two overtimes. The first was forced by the Hogs after Devo Davis made a pair of free throws and Stanford missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The second happened because the Cardinal made a buzzer-beater, with little-used former walk-on Benny Gealer burying a runner from the wing.

In the end, defense and rebounding, two things coach Eric Musselman has been begging for, was enough for the Hogs to hold on.

Here’s how social media reacted after the game.

No. 14 Arkansas rolls Alcorn State to kick off season

Three different Arkansas players scored in double figures, led by Khalif Battle’s 21 points in just 19 minutes.

Arkansas won’t be able to out-athlete every team on its schedule in the 2023-24 season, but when it came, the Razorbacks are awfully impressive.

The No. 14 Hogs never had a moment of figurative sweat in their season-opener Monday night in Bud Walton Arena, easing past Alcorn State in runaway fashion, 93-59.

Things were so easy so quickly that coach Eric Musselman played all 13 of his available scholarship players within the game’s first 11 minutes. One of the expected suspects led the way.

Trevon Brazile, in his first game since December when he torn his ACL, scored 13 points, grabbed six rebounds and sent home three highlight-reel dunks to show why, even despite his only nine games last year, both the SEC coaches and media named him first-team All-SEC.

Khalif Battle and Tramon Mark led Arkansas in scoring with 21 and 16 apiece. Battle made 3 of his 6 attempts from 3-point range and Mark made 4 of his 6.

Ultimately, only two scholarship players who saw action for Arkansas did not score.

The Razorbacks’ second game of the season is Friday when the Razorbacks host Garnder-Webb.

Trevon Brazile named as first-team All-SEC, one of best 50 players in the nation

Brazile has not even played 10 games yet for Arkansas, but he has turned heads in the nine he has.

Trevon Brazile did not even play in double-digit games last year for Arkansas, but his impact was such that the rest of the sport thinks he’s one of the best players in the land.

Such distinction was borne out Monday when Brazile, Arkansas’ 6-foot-10 forward, named as one of 50 players on the watch list for the Naismith Trophy and one of 20 players up for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year.

For good measure, Brazile was also named first-team All-SEC by the league’s media and coaches.

In nine games last year, Brazile, in his first season after transferring from Missouri, averaged 11.8 points and 6.0 rebounds a game while also shooting 38% from 3-point range. A knee injury ended his season in December and has kept him somewhat limited in the preseason.

Brazile is expected to go Monday in Arkansas’ regular-season opener against Alcorn State with a tip time scheduled for 7 p.m.

Eric Musselman trusted Tramon Mark’s scoring ability in win over No. 3 Purdue

With the game on the line, Eric Musselman’s trust in transfer guard Tramon Mark paid off for the Hogs against No. 3 Purdue.

One of the more surprising aspects of the 14th-ranked Razorbacks’ overtime win over No. 3 Purdue on Saturday was who stepped up offensively at the end of regulation and during the extra frame.

It wasn’t offensive-minded guards [autotag]El Ellis[/autotag] or [autotag]Khalif Battle[/autotag] or even star forward [autotag]Trevon Brazile[/autotag]. Instead, versatile two-way guard [autotag]Tramon Mark[/autotag] was given the ball. In the most memorable play from the charity exhibition, Arkansas trailed 69-66 with less than a minute to play. Mark dribbled toward the left wing as Chandler Lawson came up to set a weak side screen. As Lawson got to the Purdue defender, Mark pulled up from behind the arc and drilled the game-tying three.

“I think if we would have simply been trying to get to the cup and get a FTA (free throw attempt), which is a lot of times my nature, but for whatever reason, we ran on the weak side to come off for a three,” [autotag]Eric Musselman[/autotag] said regarding the play after the game. “I think when we talked about that, yeah, T-Mark thought like, ‘All right, Coach is fine with us taking a three,’ because the first option was a weak side three-ball.”

Mark played outstanding on both ends of the floor all game – dishing out four assists without turning the ball over once, grabbing six rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Not primarily known for his scoring ability, Mark finished with 15 points on the game, including five during the overtime period. However, he could’ve finished with 19 if he knocked down all eight of his free throw attempts.

He was able to knock down four of his eight free throws, but was the only Razorback to miss from the charity stripe all game. When asked if those free throw misses caused Musselman to rethink putting the ball in Mark’s hands, the Arkansas head coach said that was not the case at all.

“Zero thought of not letting him continue to have the ball in his hands. There was no thought of, ‘Hey, let’s hide him in the corner. He’s missed some free throws,’ I’m riding with him,” Musselman said. “I trust his mental toughness. No different than [autotag]JD Notae[/autotag] a couple of years ago. He missed 10 shots, I’m riding with him.”

“You have to have your team believe in him during stretches of struggles,” Musselman continued. “Obviously, he struggled from the line early. The game was kind of in hand and we still put it in his hands to get fouled.”

With two exhibition games under their belts, Musselman’s Hogs will officially open the season one week from today against Alcorn State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. central time and will be streamed on SEC Network+.