MEN'S BASKETBALL: Howland's Precautions Give Hogs First Shot at Real Road Game Since March 2020

Bulldogs have hope key player might return in time to face Razorbacks

Arkansas is set to roll into Starkville for what it hopes is tomorrow night’s SEC opener against Mississippi State.

After a wait of nearly two years, there’s a chance the Razorbacks still might not get to play a true road game in front of a full house.

COVID’s been a problem down in Mississippi as the Arkansas women had their SEC opener against Ole Miss cancelled. However, Mississippi State coach Ben Howland indicated Monday that his team might be in better shape to avoid a shutdown thanks to preemptive precautions taken by the coaching staff in regard to housing for the Bulldog players.

“Eventually it’s going to get here to Starkville when everybody returns to campus in the middle of the month,” Howland said. “We hope to have the vast majority of our guys with boosters. Most of our team has their own apartments. I set that up a year ago in case we did go through this again that they would not be sharing apartments with one another where you would get multiple guys sick if one did get sick.”

TOLU SMITH

However, one Mississippi State player the Hogs didn’t expect to see Wednesday night regardless of how things play out is junior forward Tolu Smith.

Smith, who was looking to be part of a monster duo with fellow junior Iverson Molinar this year, started the season on the injured list after suffering a stress fracture in September that required surgery. He was able to shake off the rust just in time to return against Louisville down in the Bahamas.

After scoring 22 against Richmond while hauling in 11 rebounds to kick off back-to-back double-doubles, things were looking up for Smith, but the positive momentum wouldn’t last long. Smith fractured his pinky toe against the Spiders, and tried to play through the pain, but by the time the Bulldogs played Colorado State on Dec. 11, the pain had become too much.

After roughly three weeks off, Howland said Smith has worked himself back into a position to possibly be a game day decision.

“Tolu has practiced the last few days,” Howland said. “Tolu has definitely had some soreness in his feet after the practices. He’s got it out. He’s much better than he was prior to when we shut him down three weeks ago.

“That will be a day by day thing. We’ll see.”

D.J. JEFFRIES

The Bulldogs enter the game on a three-game winning streak. This coincides with the emergence of Memphis transfer D.J. Jeffries.

Jeffries averaged single digits through the first nine games, however, he has posted 15, 14 and 19 points over the last three games for a 16 ppg average heading into the match-up against the Hogs.

“He’s always good defensively,” Howland said after Jeffries scored 19 on Winthrop. “He really did a great job of moving the ball, making the open three. He was spectacular in particular.”

IVERSON MOLINAR

Despite the emergence of Jeffries and potential return of Smith, Musselman knows the game will come down to how the Hogs handle star guard Iverson Molinar. Hovering around or above the 20-point mark all season long, Molinar has the ability to bury a team both from behind the arc and at the free throw line.

“They have a lot of strengths obviously,” Musselman said. “Molinar is one of the best guards in the league. He’s very good in pick and roll. He’s good in isolation situations. He’s excellent in transition.”

Mississippi State vs. Arkansas will air Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 8 p.m. on SEC Network.

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