Joseph Pinion Reminds Everyone Quickly He Can Play, Too

Overlooked freshman could do something Razorbacks will need this season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Nobody will be overlooking Joseph Pinion for awhile.

The freshman out of Russellville kinda got lost in all the starpower and flash around Nick Smith, Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh.

Everybody knew he could shoot pretty well and he did (15 points in 14 minutes) but he also showed what coaches and teammates saw at the other end of the floor.

Arkansas Razorbacks freshman Joseph Pinion playing defense against Rogers State in the exhibition opener Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

"His biggest thing is getting loose balls and defending," Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said later. "No. 0 (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr.) hurt us at times, and I thought (Pinion) did as good a job tonight defensively as anyone we had on him."

What he also does the Razorbacks will need to meet the expectations of fans and probably coaches is shoot, especially three-pointers. He was 4-of-6 behind the arc.

"We were searching for that last year, a guy that could make a shot when we struggled," Musselman said.

They took advantage of that shooting and spaced things out with Pinion.

Arkansas Razorbacks' Joseph Pinion against Rogers State in the exhibition opener against Rogers State on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

"We ran plays for him," Musselman said. "We probably ran more plays for Joseph tonight than we did anybody that checked into the game, including our starters. if people try to zone us and we’re not making shots ..."

His teammates see it in practice all the time.

"It's pretty regular," Black said after the game. "he was really sitting down locking up today. Him doing that helped us keep him on the court, and then he got hot, so we ran him off a couple red, double-screen actions and stuff like that.

"He was knocking it down like he does every day in practice."

Now he's playing defense, too, which is pretty much a requirement to get minutes with Musselman.

"We get onto him a lot about his defense in practice," Black said.

Arkansas Razorbacks' Joseph Pinion against Rogers State in the exhibition opener on Monday, Oct. 24, 2022, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

On the floor, Pinion appears pretty laid-back. He was sharing laughs with assistant coach Keith Smart during the second half.

If he can be the one to start hitting three-pointers, it will help one of the problems Musselman has talked about since summer.

To reach expectations, they were going to need it from somebody.

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