Graham, Menifield Expected to Return for Final Games This Season

Playing four guards not exactly a choice for Musselman, but out of necessity with injuries

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With just a few games left in regular season, Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman is hoping to get a few players back for these last four games. It's probably a little late to change much, but there is hope.

Jalen Graham and Keyon Menifield are expected back, maybe Saturday to play Kentucky at Rupp Arena in Lexington. Exactly how much that might help things is a wildcard, especially after seeing Trevon Brazile return only to have little positive impact. He managed to foul out of the loss to Vanderbilt in 17 minutes of play.

"We want him to be able to play a little bit more," Musselman said in a press conference Thursday. "It’s hard on a team when a player comes back from an injury. It’s hard on the individual player. It changes rotations and makes that a little bit more complicated for everybody involved. He did a great job range rebounding, meaning rebounding out of his area. That’s something we’ve really missed. He can just go up and get rebounds maybe other people don’t have the ability to do because of his length, his reach and his athleticism. He’s looking forward to trying to get back in the flow."

Now they would like to get Graham and Menifield back. Graham has been out a while, but Menifield played last week. Musselman wasn't exactly digging into a bag of coaching secrets when playing all four guards.

"That happened out of necessity," Musselman said. "We played well in some games. Certainly we went with a little bit bigger line-up when we made that run late game the other night. We’ll try to get T.B. more involved in the next few games. We’ll have a little bit more of a traditional look. It doesn’t mean based on the way a game is going, or the match-ups, that we won’t go back to four guards. At least right now today, we would plan on having a little bit more of a traditional look doing the course of a game."

The Razorbacks will play in Rupp Arena against the Wildcats on Saturday. Tipoff for the game is 12:30 on CBS and fuboTV.

HOGS FEED:

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