Musselman pleased with recent performance of Mitchell, Graham and Lawson
Arkansas basketball picked up a much-needed road win over Missouri on Wednesday night and avoided becoming the Tigers’ first victim in SEC play.
The win was, in large part, due to a dominant performance inside from the Hogs’ emerging “three-headed monster” of Makhi Mitchell, Jalen Graham and Chandler Lawson. Musselman singled all three out for their recent play following the 91-84 victory on Wednesday night.
“I think our three-headed bigs have been unbelievable,” Musselman said. “Chandler and Jalen and (Makhi) have been oustanding. Not good, but outstanding.”
The trio combined for 38 points and 18 rebounds, and helped Arkansas hold a 26-point advantage over Missouri when it came to points in the paint. Mitchell accounted for 19 points and 14 of the trio’s 18 rebounds. Graham had a phenomenal outing on the defensive end, recording four blocks and three steals to go with his 13 points.
“Jalen is looking at the rim and being super, super aggressive. He had four steals, four assists,” Musselman said. “Chandler continues to do the little things that might not show up in the box score. And (Makhi), when he plays like that, he’s as good as anybody in the country.”
While the team has been without forward Trevon Brazile the last two games, it’s been great to see the trio of Mitchell, Graham and Lawson step up and shine in their individual roles.
Wednesday night’s victory over a hapless, 0-8 SEC team like Missouri might not be the turnaround that spurs this team to the NCAA Tournament, but it could be the beginning of Arkansas salvaging what has been an abysmal season thus far. If they do start to salvage the season, it will be on the continual improvement from Mitchell, Graham and Lawson.
The Hogs will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Baton Rouge to face the LSU Tigers. Tip-off is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on ESPN2.
