Young guns
UA relies on freshman starters more than other sweet teams.
FAYETTEVILLE — The other 15 teams in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 combined to start as many true freshmen in their last game as the University of Arkansas.
Guards Moses Moody and Davonte “Devo” Davis and forward Jaylin Williams — all high school seniors a year ago — started in the Razorbacks’ 68-66 victory over Texas Tech on Sunday night that advanced Arkansas to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996.
“It just shows you how special they are,” Razorbacks junior guard JD Notae said. “They just hoop.”
Among other teams still playing, the freshman starters in the last game were Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs, Michigan center Hunter Dickinson and Southern California forward Evan Mobley — all second-team All-American picks by The Associated Press.
Moody was an honorable mention AP All-American and first-team All-SEC pick along with being the conference’s top freshman, but Davis and Williams didn’t join him on the eight-man SEC All-Freshman team voted on by the conference coaches.
“We have some freshmen that I don’t know how they were overlooked,” Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said. “But they were.”
There was no overlooking Moody, Davis and Williams against Texas Tech.
“Coming in, that was our expectation.”
Arkansas freshman Moses Moody, on the Razorbacks reaching the Sweet 16
Moody and Davis each had 15 points and six rebounds. Williams had team-highs of 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 charges taken. Moody played 39 minutes, Davis 37 and Williams 28.
“Look, they may be freshmen, but they don’t play like freshmen,” Arkansas senior forward Justin Smith said. “They have a lot of swagger.
“They have a lot of smarts about them. Their IQ is very, very high. Devo’s defense and Moses’ scoring and his rebounding, they just make good plays at the right time. J-Will, we don’t win this game without 10 rebounds.
“Having those three in there just pushed us over the top and made us a special team.”
Moody (Little Rock), Davis (Jacksonville) and Williams (Fort Smith) all chose to stay home and play for Arkansas. The freshman signing class also included guard Khalen Robinson (Bryant), who played in the first 11 games before undergoing season-ending foot surgery.
“When we were coming here, all of us talked in the group chat like, ‘Let’s change it. Let’s change how Arkansas has been playing,’ ” Williams said. “We wanted to make that difference. We wanted to make that run.
“We talked at the beginning of the season how we wanted to be the best team in the SEC. We wanted to be a high seed going into the NCAA Tournament. It was one of the things we had on our minds from the very beginning.”
Arkansas (24-6) finished second behind Alabama — which also is a Sweet 16 team — in the SEC regular-season standings, but the Razorbacks earned a No. 3 in the South Region for their highest since being a No. 2 seed in 1995.
“Coming in, that was our expectation,” Moody said when Arkansas got an NCAA Tournament bid for just the fourth time in the past 13 years. “We wanted to be here and be in this position.
“So now that we are, we’ve just got to fulfill what we set out to do. It’s time to take care of business.”
Moody has taken care of business all season. He’s started every game and is averaging 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 33.7 minutes.
“It’s just not often that you have a freshman come in, start from day one and be a go-to player,” Musselman said. “Be a guy that you rely on to make baskets, be a guy that you rely on to get rebounds and get defensive stops.”
Davis and Williams had to wait to break into the playing rotation.
When Arkansas beat Oral Roberts — the Razorbacks’ opponent on Saturday night in the region semifinals — 8776 on Dec. 12 at Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Davis played nine minutes off the bench and Williams didn’t get into the game.
“With Devo, from the beginning of the season, we both weren’t seeing the court as much as we wanted to,” Williams said. “We both sat on the side and we were just telling each other, ‘Stick through it, stick through it. We know the work is going to pay off. We know we’re going to be able to show what we can do. Stick through it.’
“I feel like both of us being on the court and having success on the court, both of us are feeling happy for each other. The emotions that are running through us, just happy we’re on a team that’s winning.”
When SEC play started, Davis and Williams began getting significant minutes.
A breakthrough game for both came in Arkansas’ 99-69 victory over Georgia when Davis started and had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, and Williams had 9 rebounds off the bench. Moody had 25 points.
Davis has started the last 12 games, and in 28 games this season is averaging 8.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 23.2 minutes. He had 18 and 15 points in Arkansas’ home victories over Florida and LSU.
“Really, he’s fearless,” Musselman said earlier this season. “I mean, I don’t know what he’s going to do, but he’s going to do something, and it’s turned into really good something of late.
“Defensively, he’s a menace. He’s all over the place.”
Davis made sure Mac McClung, Texas Tech’s leading scorer coming into the game averaging 15.8 points, didn’t get the ball on the Red Raiders’ final possession when Kyler Edwards missed a driving attempt closely guarded by Smith with two seconds left. McClung finished with nine points.
“He’s just in your personal space the whole game,” Notae said of Davis. “He’s just there. He just aggravates the whole game and is frustrating for other players.”
Williams is averaging 3.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 15.6 minutes in 24 games, and he also has taken 16 charges to lead the team. He had 13 points and 8 rebounds in a victory over Alabama, then 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots when the Razorbacks beat LSU.
Then Williams had to miss four games for undisclosed reasons. In his first game back, he played five minutes in Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament first-round 85-68 victory over Colgate, but he did have three rebounds.
Musselman said he decided to start Williams against Texas Tech because he would be a better matchup against the physical Red Raiders and Arkansas would need his interior defense and rebounding.
It was Williams’ third start of the season and first since Jan. 16 at Alabama.
“I told my wife [Danyelle] when I made the decision, ‘Hey, we’re going to get second-guessed if we don’t win this game, because he really hasn’t started all year and he missed a lot of time,’ ” Musselman said. “But I said, ‘I think this is the best decision for us, and I can’t let anything influence a decision we make, other than, how do we win this game?’ ”
Williams made sure no one could second-guess Musselman’s decision.
“Of course, I was happy to be in the starting five,” Williams said. “But whether I’m able to contribute off the bench or in the starting five, I’m going to do whatever I’ve got to do.”