Musselman, Razorbacks enjoy travel

NASSAU, Bahamas — Trevon Brazile and Davonte Davis have been all around the world with Arkansas men’s basketball Coach Eric Musselman.

With the Razorbacks in the Bahamas this week for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament, the three have now traveled to four foreign countries together in the past 15 months. Arkansas visited Italy, Spain and Switzerland in August 2022 as part of a foreign tour.

From a competition standpoint, Brazile, Davis and Musselman hope to take the tournament trophy back to Fayetteville at the end of the week. Before games begin, they are enjoying one another’s company and getting to make another journey together.

“Now that I think about [going to four countries], it’s crazy,” Brazile said. “I have a great connection, great bond with these guys. They make all the trips really fun. All the players are really bought in.

“You know, Muss and Devo, I have a really great relationship with both of them. It’s just an exciting time to be out in the Bahamas.”

After the Razorbacks’ upset of overall No. 1 seed Kansas in March in the NCAA Tournament, Musselman said Davis was like his son. He repeated that line Tuesday and added there is a great deal of trust between them.

Those types of bonds only grow during trips like the one Arkansas is on this week.

“As a coach, you want to have a relationship like you guys can kind of read each other before stuff happens,” Musselman said. “I think through all the experiences together, I know him like a son. He’s close with my wife, close with my daughter. And it’s not just Devo and I. It’s Devo and [assistant coach] Anthony Ruta. There’s a lot of really cool things that happen.

“I think it’s unique for someone to play at one place in today’s college landscape and not leave either early for the pros or leave to transfer.”

For Davis, he has enjoyed all of the traveling the Razorbacks have done in his college career — Hawaii, Europe, Buffalo, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Des Moines to name a few places. He said he is grateful for the chances to do so.

Davis said he did not leave the state prior to his freshman year at Arkansas.

“Yeah, being able to come to the Bahamas, go to Spain, Barcelona, Valencia, places like that, it’s very exciting, very fun,” Davis added. “I enjoy it. I like traveling. … These types of trips help us off the court, and that’s what we really need.”

Davis and Brazile were also consistent with one other thing: Musselman is fiery and competitive wherever the Razorbacks go.

Arkansas on Tuesday went through a pair of detailed workouts in preparation for today’s 6:30 p.m. game against Stanford. The Razorbacks also had multiple film sessions and meetings — and will again today.

“He’s locked in,” Davis said of Musselman. “That’s the main goal. We know he’s locked in and we have to be locked in within the space he’s locked in as well, because we know he wants to win.”

Brazile added that distractions do not fly with Musselman during the team’s prep time abroad or at home.

“He’ll cut that off,” Brazile said. “It doesn’t waver wherever we’re at.”

While focused on competing and playing well coming off of the first loss of the season last Friday, Musselman is sure to still make time for Arkansas’ travel party and team to enjoy some time in paradise.

“If it was up to me, I would just sit in my room and chill until we play the game. But Muss makes sure we have fun,” Brazile said. “We lost on Friday, so tensions were kind of high. But we’re still in the Bahamas. You’ve got to go see the water and do stuff like that.

“Muss does a great job with letting us have a little bit of freedom. We’ve been having tough practices, but guys are ready to play.

“We’re ready to win this tournament.”