With Tennessee losing Henry To’o To’o, the talented linebacker is going where he really wanted to go out of high school, Bill King said on Halftime.
Musselman adds Smart to complete Hogs’ coaching staff
Keith Smart, an NBA head coach for three franchises and known for making one of the most iconic shots in NCAA Championship history, has been named assistant coach at Arkansas, Eric Musselman announced.
Smart has a long history with Musselman both as a player with the Rapid City Thrillers and Florida Beachdogs and as an assistant coach on Musselman’s staff with the Golden State Warriors.
Overall, Smart spent nine years playing professional basketball and 22 years coaching in professional basketball, including head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State and Sacramento Kings as well as assistant positions with the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Kings, Warriors and Cavaliers.
He got his start in the coaching business as head coach of the Fort Wayne Fury of the CBA in 1997.
“What an incredible opportunity for our players to be mentored and coached by coach Smart,” Musselman said. “His coaching experience is unmatched, being a three-time NBA head coach. His playing experience includes him hitting one of the most clutch shots in the history of college basketball and playing at the highest level professionally.
“Keith is someone I coached and thought so much of his knowledge of the game I hired him at Golden State. We are getting an incredible coach.
“He knows how to develop talent and is an excellent ‘X and O’ coach. Our players are going to love coach Smart. I am really excited about the experience and chemistry this staff, with coaches Smart, (Gus) Argenal and (Clay) Moser, will bring.”
Smart burst onto the national scene after making the game-winning shot for Indiana in the 1987 NCAA Championship versus Syracuse.
Overall, he played two seasons with the Hoosiers (1986-88), was drafted in the second round by the Golden State Warriors in 1988 and played with the San Antonio Spurs (1988).
“I am excited to be reunited with Coach Musselman, a person I’ve known for over 30 years, and to continue my growth as a basketball coach,” Smart said. “I cannot think of a better place than with coach Musselman and at the University of Arkansas. By becoming a Razorback, my basketball life is somewhat coming full circle as coach (Nolan) Richardson recruited me.
“In addition to playing for and working with coach Muss, I have kept in close contact with him over the years, sharing ideas and strategies.
“I know what he is teaching, and I know his expectations. I am thrilled to join the Arkansas family, to develop our players and to build on the solid foundation that has been laid here.”
After his time with the Spurs, Smart played nine seasons of professional basketball in the CBA and internationally.
It was after his final stop — the Fort Wayne Fury — Smart made the transition from player one year to head coach the next with the Fury. In his first year (1997-98), Fort Wayne was 31-25 and won the CBA’s East Division.
The Fury were 28-28 in year two and 26-30 in year three. A CBA-high, 21 players from Fort Wayne signed NBA contracts during Smart’s three seasons a head coach.
From Fort Wayne, Smart began his NBA coaching career with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2000-01 season.
After two-plus years as an assistant with the Cavs, Smart was named Cleveland’s interim head coach for the final 40 games of the 2002-03 campaign.
At the time, Smart was the second-youngest head coach in the NBA, trailing only Musselman.
Smart then joined Musselman as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors for the 2003-04 season.
After one season with Musselman, Smart stayed on as an assistant with the Warriors for two seasons under Mike Montgomery and an additional four seasons under Don Nelson.
Prior to the 2010-11 season, Nelson stepped down and Smart was named head coach, leading the Warriors to 36 wins – a 10-game improvement over the previous season.
After his time with the Warriors, Smart was brought on by the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach for the 2011-12 season.
Seven games into that year, the Kings made a coaching change and Smart was named head coach, posting a 20-39 record. He stayed on as head coach the following season (2012-13).
In 2014, Smart was hired as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat by Eric Spoelstra. In year two with the Heat, Miami won the Southeast Division and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals.
From there, Smart spent two seasons (2016-18) as an assistant coach under David Fizdale with the Memphis Grizzlies. He then went to serve on Fizdale’s staff with the New York Knicks for the 2018-19 season.
Smart, who was the 1987 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, scored 765 points in two seasons at Indiana and is a member of the Indiana Athletics Hall of Fame (Class of 2017).
Prior to Indiana, he played two seasons at Garden City (Kan.) CC where he earned Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year honors.
He received his Bachelor of General Studies from Indiana in 1995. He and his wife Carol have two sons, Andre and Jared.
Jared is currently a senior at Hawai’i and earned All-Mountain West honorable mention honors in 2020 as a wide receiver.
THE SMART FILE:
Hometown: Baton Rouge, La. (McKinley HS)
Alma Mater: Indiana, 1995
Wife: Carol
Children: Sons, Andre and Jared
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Wallace’s grand slam jumpstarts Hogs to 8-4 win over Red Wolves
Maybe it just took a little bit to get things going in this first-ever matchup.
A grand slam by Cayden Wallace got Arkansas’ offense off and rolling to an 8-4 win over Arkansas State at Baum-Walker Stadium on Tuesday night in a game anticipated by fans of both teams.
With the decision last year to finally let the Razorbacks start playing in-state schools, it was a pitchers’ battle for the first give innings that turned into parade of guys walking to the mound.
“We pitched extremely well,” Dave Van Horn said later. “Take away one, maybe two, guys and we threw (counting) nine guys.”
Jaxon Wiggins started, but only went two innings that started a parade of Heston Tole, Lyle Lockhart, Kole Ramage, Elijah Trest, Zebulon Vermillion, Zach Morris, Ryan Costieu and Connor Noland in the ninth.
Lockhart threw just two innings but got the win after striking out half the batters he faced.
“Wiggins came out and did a really nice job,” Van Horn said. “Lockhart was about as good as he’s been in a while. His stuff was really good tonight.”
But it was Noland in the ninth inning that re-energized a crowd of 7,645 that probably should have been near capacity but hasn’t been opened up yet.
“He had really good stuff,” Van Horn said about the sophomore that has been hampered with an arm injury most of the season. “It was good to see those guys because we’re going to need as many as we can down the stretch.”
The offense struggled against Red Wolves’ pitcher Tyler Jean for four innings until things got away from him in the fifth.
Dylan Leach singled, then Zach Gregory was hit by a pitch, Matt Goodheart walked and Wallace blasted a towering homer into the new baseball center nearing completion in right field.
From there it got into a typical mid-week game with a lot of new guys playing and regulars maybe relaxing a little as the Hogs built an 8-1 lead before things got sloppy in the eighth inning and ASU added three runs.
Noland wasn’t allowing much of anything in the ninth inning.
“I could see him coming out of the pen and us having confidence in him,” Van Horn said, although he might figure into the Sunday starting role that has not been taken by anyway on a regular basis. “What he threw tonight was as good as I’ve seen him throw in a long time.
“Even the pitches that were called balls were in the zone, just down a little … maybe not even down. If they were down they were just a ball down. He looked good.”
With six games left in the regular season, the day three starter is the last spot in the rotation that hasn’t been nailed down.
It wouldn’t exactly be shocking to see Noland work his way into that role.
But for now a road matchup with Tennessee will be followed by a home series with Florida to end the regular season.
That’s why winning against ASU was big.
“It was a good win for us,” Van Horn said.
Mainly because he got to get some players time on the field.
As Van Horn said, he’s going to need a lot of pitchers in a couple of weeks when tournament time starts.
And that’s really what counts.
Van Horn on late sloppiness, performance of nine pitchers
Hogs coach Dave Van Horn was expecting to use a lot of pitchers and he did in a nine-inning win over ASU that got sloppy in the field at the end.
Wiggins after start, but not thinking about weekend rotation
Arkansas pitcher Jaxon Wiggins stayed focus on his start against Arkansas State on Tuesday night and wasn’t thinking about moving to weekends.
Musselman adds former four-star recruit in portal from Aggies’
Arkansas has signed former four-star and Texas A&M transfer Jaxson Robinson, coach Eric Musselman announced Tuesday afternoon.
Robinson hails from Ada, Okla., scored 30 points in 14 games with four starts for the Aggies last season.
“We are extremely excited about Jaxson joining our program,” Musselman said. “Jaxson was high on our recruiting list while he was in high school and many Power 5 schools went after Jaxson once he entered the transfer portal. He has tremendous upside and potential.
“He has deep range and is a knockdown shooter. We feel as though he will really fit in well with the other players on the roster.”
Jaxson Robinson
6-7, 195, G
Ada, Okla. / Ada HS / Texas A&M
2020-21 (Fr. at Texas A&M):
Played in 14 of A&M’s 18 games, making four starts (vs Auburn, at South Carolina, vs LSU and at Kansas State) … Recorded a block and assist in his collegiate debut in the season-opening win over New Orleans … Scored his first career points off a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the win over SE Louisiana … Saw action in the win over Wofford … Recorded season high in rebounds with seven in 18 minutes of play at LSU … With that, earned his first career start versus Auburn, playing a season-high 19:32 and establishing a season high with six points on a pair of 3’s in the win … Matched his season highs in points (6) and 3’s made (2) the following game in a start at South Carolina … Also made a pair of triples and tied his season high with six points at Ole Miss.
High School:
A four-star prospect by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals … Ranked 62nd nationally and 16th at his position by 247Sports … Previously a top 50 recruit of 2021 class but reclassified to the 2020 signing class … Led Ada High School to a 21-6 record and the Class 4A State Tournament after averaging 15.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game as a junior … Played for Team Griffin in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League where he helped capture the 2019 16U championship at the Nike Peach Jam.
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