JUST IN: Visits from new transfer names to the Hogs………

When Arkansas and UNC Wilmington play on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, you should consider the starting lineups a little shaky since both the Razorbacks and the Seahawks have two of the most well-known bench attacks in the nation.

Tramon Mark and Khalif Battle, the team’s two double-digit scorers, have come off the bench for the Hogs, who have shown some major pop with a second unit that Eric Musselman is still working to figure out what combinations work best. Together, they scored 43 of Arkansas’ 62 bench points in the team’s 83-73 victory over Abilene Christian last week.

To be fair, Mark has started every game he has suit up for as a Razorback save three. However, Battle has continuously led the charge for a bench that includes players like Makhi Mitchell, Jalen Graham, and whoever guard isn’t starting on any given night and ranks No. 7 in the nation in terms of points scored per game.

Being in the starting lineup has some prestige attached to it, but there’s also merit to the team that finishes games. It is comforting to have at least one playmaker available off the bench, as Musselman points out. He gave several instances, one of which being the Seahawks, who will be in town this coming weekend.

“It’s really comforting to look down the bench and be able to have a go-to scorer,” Musselman stated. “JD Notae and I carried it out a few years back. You find yourself in a difficult situation if you simply begin your five scorers, or whatever you want to call it, and then you lose a game. I do believe there is beauty, whether it’s Bobby Jones coming off the bench for the Philadelphia 76ers years ago or another Sixers squad when Mark Aberoni started and then left the game rather quickly.”

Since we’re talking about Wilmington lately, they bring in White, their top scorer, off the bench. I would like to have one scorer that we can go to in the future.

Musselman is talking about UNC Wilmington’s premier player, junior wing Trazarien White, who is averaging just under 20 points per game, has scored over 20 points six times, and just last month at Rupp Arena, he put up 27 points against Kentucky.

Ten players from UNCW have participated in all 11 games and have played an average of more than 12 minutes each time out. The Seahawks roll with the hot hands as the game goes on, but they also effectively use their depth early in games with 5-in, 5-out replacement patterns. With 40.82 bench points per game, Wilmington is the national leader in this category.

“We have examined their patterns of replacement. Other than maybe a sixth or seventh man, we normally don’t investigate substitution patterns,” Musselman stated. “The team that will visit Bud Walton on Saturday makes excellent use of their bench; they are as deep as any team we have faced this season and most likely as deep as any team we will face. They also make the best use of their bench of any team we have faced this season and most likely any team that will play.

“I haven’t researched them like I have an opponent coming up, so I’m not sure if I’ve seen an SEC team this year, but they do hockey-line sub five at a time, and they’ll do it, for sure. What they’ve done recently, is at least at

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