Ricky Council IV's late-game burst propels Arkansas basketball to win over Troy

FAYETTEVILLE — Eric Musselman was worried about a post-Maui letdown against Troy. Arkansas basketball's coach said Saturday he had spoken with coaches who had played in the Maui Invitational before, and he was concerned about playing so soon after having three games in three days at the Hawaii-based tournament.

Add in that the Razorbacks were without a regular starter in Davonte Davis, and Arkansas found itself both tired and somewhat depleted. Some of Arkansas' players, Musselman joked, were still on Maui time.

Ricky Council IV, he said, was on Arkansas time. He scored a season-high 27 points in the No. 11 Razorbacks' 74-61 win over Troy at Bud Walton Arena on Monday.

For much of the game, Arkansas' defense had trouble stopping Troy's attack, and the Razorbacks struggled to get the offense going. When Arkansas (6-1) managed to build a small lead, the Trojans (6-2) put together a run to take it right back.

Late in the second half, however, the Razorbacks built a lead that lasted. Council was crucial that effort, going on a personal 11-0 run complete with a 3-pointer from well beyond the arc. A pair of free throws by Kamani Johnson and four points from Jordan Walsh made it a 17-0 run over about five minutes.

Council made his last six field goal attempts and scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half.

"He’s really tough to stop going to the basket, he draws free-throws attempted, and his mid-range pull-up game, he rises over people," Musselman said. "He’s playing with a lot of confidence, he’s playing with a lot of energy, and he’s playing with a lot of joy."

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Makhi Mitchell's solid game

Council said that when he was on his way to the arena for Monday's game, he thought to himself that the matchup with Troy would be Makhi Mitchell's game. He joked after the game that he should've posted the prediction somewhere, because he was proven right.

Arkansas' first six points of the game came on layups by Mitchell. Two of those layups were put-backs after Mitchell grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds.

It was a tone-setter for the rest of Mitchell's game. He was one rebound shy of a double-double in the first half, and he reached a season high 10 points before the break. He finished with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting, nine rebounds and three blocks.

"It just kind of came to me," Mitchell said. "Coach has been emphasizing that he needs more out of the bigs as far as blocking shots and everything on the defensive end, so I just did my job."

Nick Smith Jr.'s debut

Guard Nick Smith Jr. played in his first regular-season game after missing the first six for "right knee management," according to the team. Musselman said the freshman's minutes are restricted as he works his way back.

Smith checked in about six minutes into the game to an ovation from the Bud Walton Arena crowd. He played only six minutes in the back-and-forth contest and finished 0-for-2 from the field with one rebound.

"He probably could have waited, quite frankly, to put on the uniform until (the next game), but he wants to be a great teammate and he wants to contribute," Musselman said. "Now Game 1 is out of the way, which I think is a good thing.... What he did tonight, it’s really, really hard."

Up next

Arkansas hosts San Jose State at Bud Walton Arena on Saturday (3 p.m. CT, SECN).

Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks for the Southwest Times Record and USA TODAY Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Led by Ricky Council IV, Arkansas basketball fends off Troy