The No. 23 Arkansas Razorbacks (11-2, 0-0 SEC) open SEC play on the road Saturday when they face the No. 1-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (13-0, 0-0 SEC). With the beginning of league play, the SEC released its first men’s basketball availability and the Razorbacks only had one player listed. 

Arkansas senior guard Johnell Davis was officially listed as ‘Probable’ on the initial availability report Friday night. The veteran shooting guard has missed the last two games as he continued to nurse a wrist injury suffered over the summer which sidelined him in the preseason.

Davis is averaging 9.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists while knocking down 46.3% of his field goals and 38.8% of his 3-point attempts. On Thursday, Arkansas associate head coach Kenny Payne revealed Davis had returned to practice with the team this week.

“He’s been practicing,” Payne said. “He’s getting better. He’s still missing a little bit of his rhythm but he’s back and he’s getting better every day. He’s been going hard.”

At different points throughout the non-conference schedule, Arkansas has been without key players and were forced to make due with shorter rotations. Veteran forward Jonas Aidoo missed all preseason action due to a lower leg injury. He saw limited action in the first three games of the regular season, but following a short appearance against Troy on Nov. 13, Aidoo missed the next three games from to rehab the same injury. 

Aidoo returned to the lineup against Illinois on Thanksgiving Day and hasn’t missed a game since. Unfortunately for the Hogs, though, Trevon Brazile (ankle), Zvonimir Ivisic (ankle), Adou Thiero (illness) and Billy Richmond (illness) have also missed time at various points in the first 13 games. This has made scrimmaging in practice difficult which has kept the Razorbacks in what Payne calls a “learning phase” when it comes to evaluating different lineups. 

“We’ve got different lineups, Jonas and TB,  Z and Jonas, they all bring different things to the table,” Payne said. “But we’ve had so many injuries, it’s been hard to pinpoint and get a lot of different feel and a lot of experience together.

“So, we’re still in that phase where we’re learning about each other and which, which guys play well together. But those guys all now you’re seeing, ‘Oh, TB can play with anybody. Jonas can play with anybody. We can go small, we can go big.’ Whatever it is, as long as we are disciplined in what we are doing and aggressive, we’ll do well in.”

This year for all SEC football, basketball and baseball games, the conference requires teams to release player availability reports prior to league games. The initial report for men’s basketball is due at 7 p.m. (CST) the night before every conference game, and each player will be listed as Available, Probable, Questionable, Doubtful or Out. The Game Day Update is due two hours before tip-off and each player will be listed as Available, Game Time Decision or Out. 

ARKANSAS INITIAL UPDATE

Probable: Johnell Davis

TENNESSEE INITIAL UPDATE

Out: J.P. Estrella