The Arkansas Razorbacks are gearing up for the start of the 2024-2025 season with first-year head coach John Calipari at the helm, and along with him is a roster that looks almost completely different from last year’s team.
All told, there are a total of 13 newcomers to this year’s team, as former head coach Eric Musselman left the cupboard almost entirely bare after he left for USC last spring. The only returner from last year’s squad is junior forward Trevon Brazile, who opted to return to Fayetteville after talking to Calipari.
There are just three days until fans get to see the Hogs on the floor, as Arkansas will host Kansas in a charity exhibition on Oct. 25 at Bud Walton Arena. The regular season will start on Nov. 6 with a home game against Lipscomb.
HawgBeat will profile each of the key parts of the Arkansas roster ahead of the season. In this profile, we’ll take a closer look at Florida Atlantic transfer Johnell Davis, who accompanied Calipari to SEC Media Day in Birmingham, Alabama, on Oct. 15.
After spending four seasons at FAU, Davis is at Arkansas for his final season of college eligibility. When former Owls head coach Dusty May left for Michigan, Davis entered his name into both the transfer portal and NBA Draft.
Davis worked out for several NBA teams, but ultimately decided to withdraw his name from the draft and sign with Arkansas. Calipari said in July that Davis has been pushing himself to get even better.
"Nelly lives in that gym," Calipari said July 29. "He’ll work out two, three times a day. He can really shoot it. What I love is making him uncomfortable, because when he’s uncomfortable, he’s uncomfortable and you can see it. I can say to him, 'This is what you have to overcome. We’ve got to make you comfortable being uncomfortable, because now you can be an attack dog.'"
Bio:
Position: Shooting guardHeight/Weight: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds
Year: Grad. Sr.
Previous School: Florida Atlantic
2023-24 Stats: 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.4 steals on 48.3 FG%, 41.4 3PT%, and 85.7 FT%.
Highlights:
What Davis brings to the table
A fifth-year guard who boasts as much scoring ability as he does college experience, it’s hard to picture Arkansas’ starting lineup this season without Johnell Davis in it.The main reason behind that is how effective he is at putting the ball in the hoop. He led Florida Atlantic in scoring a year ago with 18.2 points per game on 48.3% shooting (41.4% from three), which ranked fourth in the American Athletic Conference.
At his core, Davis is a three-level scorer who has the ability to break down defenses and get to the rack, create his own midrange shot or spot up and shoot the three.
In all but two games last season, Davis scored in double figures, with his season-high being 35 points against then-No. 4 Arizona on Dec. 23.
He's a strong defender, though questions remain if his speed and lateral quickness will hinder him against SEC-level guards. Last season, he averaged 1.4 steals per game, which ranked No. 12 in the AAC. His 2.6% steal rate last season was the lowest of his career, but he's notched a 3.4% steal rate for his entire career.
Davis also brings veteran leadership to the Arkansas roster this season, which is something his teammate, forward Adou Thiero, said helps bring team chemistry both on and off the court.
"On the court he’s a great leader," Thiero said. "He comes in and sets the tone, shows us you’ve got to be in the gym every day. He has a great work ethic and we try to follow after him. We call him, ‘Unc,’ because he’s the ‘Unc’ of the team. But off the court even, he’s telling us about how connected you have to be as a team to make it that far in March, or April. We just try to listen to that and build our team together. Build that brotherhood."
Where Davis needs to improve
One of the biggest sore spots on Davis' stat sheet is in the turnover department. The Gary, Indiana, native had 97 giveaways last year, the most in the AAC.
In the Owls' season-ending loss to Northwestern in the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament last year, Davis had nine turnovers.
It's unfair to put all of that on Davis, as some of those turnovers could be attributed to his teammates not being ready to accept a pass. Those high numbers could also be attributed to the fact that he had the ball in his hands an enormous amount of time at FAU. According to KenPom, Davis took 27.1% of the Owls' shots last season.
While he won't be the guy asked to run the point guard spot often — that spot is reserved for DJ Wagner — Davis could stand to see his assist numbers improve. He averaged 2.9 per game last season which ranked 13th in the AAC with 100 total.
Where Davis fits in the rotation
As HawgBeat mentioned in our starting five projection story, Davis is all but a shoe-in to start in the two-guard spot when the Hogs take the floor. His playmaking ability is too useful for him to be off the floor for extended periods of time.
Florida Atlantic knew he needed to be on the floor, too. He played 1,095 minutes for the Owls last year (32.2 minutes per game) which was the seventh-most in the AAC.
Davis' experience is something the Hogs will want to rely on as the grind of the SEC schedule wears on. He's played a total of 128 games in his college career, and has played on the highest of stages.
Davis was instrumental in the Owls' run to the Final Four in 2023. That experience could prove to be extremely vital if Arkansas wants to make a similar type of run in 2025.
