By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas forward Marshawn Powell has made an impression throughout his freshman season.
It’s obvious whenever Arkansas coach John Pelphrey talks about Powell, crediting his work ethic. It’s clear he has earned the admiration from teammates, too. And the Southeastern Conference even recognized Powell’s skills by naming him to the league’s All-Freshman team.
But Powell made another kind of impression with an attention-grabbing statement Tuesday, answering a question about his leadership role for next season with a jaw-dropping proclamation. Next year? Arkansas is his team right now.
“I believe this is my team …” Powell said. “I’m taking it and just putting it on my back. This is what this team needs is a leader. We haven’t had that all year.
“So it’s my turn to try it, I guess.”
Powell will get a chance to prove it when he leads the struggling Razorbacks (14-17, 7-9 in SEC) into the Southeastern Conference Tournament against Georgia (13-16, 5-11) on Thursday night. Arkansas has slumped to five straight losses, which has placed a black cloud on a season that started to look promising after a 6-3 start in SEC play.
Leadership has been a question surrounding the Hogs through their late-season skid. Powell made it clear Tuesday he doesn’t think it has been strong enough, but also said he isn’t afraid to fill the void in the postseason.
Arkansas may not be surprised, either. Powell’s comments ended the press conference, but his leadership abilities were a topic senior Stefan Welsh spoke about earlier Tuesday.
“I think he has grown in that department, being more vocal and wanting to step up and make plays down the stretch in basketball games,” Welsh said. “He’s done a little bit of everything. As long as he continues to just work on his body and continues to get better, he’s going to be fine.”
Powell is Arkansas’ third-leading scorer (15.1 points a game) and leads the Hogs in rebounding (6.7), turning in one of the best freshman seasons in school history.
Powell admitted he didn’t expect to produce so much so quickly Tuesday, but embraced the role with Michael Sanchez sidelined by foot problems throughout the year.
“I really surprised myself to be honest,” Powell said. “I thought I wasn’t ready at all to be thrown into the situation I was thrown into. But I handled it very well. My coaches and my teammates did nothing but encourage me. I did well.”
The Razorbacks have leaned on Powell, who first showed signs of his work ethic by shedding roughly 30 pounds in the offseason. Powell has responded by being a steadier contributor than Washington, who has battled injuries.
Powell might not have been spectacular in every game, but Pelphrey said he has been impressed by the forward’s consistency in practice and on game days.
“There are a lot of guys out there that have a lot of ability, but they don’t like being told what to do,” Pelphrey said during Monday’s SEC Teleconference. “Then they turn around and don’t work hard at what they say they love. So they’re a walking contradiction and never reach their potential. Marshawn Powell is not one of those guys.”
His play has drawn praise from other SEC coaches, who have regularly complimented Powell after seeing him in person.
“I remember one of the first times I watched Arkansas play, I thought, ‘Hey this kid is going to be a really good player in this league,’” Georgia coach Mark Fox said. “And he’s proven to be that already as a freshman.”
Powell is currently in the middle of a two-game slump, combining to score 17 points on 7 of 28 shooting (25 percent) in losses to Tennessee and Ole Miss. It’s no secret opponents have gameplanned to limit Powell’s production in the post and the freshman said it has made for a challenging stretch.
But he is taking it as a learning experience.
“The first half of the season teams didn’t really know much about me,” Powell said. “So they’d play me straight up one-on-one. But now I’ve been playing pretty decent over the course of the season and I’d say the second half of the season I started getting into people’s scouting report.
“I take it game by game, just trying to figure out new ways to score and get myself open or get another teammate open.”
Arkansas will need everything it can get from Powell, its new self-proclaimed leader, against the Bulldogs.
His eye-opening statement wasn’t the first time Powell has shown signs of leadership this season. He urged teammates to go back to work after a tough loss at Alabama last month, then responded with 26 points in the South Carolina win.
Will Powell stand up to his belief that Arkansas is his team now with another strong outing Thursday? That remains to be seen. But there’s no doubt Powell expects to deliver.
“It’s my first one,” Powell said of the SEC Tournament. “I would love for us to do great things in this one.
“We’ve been practicing pretty hard. We’ve been ready. We can’t close out games, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to fix that before our next game.”
