Arkansas forward Marshawn Powell made an eye-opening declaration Tuesday, saying the Razorbacks have lacked leadership all season and he was determined to fill the void as they prepared to play in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

A day later, Arkansas coach John Pelphrey tried to downplay the freshman’s strong words.

Pelphrey told the media at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., that Powell’s comments were simply the product of several one-on-one meetings with the freshman. Pelphrey said he has often encouraged Powell, the team’s third-leading scorer, to take more ownership of the team and believes the message was seeping into his words Tuesday.

“Hopefully nobody reads into anything in terms of a negative standpoint,” Pelphrey said.

“We are encouraging a young man who has a chance to be a tremendous player. And when your best player is your hardest worker, then he’s got a chance to be a great leader, too. Those are the things that he was talking about (Tuesday).”

Pelphrey spoke extensively about Powell, leadership, team chemistry and Arkansas’ streaky season during a 15-minute question-and-answer session with the media Wednesday.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in attendance because I traveling to Nashville, Tenn. But I did get a copy of the press conference after I arrived. I’m glad I did, too. There were plenty of interesting items.

Clearly, Pelphrey wasn’t in complete agreement with Powell’s Tuesday assessment that “this is what this team needs is a leader. We haven’t had that all year.” But Pelphrey indicated Wednesday that it has been challenging to find consistency because of injuries, suspensions and other reasons.

“We’ve had to deal with a lot of guys not being on the court in leadership roles,” Pelphrey said of the season. “I think in my conversations with Marshawn, that’s kind of what he was talking about. He wants to continue to grow and be a great leader. To kind of be there consistently all the time.

“It’s not that anybody hasn’t done those things. When you’re not out there, it’s kind of difficult.”

Senior Michael Washington hasn’t been able to live up to his success as a junior largely because of injuries, which sidelined him for four games and limited him in others. Senior guard Stefan Welsh was suspended for the first three games of the year and has been playing in a reserve role. Point guard Courtney Fortson missed 14 games because of what was deemed a suspension and personal issues.

On the flip side, Powell is the only player to start and appear in every game. Pelphrey has often credited Powell for his work ethic, too, saying the freshman is the team’s hardest worker.

“I think Marshawn has proven himself as a player,” Pelphrey said. “He has also proven himself in terms of how hard he’s worked. He has had some success in the classroom last semester, he did very well.

“I think he’s got some characteristics of a leader and he is leading already in some fashion. … I’ll obviously encourage him to do more.”

There’s nothing wrong with Powell’s determination to stand up and show some ownership at the end of his freshman season. But let’s be honest: It will take much more than him when the Razorbacks open the SEC Tournament against Georgia tonight.

Arkansas has lost five straight games, which is the longest skid to end the regular season in school history. The Razorbacks will finish below .500 for the second straight season, too, unless they do something remarkable: Win the SEC Tournament by winning four games in four days.

It is the 10-year anniversary of Arkansas’ improbable four-day run to the title. It just so happens the Hogs were the SEC West’s third seed after going 7-9 in league play in 2000, too. Their first-round opponent? You guessed it – Georgia.

But history has nothing to do with chemistry, which is what Arkansas has been lacking. The Razorbacks haven’t been in sync on offense or defense the past few weeks. Turnovers, poor decisions, breakdowns and other errors have made it obvious that the pieces aren’t fitting now.

Once again, it was something Pelphrey addressed during his press conference Wednesday.

“It’s been unfortunate for us at times this year, like everybody has had to deal with adversity, every basketball program, every company, every classroom, it’s not always easy,” Pelphrey said Wednesday. “And it hasn’t always been easy for us.

“All teams want leadership. All teams want chemistry. If it was just that easy just to say it and have it, then we’d all do it. We’re certainly trying to encourage and mold and bring the best out in all these young men. We have done it at times and other times we haven’t.”

But Pelphrey said it’s the time of year where selfishness for any team typically goes out the window. Individual points, rebounds and assists don’t matter in the postseason. Teams are only consumed by finding ways to play more games.

Are the Razorbacks? That’s a very good question.

Pelphrey thinks so, insisting his team has remained a united bunch throughout the year despite the program’s ups and downs. Once again, he said it’s the hardest working group he has had during his Arkansas tenure. He said players like each other, too, and believes teamwork, camaraderie and chemistry will only grow with time.

“I think bottom line is, we’re going to continue to recruit and add guys to the program,” Pelphrey said. “We’ve got guys coming back who got tremendous experience now over this season and last season and it’s going to pay off for us.

“I think as you recruit, you gravitate toward people that hopefully have your personality and have those types of interest at heart. I am pleased with our basketball team from the standpoint that we have shown up and we have worked the next day, regardless of whether we won, regardless of whether we lost. Those guys have done those things.”

It’s clear Pelphrey believes he has a strong building block in Powell, whose thoughts on leadership have become the talk of the tournament in regard to Arkansas. But it’s also clear the Razorbacks have fallen short again in a season that could end with a loss to the Bulldogs tonight.

“Is it perfect right now? No it’s not,” Pelphrey said. “No team is. I think all of that is going to help us in terms of making progress toward winning.

“This season up until the last week, 10 days, we were in first place, competing for first place. That wasn’t the case the previous year. I certainly feel like that we could’ve done better, but everybody in the country will probably feel that way at some point in time this season.”