Devo has plenty of fun in win

FAYETTEVILLE — Davonte “Devo” Davis broke out of an early season shooting slump Wednesday by going heavy on his bread and butter in the Arkansas Razorbacks’ 97-60 win over the University of Central Arkansas at Walton Arena.

Davis drove to the basket on the break and made a series of runners in the lane and reverse layups on clean passes from his teammates to record a season-high 16 points for the University of Arkansas.

Davis made 6 of 9 shots, his first game with better than 50% shooting this season, and filled up his stat line with 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals to go against 2 turnovers.

The 6-4 guard from Jacksonville entered the game shooting 38.1% from the field, with 17 assists and 14 turnovers.

“One of the things that I keep talking to Davonte about is have fun, man,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “Like, last year his personality, the smile, the energy … like, he gave me energy. He gave me enthusiasm. And I think this year he’s been a little bit more conservative maybe from a having fun standpoint.”

Arkansas forward Jaylin Williams said he’s seen this kind of basketball out of Davis for three or four years.

“We all know what Devo can do,” Williams said. “We know he’s the best defender on the court.

“We know he can score the ball on offense, break down his guy. Really, we’ve just been waiting for it to come out.”

Davis had a plus-minus rating of plus-30, the highest on the team Wednesday.