FAYETTEVILLE - If Arkansas fans didn't already love Miikka Muurinen, those in attendance at Wednesday's exhibition against Memphis do now.
With 8:27 to go and the Razorbacks leading 79-62, he dove on the floor and got a jump ball called after missing a free throw. That got the relatively sparse crowd, announced at 10,586, on its fee, and their applause became a roar when Arkansas retained possession.
Muurinen got to his feet and yelled, doing his part to hype up the fans.
"I just wanted to hype them up," Muurinen explained post-game. "I felt like the crowd was kind of, dropping some intensity."
The UA faithful in Bud Walton on Wednesday certainly didn't lack any intensity when Muurinen made a big play.
He made the first field goal of the game to make the score 3-0, making a play fans saw Trevon Brazile execute plenty of times by stealing an errant pass and slamming the ball home on the other end.
Muurinen ended the night with a double-double, scoring 10 points on 4-7 shooting from the field and a 2-4 mark from the foul line. He snagged 12 rebounds and had two steals in just 19 minutes.
"He had a double-double. 12 rebounds," Arkansas head coach John Calipari said. "You think about, if I can get my other guys rebounding, we won the rebound battle by six, but we're trying to go 10, 12-plus rebounds. Why? Seven foot, head on the rim, head on the rim, 6-11, seven foot. We're big. Go get balls."
Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway was particularly complimentary of Muurinen.
"Miikka could be the No. 1 overall pick," Hardaway said. "This dude is ridiculous. He's like so long, so active. When he spreads out, man, it's like he covers the entire arena. I mean, that's really looking at like a Victor Wembanyama type player, a Greek freak, Giannis type player."
Time will tell if the Finnish freshman turns out to be as good as Hardaway thinks he can be. So far through two exhibitions, there's no reason to think he can't be.
On a team full of big, athletic players who can both play inside and shoot the lights out, Muurinen fits the bill. The sky seems to be the limit for him, and if he can consistently contribute like he did on Wednesday, he may well end up playing his way into a lottery selection next year.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/arkansas as 'Could Be The No. 1 Overall Pick': Miikka Muurinen Quickly Making Waves At Arkansas .
