Razorbacks Davonte Davis drives against Kansas in NCAA Tournament on Saturday. — (Jeffrey Becker / USA TODAY Sports)

Arkansas Cried Right Along with Devo Davis

Following what may be the biggest upset in Razorback NCAA Tournament history, emotions overflowed

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Mar 20, 2023 7:11 PM EDT
Original:
Mar 18, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

DES MOINES, Iowa – In a room of Arkansas fans a man looked over at his wife as tears welled up in her eyes.

"You OK?"

She stared back with a shiny glimmer as the pools tried to hold on for dear life.

"I'm going to be crying for a while."

Seconds later, Arkansas guard Davonte Davis stepped up to the microphone as a member of the CBS crew asked him a question he may not have even heard.

The young man lovingly known to people across the state as "Devo" tried to put together a thought, but words weren't going to express the emotion spreading across his face that Davis fought so hard to hold back.

"I don't know," Davis said. "I put in a lot of work."

It was obvious that he didn't want to cry on national television, but it meant too much.

For the first time today, he found an opponent he couldn't stop.

The tears fell.

The team Davis watched as a kid growing up in Jacksonville, Arkansas, a city of 29,000 on the outskirts of Little Rock, had been dead to rights.

Kansas was the monster that was about to mercifully bring to an end an up-and-down season that brought with it so much promise after a massive influx of talent was brought in to join Davis and senior Kamani Johnson, the lone holdouts from back-to-back Elite 8 runs.

But with 16 minutes left and the Jayhawks up 11, Davis made a conscious decision.

He cared too much. The Hogs weren't going out like this.

With a furious driving lay-up off a Kansas turnover, "Devo" put the team on his back and went to work.

Much of the half was played with four fouls, yet at no point did he let up.

Fouls be damned. There had to be a way to win. He wasn't going miss the path to victory being scared of fouling out.

Fourteen minutes and 21 points later, that foul finally came. Davis went to the bench a point short of leading his team back at 63-64 with nothing left to give as he slumped into his chair.

It had meant so much and he had left it all on the floor.

But, that's just it. He left it all on the floor.

In Ricky Council.

In Kamani Johnson.

In Jordan Walsh.

In Anthony Black.

They had just watched their leader, who had been pushed from his role when freshman 5-star recruit and friend of Davis, Nick Smith, decided he wanted to come back to the team in mid-February, show a team of newcomers what it means to be an Arkansas Razorback.

Council hit a step-back jumper to tie it, 65-65.

Then Johnson fought for an offensive rebound, powering his way back up to put Arkansas in front.

Council followed by going after Kevin McCullar, who was playing with four fouls, sending the Kansas guard and his 13 points packing while knocking down the first free throw.

When the second one came off the rim, Council tracked it down and went barreling toward the basket again, drawing yet another foul.

It was exactly what Davis would have done.

The ball had been deflected his way as Walsh fought to give the Hogs a second chance.

First free throw. Buried.

Second free throw. Buried.

Arkansas was up 70-67 with 20 seconds.

Kansas had just endured over 15 minutes of haymakers. The weight of the moment had them reeling.

Walsh fouled out 12 seconds later making sure the Jayhawks wouldn't get the opportunity to hit a three to tie while being careful to allow as much time as possible run off the clock.

If it got to overtime, the Hogs were toast. There would be an emotional letdown and not many players left with Davis, Makhi Mitchell, and Walsh now permanently on the bench.

Musselman brought in guys for free throw shooting purposes, but Council wasn't leaving this to anyone else. The Wichita State transfer broke free and drew the foul.

Coolly, he stepped to the line, knocking down both to put Arkansas up by three once more.

All the Razorbacks had to do was make sure Kansas didn't get a shot for a three.

As the Jayhawks pushed up the floor, the plan was to set a screen on Black to free up an open look.

Black has been in a boot nursing a lower leg injury all week. It was to the point that a few days earlier, Illinois fans were constantly refreshing sports pages hoping to see that he would be unavailable for the first round game.

But, here he was in obvious pain all night, gutting it out.

As the screen came, Black planted hard, shooting past the screen to foul Big 12 Player of the Year Jalen Wilson.

Wilson made the first, then accidentally banked in the second trying to intentionally miss, ending any chance at a comeback.

The clock ticked its final three seconds. It was done.

There was nothing left.

Davis had used all he had physically, and his teammates spent every last drop of what he had given them spiritually.

"I don't know. It's crazy," Davis said as he turned away from the camera shaking his head.

He tried to shake off the emotional exhaustion that comes with carrying an entire state in a desperate attempt to just not let it end, but he couldn't.

Finally, Davis leaned his head down bending at his waist, unable to hold it together.

"@MrDevoBuckets needs a hug," Arkansas fan Ellen Grace Sullivan wrote on her Twitter feed. "All of Arkansas is wrapping our arms around you you sweet, beautiful human."

Hundreds of miles away from the corn fields of Iowa, in the comforts of the NCAA Tournament studios, Kenny Smith and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley expressed their respect for what they just saw from Davis.

"If you guys watched that interview with Mr. Davis after the game, if that don't let you know what's great about this tournament and sports, then you're not a human," Barkley said. "We put his stats up there. He's averaging 10 points a game. He hits 25 in the most important game of the season. When they were down 10, he scored every meaningful bucket. I know Council scored the last few on the free throw line, but if it wasn't for Davis, it wouldn't have been a good game."

Then Smith stepped in after waiting patiently for his chance to honor Davis.

"There's a terminology that most sports people are familiar with called a gut-check," Smith said. "For those at home, a gut-check is if you run a mile and that's really your limit and then the coach goes 'Give me one more mile,' Not one more lap. One more mile. That's the gut-check. That means you don't have anything else left inside you.

"That's why I think you saw the exasperation on Davonte Davis, because he didn't have anything left and he gave it all. That's why he had tears going into the Sweet 16. You're like, 'Wait, they didn't win a national championship.' He didn't have anything left in the tank. He gave it all and that was the difference."

In the ultimate show of respect, the team waited patiently for Davis to return to the locker room.

When he finally made his way in, every water bottle in the room anointed him the new favorite son of Arkansas.

Although, fans may have to fight for custody with Musselman.

"Devo was absolutely incredible," Musselman said. "I feel like he's my son. I love this kid so much!"

So will the Razorback history books.