Eric Musselman: Defensive rebounding an 'area of concern' after first half vs. Texas A&M

Arkansas entered Tuesday night hoping to bounce back from two straight losses last week, and the Razorbacks looked strong against Texas A&M. The Razorbacks took a 35-31 lead into halftime, led by 13 points from Makhi Mitchell.

According to Eric Musselman, it wasn’t perfect. He pointed to the rebounding differential to illustrate his point. Texas A&M pulled down 17 boards in the first 20 minutes, including five on offense, while Arkansas had 15 rebounds.

That, Musselman said, needed to improve in the second half.

“We played a solid first half, defensively, offensively,” Musselman told ESPN’s Marty Smith. “Still a lot of areas that we’ve got to improve on. Certainly, the defensive rebounding is an area of concern. Buzz Williams teams are really physical, do a great job on the offensive glass. Defensive block-outs are important.”

Mitchell led the charge for Arkansas with 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting while adding five rebounds. Khalif Battle also added 10 points as the Razorbacks shot 42.3% from the field to take the four-point lead. Mitchell’s performance was especially important, though, and Musselman said that will have to be the case again in the second half if Arkansas wants to get the victory.

“He’s played so well of late,” Musselman said. “He’s playing with a force, he’s playing with an energy. Really, really important that he has a good second half for us, as well.”

Mitchell is coming off the biggest game of the season so far, pouring in 21 points and grabbing nine rebounds against Mississippi State. He has reached double-digit scoring in five of his last six games, and Musselman previously shared what stood out about the performance against Mississippi State.

“I thought he did a great job in pick and rolls as a short roller making plays. We utilized him in spots depending on how the opponent plays pick and roll coverages,” Eric Musselman said. “It was a really good game for him to step up.”

“We knew that Tolu Smith is an incredibly offensive talented player. We wanted to make Smith defend a little bit. I thought that (Makhi) did that by aggressively going to the basket.”

Arkansas got off to a rough start to SEC play before two wins over its last five games. The Razorbacks are looking to get back in the win column against a Texas A&M team coming off a 100-75 drubbing at the hands of Alabama over the weekend – and as the race to March Madness begins.