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Eric Musselman has heightened concern for Arkansas following Game 2 win of European Tour

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It’s only August, but there’s apparently cause for concern at Arkansas. As the Razorbacks embark on their European Tour, Eric Musselman is already seeing things he doesn’t like.

Arkansas played its second game of its foreign tour on Thursday and, after defeating Catalan Elite 99-86, Musselman first discussed a slow start. Then, he spoke at length about the Razorbacks’ defense and the need to shore things up before the season gets underway in November.

“Obviously, the way we started the game, not the way that we want to start games on both sides of the ball,” Musselman told reporters via Zoom. “Defensively, we have a long, long way to go.

“I know we don’t play until November, but extremely concerned about our defense on the ball. Extremely concerned about our defensive awareness off the ball. It’s going to be a challenge defensively. Is this team capable of guarding man-to-man? I don’t really know. We’ve never played any zone defense in seven years, but right now, simple cuts, we lose our man. So great concern for us defensively, for sure.”

Arkansas made some impressive additions for the 2022-23 season

Arkansas is coming off a big year in 2021-22, finishing with a 28-9 overall record and a 13-5 record in SEC action. The Razorbacks were a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and fell to Duke in the Elite Eight.

But Musselman did some serious work on the recruiting trail — both at the high school level and in the transfer portal. Arkansas has the No. 2 high school class in the nation coming in, according to the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, led by five-star guard Nick Smith. Smith is the No. 4 player in the country and the nation’s No. 1 shooting guard, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. All told, the Razorbacks have three top-20 recruits coming to Fayetteville.

Arkansas also has an impressive portal haul coming in, including former Mizzou forward Trevon Brazile, who came in as the No. 16 transfer to hit the portal during the 2021 cycle, according to the 2021 On3 Transfer Portal Rankings.