Eric Musselman identifies what hurt Arkansas late vs. Kentucky
It has been a disappointing season overall for Arkansas, but the Razorbacks nearly pulled off a huge win over Kentucky on Saturday. Ultimately, Arkansas came up just short against the sixth-ranked Wildcats, falling 63-57 in the back-and-forth game.
Afterwards, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman discussed one stretch in particular that proved costly.
The Razorbacks cut the Kentucky lead to 53-52 with 2:55 remaining on a layup by El Ellis, but the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run over the next 75 seconds to take control. Kentucky never looked back from that point forward.
Musselman shared what went wrong during the critical stretch.
“We didn’t take care of the ball,” Eric Musselman said. “I mean I don’t know. I obviously haven’t watched the film. There’s a lot going on in a head coach’s mind during the flow. So do I remember that stretch? Yes. I thought we turned it over during that stretch and maybe one ill-advised shot.”
Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves drilled a 3-pointer to push the lead to four points, before a turnover by Ellis and a layup by the Wildcats pushed the lead to six points.
Khalif Battle then turned it over for the Razorbacks and Reed Sheppard followed with a 3-pointer to push the lead to nine. For all intents and purposes, the game was over at that point. Musselman did see positives from the game, but overall it was disappointing to not find a way to win.
“The shot selection was much-improved tonight from where it has been. We were way more organized. And I thought we controlled the pace of the game,” Musselman said. “I mean that’s the No. 1 scoring team in the nation. I don’t know what the lowest scoring night that they’ve had [is], but I’m assuming that’s fairly close. And that’s with them going on that 8-0 run and busting us for some 3s really late in the game.”
The 63 points is the second-fewest for Kentucky on the season, behind only the 62 the Wildcats scored last week at South Carolina.
Eric Musselman still searching for answers at point guard
One reason Arkansas has struggled with turnovers, including against Kentucky, is because Eric Musselman is still searching for answers at point guard.
“We’ll just keep searching,” Eric Musselman said. “Like I said, we changed our style of play today and I thought it helped our defense. We changed some of our defensive schemes. I thought it really helped us. As the leader of the program, my job is to continue to tinker. I don’t have an answer for you right now on that or I would tell you.”
In the game against Kentucky, Musselman tried out Tramon Mark at the point. However, Musselman was concerned that it was not the best position for him to play in.
“We put T-Mark there for a while. That makes it difficult for him. He’s wired to score. We had turnovers from other guys. Fouls from other guys. We’ve just got to continue to search and, you know, find something.”