Eric Musselman reveals where Arkansas needs to improve on defense vs. Illinois

Arkansas jumped out in front early against Illinois on Thursday, taking a 12-7 lead into the second media timeout of the first half. But Eric Musselman knows his defense has to step up to contain a Fighting Illini offense that can get hot.

Musselman spoke with TBS’ Allie LaForce during the timeout and shared what the Razorbacks need to do to maintain their lead over Illinois. He credited the early rebounding, but said perimeter defense will be instrumental down the stretch.

“Well, we struggle at times offensively,” Musselman said. “I think defensively, we’ve just got to continue to play at a high level defensively and we’ve got to continue to rebound the ball defensively. We’ve done a good job on the defensive backboards, fairly decent job on the o-boards. [We’ve] got to guard the three and we’ve had too many long outlet passes that have let to turnovers. We need more shots on goal.”

The defense was working well early on. Illinois made just four of its first 18 shots — including one of six three-point attempts — through the first 12 minutes of the game. The Fighting Illini also struggled with turnovers early on as Arkansas turned seven Fighting Illini miscues into 11 points.

Musselman knew right away Arkansas wouldn’t have an easy matchup ahead with Illinois, which has been one of the more up-and-down teams in college basketball this season. But the Fighting Illini have plenty of experience, notably with transfer portal additions Terrence Shannon and Matthew Mayer. Those are two players Musselman pointed to when discussing the showdown on Selection Sunday as he acknowledged the job Brad Underwood did in the portal.

“Everybody that you would potentially play in the NCAA Tournament is a really good team,” Musselman said on Selection Sunday. “That’s why they’re in this tournament. Certainly, Illinois is really well-coached. Some guys that we’ve played before like Terrence Shannon, who was at Texas Tech, and obviously Matthew Mayer we played at Baylor. They got some really good transfers and it’s an excellent shot-blocking team. Anybody out of the Big Ten that qualifies for the NCAA Tournament is a really good team.”

Shannon leads the Fighting Illini with 17.1 points per game, while Mayer is second on the team with 12.8. They also rank fourth in the country with 181 total blocks as four players — including Mayer — are averaging more than one rejection per contest. Both Arkansas and Illinois rank among the top 50 in defensive rating, meaning the matchup could come down to which offense is able to make the most of its opportunities.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this report.