Porter Moser on Eric Musselman's ejection: 'I'm not gonna comment on it'

Oklahoma’s 79-70 win over Arkansas on Saturday was grueling. No one was spared, including the referees. The two teams combined for six technical fouls in the contest, including two on Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman that resulted in an automatic ejection.

Musselman exploded after Arkansas was called for four fouls in the first four minutes of the second half. The calls boosted Oklahoma to an 11-2 run to stretch their lead to 48-33. Musselman had seen enough.

The 59-year-old coach ran on the court and had to be restrained by his fellow coaches. After the game, Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser wasn’t interested in discussing Musselman’s outburst.

“I’m not gonna comment on it. He’s a competitor. I’ll stand and coach, and it is what it is,” Moser said. “All I’ve got are positive comments.”

Musselman was similarly short-breathed about his ejection.

“I have no comments about the refs at all,” Musselman said.

Musselman has only been ejected three times in his 146 games as Arkansas’ head coach. Two of those games were against Oklahoma at the BOK Center. There’s something about those Sooners.

Oklahoma steps up in heated moment

Of course, referees weren’t the sole reason behind Oklahoma’s impressive victory. In the win, the Sooners shot 51% from the field and 38.9% from beyond the arc. Oklahoma also dominated down low, scoring 10 more paint points than the Razorbacks.

Moser couldn’t help but smile after the win.

“I mean obviously they have done extremely well, and so we’re excited,” Moser said. “I’ve said this many times, but we’re trying to be great where our feet are today.

“You know it’s an emotional game,” Moser said. “You can play with emotion, but you can’t play emotionally, but we had a lot of guys step up and I think (junior guard Javian McCollum) continued to step up.”

McCollum finished the game with a season-high 20 points while shooting 5-13 from the field and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe. McCollum also added five rebounds and four assists in the triumph. McCollum knows the Sooners’ standout performance will only put a target on their back, and he’s excited for the challenge.

“That’s what we want,” McCollum said. “We want to be the best. We want to beat the best. That’s what you want to ask for. That’s what it takes to win a national championship. You want that target on your back. You want to go out there with knowing that those teams respect you at a high level, because we’re going out there competing at a high level every night.”