Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman on putting together the analysis of every game in The Battle 4 Atlantis last week that wasn't good heading into Wednesday night's matchup with Duke at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
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00:00 - Yeah, coach, I'm not sure how much y'all have practiced
00:01 since getting back from the Bahamas,
00:03 but I'm curious, have you been around the team at all
00:07 to kind of see where they're at mentally?
00:08 Do you feel good about where y'all are at,
00:10 you know, from a mental standpoint?
00:12 - Well, you know, I think,
00:15 you know, anytime you've played the way that we have,
00:21 you know, the last three out of four games,
00:26 I mean, we need to play better basketball than we have,
00:29 you know, and so, you know, how we are mentally today
00:33 when we go down to practice,
00:34 as opposed to how we are mentally,
00:36 you know, at eight o'clock on Wednesday,
00:42 I mean, they're two different things, you know?
00:43 So I know how I am mentally.
00:48 You know, I'm not sure how they are, but I know how I am.
00:51 - And then also, Leighton Blocker,
00:55 he didn't play a whole lot the first four games,
00:57 but he gave y'all really quality minutes
00:58 down there in the Bahamas.
01:00 Was there something that you had seen from him
01:01 in practice that led you to believe
01:02 that that kind of performance was coming from him,
01:04 or is it just a matter of getting in the game
01:06 and making the most of his minutes?
01:07 - No, you know, Leighton's a very competitive player,
01:10 but his crash in the offensive glass
01:16 has affected our transition defenses.
01:19 I've never watched more film
01:25 over a 24-hour period in my entire coaching career
01:28 than I did in the last 24 hours.
01:32 So the good thing is we found some areas
01:38 we got to get better at.
01:39 Leighton's got to have way more assist as a point guard
01:42 than what he has on the season for his minutes played.
01:45 Leighton cannot go to the offensive glass
01:48 and give up transition points to R.J. Davis.
01:51 So is Leighton playing hard?
01:54 He's playing as hard as any player possibly can play.
01:58 Great effort, great energy, great toughness,
02:01 but there's some areas that he's got to evaluate,
02:05 look at on film.
02:06 It's the first time that I've done all the individual
02:12 cutups for players as well,
02:14 with labeling the tape myself,
02:17 with normally coaches in their pods do it.
02:22 So it's pretty clear where we have to get better at
02:24 with each individual player.
02:26 And so, as you're not playing where you want to play,
02:34 I think Hutch, naturally as a coach,
02:38 you're going to put in another guy and give it.
02:41 So El played minutes early, Leighton got an opportunity,
02:48 both as all of us, we all got to get better.
02:52 And so what you try to do is identify
02:54 where a player needs to get better.
02:56 You try to point that out,
02:59 and then you see if you can improve in that area.
03:04 - And a quick follow up, a quick follow up,
03:07 if I can't coach, you mentioned you did all the cutups
03:10 yourself, it's the first time you've done that.
03:11 Is that the first time you've done that at Arkansas
03:14 or Nevada and why did you do that?
03:17 - Because I wanted to break down every single
03:21 little tiny detail that needs to get cleaned up.
03:26 And I wanted the responsibility or the voice to come
03:32 from the head coach on exactly what areas
03:38 we want each guy to get better at.
03:40 - Curtis.
03:44 - Coach, I kind of asked you in the aftermath on Friday,
03:47 but it sounds like it might be a better question now.
03:50 What's at the top of the priority list
03:53 or maybe where does it start in terms of as a team
03:55 getting back on track where you want to be?
03:57 - Well, first of all, I mean, the way that we put together
04:03 the schedule, Curtis, is, I mean, obviously Duke
04:07 is one of the best teams in the country.
04:11 You look at this team and their center is a lottery pick.
04:16 Proctor, one of their guard slash wings is a lottery pick.
04:24 So we're playing against two lottery picks.
04:27 And number one, Foster is a early mid 20 type pick
04:32 based on mock draft.
04:36 So we're playing against three draft picks.
04:39 It'll all happen probably before 20.
04:42 So we're playing against a really good basketball team
04:46 with some guys that made a decision to come back
04:51 and play college basketball after they, you know,
04:53 a lot of, they got some guys on their team
04:55 that would have been first round picks last year.
04:59 I mean, they came back to get better.
05:01 You know, and then we got another game
05:06 and then we got Oklahoma, like we got,
05:07 like it's as brutal a stretch as I've experienced.
05:12 But there's some, you know, we need some better performances
05:18 individually, both sides of the basketball.
05:21 We're fouling way too much off the ball.
05:25 We'd broken down our fouls per minute.
05:29 We're not creating nearly the amount of steals.
05:32 I mean, Joseph Pinnion has played very, very limited minutes
05:37 and has similar steals to some of our guys
05:40 that have played over a hundred minutes more than him.
05:43 So defending without foul, I mean,
05:46 if we were fouling a lot and getting a lot of steals,
05:50 that would make sense, but we're fouling a lot
05:53 and not getting steals,
05:55 probably a recipe for being where we are.
05:59 So, you know, that's one area that goes hand in hand.
06:06 If you're going to be overly aggressive by fouling,
06:09 then you should be getting steals.
06:11 I mean, we're just fouling people 30 feet away from the ball
06:14 just because we're fouling them.
06:16 And, you know, you guys can do the fouls per minute
06:19 and all that, but got to do a better job
06:23 defending without fouling,
06:24 got to create more offense through our defense.
06:27 Now, maybe, I don't know,
06:29 maybe the personnel is not going to work doing that,
06:33 but we have to get a lot better than what we have been
06:36 in those two areas, for sure.
06:38 - And you mentioned the schedule.
06:40 This is obviously the first year for the ACC SEC Challenge.
06:44 Do you like having an event like this
06:46 early in the season, late November,
06:48 or did you prefer what you did with the Big 12
06:50 with the late January, or do you have a preference at all?
06:54 - I don't really care.
06:55 - Fair enough, thanks.
06:57 - Bob.
06:57 - You're on mute, Bob.
07:03 - Sorry, sorry about that.
07:04 You were telling Andrew that,
07:06 I'll get a hang of this after five years,
07:08 that, you know, you know where you are mentally,
07:10 but you didn't say where you are mentally,
07:12 so where are you mentally right now?
07:14 - Well, I want to get a lot better than we are.
07:19 You know, when that happens, how that happens,
07:23 we're still trying to work through all that, Bob,
07:26 but I think we're going to get a lot better
07:29 and we're going to get a lot better.
07:30 We're still trying to work through all that, Bob,
07:32 but, you know, you guys will ask me a question
07:36 and I'll identify the answer in a very clear manner
07:40 as far as, you know, I mentioned the defending without foul
07:43 and I mentioned the lack of steals.
07:45 Offensively, a lack of assists.
07:50 We need way more assists.
07:53 The ball's got to move way better than it has.
07:58 You know, so those are areas that, you know,
08:01 that we got to improve in.
08:03 - And then Blocker, I get he's making some freshman mistakes,
08:06 but you gave him some pretty good minutes
08:07 and he did do some good things.
08:09 How do you think he's developing?
08:11 And just how big a boost did he give you in the Bahamas?
08:14 How big a boost could he give you maybe Wednesday night,
08:16 especially if T-Mark can't play?
08:18 - Yeah, no, I think, again, Layton's effort, phenomenal.
08:23 Toughness, phenomenal.
08:27 You know, defensively, we got, you know,
08:31 I mean, we had a guy at a career high
08:32 at the point guard position in R.J. Davis.
08:36 Like we got to guard him better.
08:38 I mean, that's all of our guards that were assigned to him,
08:41 Layton included, 'cause Davis had a career high.
08:45 So, you know, again, loose ball getting,
08:50 all that stuff, offensive rebounding does it
08:53 as good as any point guard can do it,
08:56 but at that position, both Layton, L, Diva,
09:01 like we have to get, you know, we got to get,
09:04 we got to improve in a lot of areas,
09:07 'cause, you know, we saw the guard from UNCG
09:10 have a good game offensively.
09:12 I mentioned R.J. Davis had a big game,
09:16 and then, you know, against Memphis,
09:18 it was obviously their six five wing Jones that hurt us.
09:22 And against Stanford, it was their six seven wing.
09:26 So defensively, we got to improve across the board,
09:31 but certainly the minutes that Layton got
09:34 were great minutes for a freshman
09:36 in a really, really, really big, good tournament.
09:42 - And then Mike told us that, you know,
09:44 T-Mark's still being evaluated,
09:46 don't really know what his status is.
09:48 How tough is that to repair for a team like Duke
09:50 when you're not sure when one of your best players,
09:54 maybe your best player's status is up in the air,
09:56 and kind of how do you approach that
09:57 early in practice this week?
09:59 - Well, it's not ideal, you know,
10:03 to have a guy that's, in my opinion,
10:06 one of the toughest competitors that I've ever coached.
10:11 I think that's where you start with T-Mark,
10:14 is his toughness, is his competitive nature,
10:17 and his will to win, all those,
10:19 and then you add in, he's your leading scorer,
10:21 which obviously he is.
10:23 You know, but I mean, the fact of the matter is, Bob,
10:27 you know, we traveled back,
10:29 left the hotel at roughly 6 a.m.,
10:33 got back at roughly three o'clock.
10:35 That's a long travel day,
10:37 which should have been a three-hour flight,
10:39 but turned into, I mean, we could have gone to Europe
10:42 and stopped, and, you know, for whatever reason,
10:45 another, you know, to and from was,
10:49 we got to Maui quicker, let's put it like that,
10:52 both ways traveling.
10:54 But T-Mark was in a wheelchair,
10:57 you know, on the travel day.
11:00 Danielle and I went and visited him Sunday night,
11:05 just to check on him.
11:08 He's gotten tests done, MRIs done,
11:13 you know, obviously he had the stuff done in the Bahamas,
11:16 but he's still being evaluated.
11:19 There's a spine specialist coming in today at two o'clock.
11:24 So one minute ago, if he's prompt,
11:28 he's down there looking at T-Mark right now.
11:32 Tried to get him in the underwater, you know, treadmill,
11:39 just to get him to, you know, to walk a little bit
11:42 and try to get a little bit loose.
11:43 So that, I just gave you everything
11:46 I could give you, you know,
11:49 we don't question at all,
11:51 like whenever he's able to play, whenever that is,
11:55 like he's going to be anxious to play.
11:59 He's going to, as soon as his body, you know,
12:04 is able to play, I have no doubt that he'll be in uniform
12:09 whenever that is.
12:10 - Scott.
12:13 - Yeah, Eric, any update on Jalen Graham?
12:16 Maybe the likelihood of a return this week, do you know?
12:19 - No, no, you know, no update at all.
12:23 - And you mentioned the steals.
12:26 Last year, I just looked at Ken Palm,
12:27 y'all were top 25 in steal percentage.
12:30 This year, outside the top or outside 300,
12:32 get like, can you put your finger on that?
12:34 Like what do you attribute the lack of steals to?
12:36 - Well, when you play, you know,
12:42 when you play the same, you know, defensive schemes
12:46 and you have the same drills,
12:49 you know, then it just comes down to individual, you know,
12:55 if we had changed our scheme
12:57 and had become a little bit more passive defensively
13:01 or we're keeping the lane a little bit more compact
13:04 across the board, we need way more activity with our hands.
13:12 You know, I mean, that's, you just read the numbers, Scotty.
13:17 And, you know, I didn't even look up last year's,
13:21 thanks for making, putting us in a better mood.
13:26 - Daniel.
13:28 - Hey coach, you mentioned that you were the one
13:32 that was kind of individually pointing out the details
13:34 in the packages.
13:36 Just, are these details kind of being picked up in practice
13:39 and just not translating?
13:40 Or are y'all missing many of the same details
13:43 in practice as well?
13:44 - Well, we haven't practiced in a week based on the schedule.
13:58 I think every team should,
14:04 whether you're a NFL team, an NHL team,
14:09 what are we, seven games into the season?
14:12 I'm pretty sure that unless you're talking to a coach
14:16 whose team is undefeated,
14:18 I'm sure that there's a lot of things
14:20 that need to be pointed out and directed.
14:23 I mean, if you think that we're not talking about areas
14:26 that we need to improve on,
14:27 and then them translating or not translating,
14:32 I mean, I don't know how you want me to answer that.
14:35 I mean, I really don't.
14:38 We took the three games,
14:39 we played three games in three days.
14:41 Obviously, when you play Stanford and the game ends
14:46 and it's 1130 at night,
14:48 unless you guys have some way of having a player rest
14:53 and you play less than 24 hours,
14:55 and then you start your prep,
14:57 you're not going to be able to do what we call our cleanup.
15:01 You kind of got to go to the next game and prepare
15:04 'cause you only got about two film sessions
15:07 and a walkthrough in a ballroom.
15:09 And then you have another game
15:11 less than 18 hours after that one.
15:14 So yesterday's the first time
15:16 we really had the opportunity through video
15:20 to break down our own cleanup
15:23 because we went from one team's prep
15:27 to the next, to the next.
15:29 And quite honestly, this isn't a long prep either
15:32 because we took off Saturday and Sunday.
15:35 Very seldom do we take two days off,
15:39 but we did based on three games in three nights.
15:43 - Jackson, final question.
15:46 Jackson?
15:51 All right, Bob, final question.
15:54 - Okay, Eric, how long does it take to do cutups?
16:00 All those cutups you did.
16:03 - Well, Bob, when you do three games in,
16:07 well, I shouldn't say one day because the flight was,
16:11 I don't know, we probably were playing about seven hours
16:15 'cause we had to land in Miami, do paperwork in Miami.
16:19 And then, so that was seven hours.
16:23 And then yesterday,
16:24 it was probably about 14 hours to do the three games
16:31 'cause I went every single play.
16:33 So whoever was in the game basically got every single play
16:37 from the last three games.
16:38 And luckily I got a real good staff and told me to stop
16:43 instead of going back to the UNCG game
16:46 'cause I went in reverse order of how we broke it down
16:50 and moved on to Duke film today.
16:54 - So just 14 hours of your life.
16:57 - Yeah, that I can't get back.
16:59 - All right, that was good.