Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselmans after-game critique of a 97-83 win over a Furman team that wasn't shy about firing up three-pointers the Hogs broke down defending at times.
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00:00 Look like a bit of a track meet in both halves.
00:01 We know this was a high octane offense coming in.
00:04 You did check their two point percentage, but from three, they got off and kind
00:09 of kept going there for a while.
00:10 What did you think about this game in both teams' offenses?
00:13 Yeah, I mean, I thought in the first half, Kevin, I'm holding them to 35 points and
00:18 36% from the field, pretty good, but then eight threes.
00:24 Um, so it's three point defense.
00:26 Um, you know, and I think if you look across, uh, tonight's game, um, you know,
00:33 as a coach, it would be the 12 made threes and it would certainly be the 15 offensive
00:38 rebounds, especially when you know, you got Oklahoma on the schedule, an undefeated
00:43 team, a team that's great offensive rebounding team, a team that has threes and
00:47 fours that pound the glass with reckless abandon.
00:50 Um, I thought our transition defense in the second half, uh, you know, needs to be
00:56 better, thought first half transition defense was really good.
00:59 Um, but we got, we have to play much better across the board.
01:04 Um, you know, everything's about progress.
01:08 I thought, you know, when you look at our rebounding, I thought Debo Davis, uh, nine
01:13 defensive rebounds, uh, Layden blocker, five defensive rebounds, um, two real
01:19 positive areas.
01:20 We need our guards to, to, to defensive rebound.
01:22 And those two guys did it.
01:24 Um, and then other guys need to do a better job, but, but even, uh, L Ellis had
01:29 three defensive rebounds in 11 minutes or two defensive rebounds.
01:33 So our point guard position.
01:34 Uh, more than held their own from a defensive rebounding standpoint.
01:38 Um, you know, but, but we, we've got to rebound better defensively and, and, uh,
01:44 you know, I thought we did a great job taking care of the basketball in the
01:47 second half, the 21 assists we built off the 17 assists that we had, uh, against
01:52 Duke, um, didn't really turn the ball over only for, you know, turnovers in the.
01:57 In the, uh, in the second half and, and, uh, we shot 61% for, you know, from the
02:02 field for the game, um, thought we did a good job bench points.
02:07 Awesome.
02:07 Um, you know, claw, uh, you know, Chandler Lawson inside eight of 10 from the field,
02:14 three blocks, 51 bench points, 25 from KB, 52 points in the paint, a lot of good
02:19 things, but some areas defensively that, that we have to, uh, get, improve on.
02:23 Yeah, we met this after, you know, this morning at shoot around and I just, you
02:36 know, I told him, Hey, I would like to give these guys an opportunity to start,
02:39 uh, that played well against, uh, Duke.
02:42 Ask him his feelings because, um, I think the one thing you learn in the NBA is, is
02:47 you don't change a player's rotation, uh, or role based on injury.
02:52 And certainly he had an injury and, um, you know, if you change the rotation
02:57 based on productivity, that is what it is.
02:59 But certainly, uh, the game that T mark was coming off, I did not want him to
03:03 feel, uh, that his role as a starter was changing based on the fact that he had an
03:09 injury, because again, that the place that I grew up at and the pros, you just
03:13 don't do that.
03:14 So I thought it was worthy of a conversation.
03:17 Um, he said, I figured that was coming coach and I'm cool with it.
03:21 Anything that you think can help us win.
03:23 So he had great maturity when, when he and I talked earlier today.
03:26 Eric KB had 20 in the second half.
03:30 I guess that's the first half he started.
03:32 Why did you decide to start him?
03:34 And then I think he only played, uh, seven or eight minutes in the first half.
03:38 What, what was the deal there?
03:39 Well, I think in the first half, I'm not sure, Bob, how many fouls he had.
03:43 Um, but some, some defensive assignments that, that were, you know, we were just
03:47 shuffling guys in and out the first half based on miss defensive assignments.
03:51 Um, but certainly we tried to run plays for him.
03:55 Um, we brought him off a staggered couple times on, uh, on, on our, uh, 50 series.
04:01 We, we, uh, we ran some isolations at the top of the key.
04:05 We found him in transition.
04:07 I mean, he's a dynamic score.
04:09 There's not many players in college basketball that can have 20 and a half.
04:13 And certainly he can create his own shot and he's a high
04:16 volume free throw attempt player.
04:17 So when your team needs.
04:19 Points in a hurry and he just rises up, up over people.
04:23 If you crowd him, he beats you off the bounce and draws free throws.
04:26 Yeah.
04:30 And I thought that, uh, you know, Davenport, uh, first half really didn't
04:35 have any blown defensive assignments.
04:37 We just felt like we needed a KB out there.
04:40 And obviously when we made one of our runs in the second half, we went small.
04:45 Um, we felt that we weren't guarding the three point shot with our big
04:48 lineup, so we went a little bit smaller, removed T Brazil from the four to the
04:51 five played three to four guards.
04:54 Mark was in at the four Divo at the four, whoever you want to.
04:57 Um, and I thought that helped us crowd the ball a little bit more, but it also
05:01 affected, uh, our, our, our poor rebounding outing.
05:04 God, I mean, I, I'd rather not comment.
05:10 And I mean, we took two free throws in the first half.
05:12 Um, and we're, we're, we're, we're pushing the ball in the paint.
05:15 Um, you look at our paint points, we had 52 paint points and only
05:20 two free throws at the half.
05:22 Um, we're one of the best free throw attempt teams in the league or
05:25 not in the league, in the nation.
05:27 And, uh, it's not like we were, uh, hoisting threes, um, you know, for a
05:33 team to take 32, uh, three balls, uh, and go to the line, basically the same
05:38 amount of time, you know, I mean, we, we were trying to, uh, draw free throws.
05:43 That's a big part of our game.
05:44 Um, and it didn't happen.
05:45 I thought he was great.
06:02 Um, I mean, our team's been under the weather for like three weeks.
06:05 Um, started before we went to the Bahamas.
06:08 I've had it twice.
06:09 Um, met with the strength coach, met with the trainer.
06:13 Uh, we're going to have to start listing weights at different times.
06:16 Cause it's just a little nagging cold and cough, um, which, you
06:21 know, semi affects your energy.
06:23 Um, and that's been going on.
06:26 Like I said, it's already gone around the team and now I'm, I have it for, for the
06:29 second time in the last three and a half weeks.
06:31 So, um, we got to do a better job of washing our hands and, and, uh,
06:37 having better spacing off the floor.
06:39 I thought he was phenomenal.
06:44 I thought it was his best game of the year.
06:45 Uh, we played him all over the place.
06:47 We played him at one.
06:48 We played him at the two.
06:49 We played him at the three.
06:50 We played him at the four.
06:51 Uh, he saved us from a rebounding standpoint, without a question.
06:55 His defensive rebound saved the game for us.
06:57 Yeah.
06:57 He just does what's what's asked of him, you know, and, and, uh, we felt if he
07:14 hung around the dunker spot and kind of relocated, um, you know, Furman's really,
07:20 really good offensively, uh, but they struggle with points in the paint.
07:24 And if you don't take advantage of it, you're not going to beat them.
07:27 And I thought Chandler did exactly what we asked.
07:30 He didn't force any shots.
07:31 Um, it's hard to get a player to have eight of 10, but, um, he finished
07:36 through contact and was very aggressive offensively when he did catch the ball.
07:40 Um, you know, and he did all that with only one offensive rebound.
07:45 So.
07:46 I thought it was interesting that both Devo and KB said multiple
07:50 times when they were up here, they were mentioning margin of victory,
07:52 margin of victory, putting teams away, extending leads.
07:55 Has that been an area of emphasis maybe for you guys here the last few days?
07:59 Well, I think certainly when you look at, uh, some of these numbers across the,
08:03 you know, like, I don't even know how it works.
08:05 It's like, doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
08:09 Uh, but yeah, we have to, we have to start having a sense of urgency, um,
08:13 in, in our overall game for 40 minutes.
08:19 Coach, uh, Devo, the near triple double, but it feels like even before the past
08:25 two games, he's been making the right plays offensively for the most part.
08:29 Uh, have you felt like maybe it was just kind of a matter of time before the rest
08:33 of the team kind of followed suit and how important is it for your senior leader?
08:37 Like that's a kind of embrace, maybe not being the scoring leader and impacting
08:41 the game across a variety of ways.
08:43 Yeah.
08:43 I mean, I think it's really important.
08:45 Um, I really do.
08:46 I mean, he has, um, he's distributing the ball to guys like T mark and he's
08:51 distributing the ball, uh, and defending.
08:53 I mean, look, we put Devo Davis on the best offensive perimeter player
08:58 every single night, every night.
09:01 Um, and that takes a load off of other people.
09:05 And then if other guys aren't guarding their guy and Devo's guarding the best
09:10 guy, we can't keep playing that player, whoever it may be, because Devo is
09:16 taking a guy and then T marks taken the next best offensive with somebody else
09:22 got to guard the third best perimeter player.
09:24 And if you can't, we, we are, we are tired of, of given that opportunity
09:30 when we know that those two guys are guarding the first best player
09:34 and the second best player.
09:35 So we have to get better perimeter defenders from whoever the third guy is
09:40 on the floor when T mark and Devo are in there.
09:43 And just real quick, uh, any update on, on TB, we saw him come back to the bench,
09:48 but obviously it's pretty bad spring.
09:50 Yep.
09:50 Having said that 24 hours from now, we'll know more, nothing, nothing other than a
10:00 sprain doctors were messing with it.
10:03 And it is a sprain.
10:04 It is a pretty good sprain.
10:05 It's already swallowing.
10:06 You mentioned the escalation and assist the last few games and it's multiple guys.
10:11 Even battle as a score set up guy, Walker with five off the bench, Devo's night.
10:16 What do you attribute that to after the struggles on the three losses in four
10:19 games when it was pretty stagnant as far as that ball movement in and out
10:22 and side to side, what changed?
10:24 Well, I think you got to talk about it, Kevin.
10:26 I think you got to point it out through video.
10:28 I talked about the video.
10:29 Um, you know, even that, that, that, that I had sent out to the guys.
10:33 And, um, so we've got to continue to share the ball.
10:37 The ball's got to have eyes.
10:38 We've got to understand we have multiple weapons offensively.
10:41 And to not do it alone.
10:42 And, um, you know, blocker helps us with that.
10:45 And a Devo helps us with that.
10:47 Those two guys in particular help the ball move.
10:50 Uh, and I think KB is understanding, uh, that he's drawn extra defenders.
10:56 And when you draw an extra defender, you do your job and then you got to,
10:59 you've got to move it.
11:00 Um, you know, so I think all those things become, become factors.
11:05 Yeah.
11:10 I mean, I think that his, you know, his attitude of, um, cause he tried to
11:29 practice the other day and he barely could move, but he was out there.
11:32 I mean, you could tell he was stiff.
11:34 He was a little apprehensive.
11:35 And then each day that went by, you know, he got a little bit more active and,
11:39 and, uh, yesterday he was, he was pretty good, you know, like we felt like he
11:43 was going to be able to play.
11:44 He said he was going to give it a go.
11:46 Uh, and then today at shoot around, he, he went as hard as anybody.
11:50 So, um, look, when he hit the floor, it looked bad when the doctors were
11:56 with him at the hospital, they were really concerned, um, we're lucky.
12:01 He's lucky, um, cause it was, there was a lot of concern, but he, you know, is
12:06 a really tough minded kid and wanted to play as quick as he possibly could, which
12:10 was, you know, tonight he only missed one game, which is, you know, unheard of for
12:15 a back, a groin and a hip kind of all one injury off one fall, just a tough guy,
12:24 you know, and, and doing multiple rehabs and, and he wanted to play, you know, I
12:29 mean, I mean, some guys are really thirsty to, to compete and he's, he's
12:33 certainly a student athlete that really wants to get out there and compete
12:38 and he, and he loves competition.
12:39 Yeah, certainly.
12:45 I'm hopeful.
12:46 I mean, I'm hopeful that we get, you know, multiple rehabs a day, which, um, TB has
12:51 been, uh, when I look at his, um, what he's done with the training staff, um,
12:58 through his whole rehab, like he was living in the training room and we're
13:01 going to need him to be in the training room a lot to try to get the swelling
13:05 down and the mobility whenever he can play.
13:07 I'm not sure when that will be.
13:08 Uh, Chandler means a great deal to the team attitude.
13:24 Um, following the game plan, um, being a great teammate, uh, being no
13:31 maintenance, uh, he's a 10 out of 10 in all those categories.
13:35 And, uh, when you have a player really follow a game plan, good things happen.
13:39 If you deviate from the game plan, not so good things happen individually.
13:44 And for your unit, that's on the floor with you.
13:47 Um, and we're still, we're still trying to figure out exactly who's going to follow
13:51 a game plan and, and compete and play with, uh, with their instincts.
13:56 And, uh, you know, hopefully tonight we, you know, we go back, we watch
14:01 film, we get a little bit better.
14:02 Well, he's tough.
14:15 He competes.
14:17 He's fearless.
14:19 We can't teach that.
14:21 I mean, those are innate things.
14:23 He has got to get better at converting from the foul line.
14:28 He has got to get better in late game situations.
14:31 He gambled against Stanford.
14:32 It almost cost us a game tonight.
14:34 He fouled a three point shooter was ended up in a four point play late game.
14:38 He has got to get better in late game situations.
14:42 Um, but he does a lot of things that we cannot teach.
14:47 He's got to improve as a shooter.
14:49 Um, but he's got all these qualities that, uh, that are super great because
14:56 you can't, I can't teach a guy to be tough.
14:58 We can't teach a guy to be competitive.
15:00 Uh, we can't teach somebody to be fearless and he's got all those
15:05 things, which are non teachable things.
15:07 Now, these other things we feel are teachable.
15:09 Um, and he's just, he's a freshman, so he's got a, he's got a learning curve,
15:13 uh, but he's playing Scotty because of those three things, toughness,
15:17 fearlessness, will to win all those things he's, he's, he's great at.
15:21 You may not have a crystal ball on those, but I think this season,
15:25 especially in competitive games, you've probably played more guys first and
15:29 second half than you have in the previous four years.
15:32 Is it a matter of things you keep talking about still kind of searching
15:35 for combinations and guys to step up?
15:36 Or could this be a thing that carries through even league play chance
15:41 to even think that far ahead?
15:43 I mean, great question, Kevin.
15:44 I don't know.
15:45 Um, eventually guys are going to, you know, they're going to either.
15:49 I mean, we're giving guys opportunities, but it's starting like you
15:55 got to play with consistency.
15:56 You can't be good one night and then struggle one night.
15:59 It's you got to have mental toughness that if the shot's not falling or you're
16:04 not scoring that you're defending, you're diving on the floor for loose balls.
16:07 You're scrapping out a 50, 50 balls.
16:09 We don't have everybody doing that right now, which is okay.
16:14 We have to figure out who will do that.
16:17 Cause you got to win 50, 50 balls to win close games.
16:21 Um, and so guys are, Devo's playing a lot of minutes cause he does that.
16:27 Um, regardless of what he's doing offensively, he is getting 50, 50 balls.
16:32 He is competing with the guys guarding.
16:34 Um, so yeah, I mean, I think tonight was a product, a product of guys, not going
16:42 over dribble handoffs and giving up threes.
16:44 And so next man got a chance to go in.
16:47 And so it was kind of a revolving door, not based on depth.
16:50 It was based on not following the game plan and giving up
16:54 threes, to be honest with you.
16:55 I'd love to tell you that it was all based on depth and we wanted to get a bunch of
16:59 guys in, but it was several guys not doing what, what they were supposed to do.
17:04 Hey, the other night after the Duke game, I think it was TBNL said
17:08 that Chandler's a glue guy.
17:10 What does that mean to you?
17:11 Yeah, glue guy means somebody that is, uh, there for his teammates.
17:15 Uh, somebody that's might not show up in the box store every
17:19 night, but he's contributing.
17:21 Um, somebody that's willing to set screens, uh, somebody that's willing to
17:27 put their hands up in our stab stance when their man sets a screen in how
17:32 we guard pick and roll coverages.
17:33 That's a glue guy.
17:34 He does a little bit of everything.
17:36 He takes pride in the little things that don't show up in a box score.
17:40 I don't know what those guys think a glue guy is, but that's what I think a glue guy
17:43 is.
17:43 He's low maintenance or no maintenance.
17:47 No maintenance.
17:48 How about that?