Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman with the media Monday afternoon previewing road trip to Georgia after record-setting loss at Bud Walton Arena last Saturday night.
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00:00 Saturday, you mentioned this team not really resembling what you've built the past four years so far.
00:06 How important does that make your returners in a time like this, or especially a guy like Devo,
00:09 who's been around for most of it when it comes to setting the standard you're looking for?
00:14 Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, the.
00:19 You know, DNA of the program has been competitiveness, has been toughness, has been grit or,
00:28 you know, whatever you guys have written in the past or whatever opposing coaches have said about our team.
00:33 And, you know, look, the game against Auburn, number one, you've got to give credit to Bruce Pearl.
00:40 You've got to give credit to his team.
00:44 They came in here, they played a great game, you know.
00:49 And we've got to get better from it. That's that's what you do.
00:52 You know, you take accountability from staff to players to, you know.
01:01 And then certainly guys that have been here, you know, Devo, Kai, Cade, you know,
01:08 anybody that's been here and been part of the program, you know, you continue to talk about it.
01:14 I mean, we we went back to to the COVID year today.
01:19 And we took the five minute mark, the 10 minute mark, the 15 minute mark halftime,
01:24 and then went the same way in the second half.
01:26 And we showed the score. You know, Auburn was was, you know, really playing well.
01:32 And they were up 20 and in the first half.
01:35 And and we fought, we scrapped and we won the game by two, you know.
01:41 And so, you know, it was a tale of two different games.
01:45 And we just talked about when we get down, you never know what can happen in a game.
01:50 And we had a great practice this morning. Super physical.
01:56 I moved players to the scout team today.
02:01 So we had five of our players on the scout team.
02:04 That's not been the case in the four years that I've been here.
02:07 We've always used, you know, managers or graduate assistants.
02:12 But today they they had to guard five scholarship players.
02:16 And that's a different look. We'll see what happens.
02:20 I mean, we had another really good practice.
02:22 I, you know, I try to, you know, shoot straight with you guys on everything and try to not have any gray area.
02:30 And to, you know, let you know exactly how I feel, whether it's agreed upon or not.
02:35 But this team continues to practice really well.
02:39 Today was a was a great practice. And the game on Saturday was was a really poor performance.
02:47 And but we had a good practice today.
02:50 And I, you know, if it was bad, I would be the first to tell you guys that it was bad.
02:55 Matter of fact, sometimes I wish I could get on here and tell you we did have some some bad practices because really practice doesn't matter.
03:03 I mean, what matters is the game. That's what coaching staffs are paid for.
03:07 That's what players want to do is they want to play in a game.
03:10 And we've got to carry over from the practice floor to a game.
03:16 So long answer, Curtis. That's all right.
03:19 I love it. Thank you. I might have missed one, but I think you, Oklahoma and VCU might be the only teams at this point who haven't played a true road game yet.
03:29 I guess given some of the things you're working through, do you feel like maybe this team needs to experience that hostile environment where,
03:36 you know, everyone's kind of against them to get them to rally together?
03:40 Why, if we played Bud Walton, we might have had the same. I mean, right now, the way we play it, I mean, I don't know how many people, I mean, we got to we got to put together.
03:51 You know, I don't think any struggling team coming off a game like that wants to go on on a two game road trip in SEC play.
03:59 But that's what the schedule says. That's what we're going to go do.
04:03 Mike White's done a great job. I think they're 10 and 0 at home.
04:06 I think they're 20 and 5 since he got to Georgia at home.
04:12 It's a confident team. It's a team coming off a huge win because any time you win on the road is a huge win.
04:22 But that's what the schedule says. That's what you go do.
04:25 I don't think that, you know, I don't think this team needs to go to Athens and have a meal before the night before the game.
04:33 And all of a sudden that's going to miraculously make us better because we have a good meal and people put their phones down and converse.
04:40 I'm not a believer that that's going to make us all of a sudden play better basketball because we ate together and we're in a hotel and we're bonding.
04:51 I think, you know, I'm not going to subscribe to that pattern.
04:56 Hutch?
04:57 You kind of touched on it there, Coach, but Georgia, I think, has won nine straight games.
05:01 They were picked near the bottom of the league, but they seem to be outperforming that so far.
05:04 Just what have they been doing well that made them so good so far?
05:08 I think, first of all, the preseason stuff, it should go away.
05:14 It's meaningless because with the transfer, it's meaningless in everything.
05:18 It's meaningless in football.
05:20 It's meaningless in the two sports that I recognize all the players and stuff.
05:26 I don't know how you know who anybody is going to be good.
05:29 So Mike White is a great coach.
05:32 He's been doing it a long time.
05:34 His teams do a great job executing on both sides of the ball.
05:39 And just like any program, just like any coach, you're going to have up and down years right now.
05:44 And I told our team this is a much different team than we played last year.
05:49 They have good length.
05:51 They went out and added some guys that are really good pieces.
05:56 It's a team that looks connected.
05:59 It's a big-time challenge.
06:01 Look at their record this year and look at what they're doing in their own building.
06:07 Hats off and credit to him.
06:09 I mean, they're having a good year right now.
06:12 I would expect them to continue to play good based on what they've done in a sample size.
06:18 It's now one game into league.
06:21 And Abdur Rahim and Thomason, I think they're their two leading scorers.
06:25 They both seem to have really good percentages shooting the three.
06:28 Just kind of what challenges do they present?
06:30 Yeah, I mean, Abdur Rahim is a guy that we tried to recruit as well when he left Virginia.
06:35 I coached his father with the Kings.
06:37 I was an assistant coach with the Hawks when Sharif played there, really familiar with them as a family.
06:45 He can shoot the ball.
06:47 He does a good job of drawing fouls off three-point shots.
06:51 He does what you would want a player to do.
06:54 He's improved each and every year.
06:57 He's got great length at 6'8".
07:01 And his percentages don't lie.
07:03 When we talked today about our opposition coming up, I said, "Look at these numbers, you guys.
07:10 This is why we want players to be in the gym on their off time.
07:14 This is why when you get shooting reps, look at the numbers of Noah Thomason
07:19 and look at the numbers of number one, Abdur Rahim.
07:22 These guys are really, really good players.
07:26 Melendez, number 15, plays really hard.
07:29 He's a great cutter. He can make a three.
07:31 He's got great experience having played at Illinois.
07:34 And the big guy inside, 54, is a guy that's got experience playing at South Florida.
07:42 He can rebound the ball.
07:43 He does a good job stealing dribble drives for perimeter players,
07:47 which is a unique thing to have a five-man seal to open up dribble drive angles for guys like Thomason.
07:55 Ford Demre has done a great job as a point guard, as a freshman, and can score it, shoot it.
08:01 And Hill last year was a really good player.
08:05 He was number 11. He can get downhill.
08:08 He made three threes at Missouri.
08:11 So it's a good team. And De La Roche comes off.
08:14 He's a guy that played at VCU and rebounds and plays hard.
08:18 So it's a talented team.
08:21 You can go all the way nine or ten deep.
08:23 Kane is a guy that can shoot it and having a really good year as a freshman.
08:27 They can shoot with great range.
08:29 So, again, Mike White's done a great job with his roster.
08:32 It seems like a connected team and a team that will pose challenges on both sides of the ball.
08:38 Bob.
08:40 Eric, you've been doing this a long time, had a lot of success.
08:43 And I think you've said you never had a team that practiced so well that then didn't play like that.
08:50 Is there anything you can I'm sure you're trying all kinds of stuff or have.
08:53 What do you think? Is there something you haven't tried to get the practices to translate more to the games?
08:59 Or the guys just got to understand the intensity level picks up?
09:04 Well, that's why, Bob, I took five scholarship players and we formed a scout team to go live.
09:12 You know, I mean, I haven't done that in four years.
09:14 I haven't done that in the four years at Nevada either.
09:17 So that's different.
09:20 The day before our game against Auburn, we completely changed the timing of how we did our day before game.
09:28 I mean, we changed every part of the routine.
09:31 We're not doing normal shell defense.
09:34 We incorporated five parts of what our opponents do and created a new shell defense.
09:40 So, look, our staff was in here all day yesterday, starting at about 630 in the morning, many of us, on a Sunday, on an off day.
09:49 And like, we're going to keep going.
09:52 I mean, some of the text messages have been really cool from former assistant coaches on times we've struggled.
09:59 And, you know, David Patrick sent a long text and Gus Argenal has been sending text messages.
10:06 And we're going to -- I mean, we're not going to just do the same thing over and over, and we're not going to stop tinkering and trying to get better.
10:14 It sounds like the guys, based on what you're saying about practice, the guys had a good attitude.
10:19 You can be like that, you know, you can probably go one of two ways.
10:22 You can either tank or you can get motivated and get pissed off and try to get better.
10:26 It sounds like they're responding the right way.
10:30 There's been no question, Bob.
10:32 Again, if it wasn't the right way today, I would tell you that, you know, that the response was not good.
10:38 But, I mean, I think they understand.
10:41 I hope they understand, you know, the importance of this two-game road trip.
10:46 We know it's going to be hard to win on the road.
10:49 We know that we're going to have to play our A game on both sides of the ball.
10:54 And I think that's what we're trying to do.
10:57 I think that's what we're trying to do.
10:59 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:02 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:04 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:06 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:08 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:10 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:12 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:14 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:16 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:18 I think that's what we're trying to do.
11:20 So, you know, that's what we're trying to do.
11:24 What does that mean to you, that former players and guys who coach with you
11:28 that are head coaches now or maybe they're assistants somewhere else, whatever,
11:31 what does that mean to you that they're reaching out to you?
11:33 I mean, it's one thing people reach out to you when things are going great.
11:36 When things suck, sometimes people don't reach out.
11:40 What's that mean to you?
11:43 Well, the former players means a lot, you know.
11:48 And I talk to the team about it.
11:50 We've got guys all over the world watching us.
11:53 We've got guys playing NBA games and then texting after a game.
11:59 People are following the scores overseas.
12:04 Guys are in the G League and they're texting.
12:07 I mean, I didn't just get one or two text messages.
12:10 There's a lot of people.
12:11 There's a lot of former players that I never coached that played here
12:15 that are texting positive things.
12:18 And, you know, I mean, we've got to go play better basketball.
12:26 But I did talk about some of those things, about, you know,
12:31 you guys might be somebody in five years texting about how our team's doing.
12:38 And so it means a lot to me, and I hope it means at least a little something
12:44 to the guys on the roster to know that some of their former teammates, you know,
12:50 built something and take pride in what they built.
12:54 You mentioned 54.
12:56 Russell, I'm not even trying to say his last name, Dashaw or something,
12:59 but, you know, the big guy, seven-footer.
13:02 He doesn't have eye-popping stats, but he had a big game at Missouri,
13:06 and you guys obviously had struggled in the paint against Auburn.
13:09 How do you see that matchup?
13:11 How do you feel like your big guys will bounce back and maybe try
13:14 and handle George's big guy?
13:17 I mean, you know, I think personal pride on who you're guarding individually
13:22 and then personal pride from a team aspect.
13:24 I mean, you know, paint points, as I mentioned, Bob, after the last game.
13:29 I know I said a lot of stuff, but after the last game I did talk about, you know,
13:33 you've got to play post-defense better individually.
13:36 There's got to be better post-digs by the perimeter players.
13:40 On dribble drives, sometimes a big man can step up.
13:43 Somebody's got to be on the weak side smash to take away the dunker spot.
13:48 Yeah, I mean, George has got three guys up front, to be honest with you.
13:52 I mean, it's not just one guy.
13:54 Moncrief gets off the floor.
13:56 I brought up 23, you know, from VCU who plays really, really hard and is a lefty,
14:02 and then you brought up 54.
14:04 So it's a lot of things, but our perimeter's got to guard too
14:07 because Abdul Rahim, who basically plays the 3-4, can really score,
14:13 and then their backcourt play is really good as well.
14:17 You said something after the game the other day
14:20 that you guys don't really have an identity on either side of the ball,
14:23 or at least not that the players were playing to.
14:27 What would you like the identity to be on both sides of the ball,
14:31 and do you feel like you guys can establish that?
14:35 I mean, I think, Bob, if you look at the four years of what our identity has been,
14:41 is, as I mentioned earlier, a tough team, a team that never stops playing,
14:46 a team that plays for 40 minutes.
14:50 You know, everybody in college basketball has one stinker.
14:55 You know what I mean?
14:56 I mean, it just happens.
14:57 Everybody has one.
15:00 And some of our teams that have made Elite 8s and Sweet 16s
15:04 have had multiple stinkers and have figured it out.
15:09 Hopefully that game is not a pattern.
15:12 Hopefully we played a ranked team, that we played pretty decent the first half.
15:18 I probably subbed too early, you know, when I go back and look at it.
15:22 That thing was at 12.
15:24 That's still striking distance.
15:27 I let that thing play out for 30 minutes,
15:30 and we hadn't, you know, dented into that, you know, double-digit lead.
15:35 And so I wanted to see if somebody else could come in and energize us.
15:39 And as we went to the bench, you know, Auburn's lead continued to grow.
15:45 So moving forward, maybe a shorter rotation would be something
15:50 that possibly could happen.
15:52 could happen, but if guys aren't playing good,
15:54 then you certainly got to go to your bench.