Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman recapping 90-68 loss to the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon.
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00:00 Eric, you guys, I guess, fell behind by 13, fought back, and I think made it got as close as three.
00:06 Just kind of what you think was the difference in the second half? You scored 42 after scoring 24.
00:10 Yeah, Bob, I thought we had good ball movement. I thought we had good spacing.
00:15 You know, ran more middle pick and rolls.
00:20 You know, but I mean the three for 21 from three.
00:26 You know, I mean, if you're a shooter, you got to make open shots. And, you know, I thought that,
00:31 you know, we did a great job on their leading score.
00:34 You know, he made one field goal. It was on a broken play, broken pass.
00:38 You know, he's really talented. Abdul Rahim's a really talented player and a great three-point shooter.
00:46 He's a high-volume free throw attempt player. We kept him off the foul line.
00:50 Held him scoreless for almost the entire game, or I should say without a field goal.
00:57 But I thought there, you know, the difference in the game was some of their shooters making shots.
01:02 Kane came in and went one of one from three. And Noah Thomason goes three for six from three.
01:08 And, you know, their freshman number four goes one of three.
01:12 And Justin Hill comes in and Hill goes three for seven from three.
01:17 And then you look at our three-point numbers. If you look at every other statistical category,
01:22 both teams shot 22 foul shots. You know, the turnovers are 15 to 13.
01:30 You bring up, why did we, you know, score 42 one half and 24 the other?
01:34 We took much better care of the basketball. Five second half turnovers, as opposed to,
01:39 you know, the 10 turnovers that we had at halftime.
01:43 So did a really bad job taking care of the basketball in the first half.
01:48 And second half took a little bit better care of the basketball.
01:52 And then they were able to convert those. I think they had 14 some points of turnovers the first time.
01:58 And then finished with a 25 to 10 edge. Obviously, that seemed to be the key stat.
02:03 How, what was your take on that?
02:05 I mean, they played better than us.
02:09 Curtis?
02:13 I'm sure after Saturday coming into this game, some of the things you were looking for were the,
02:18 you know, the toughness and competitive spirit and everything like that.
02:21 It could have gone sideways on you there, down double digits at halftime.
02:25 Got it back to one possession game, didn't get the results you wanted.
02:28 But I guess from that standpoint, is that closer to what you're looking for from this team?
02:33 Yeah, I mean, I thought we played hard, Curtis. I mean, again, we come out of timeouts and have,
02:38 you know, I mean, at least three times wide open looks and miss them.
02:44 And then they come down and, and there's, I mean, their shooters are making shots and ours are not.
02:49 I mean, I don't know. And then we're, you know,
02:51 we're obviously not the defensive team that we've been over the last four years.
02:56 We're not, we're not guarding the ball like we have. We're certainly not guarding the three-point shot.
03:01 And so if your, if your overall team defense is not up to what it's been in the past,
03:08 then your offense should be better.
03:11 And I mean, three for 21, I mean, we had a bunch of defenders in the past that could go three for 21.
03:20 Coach. Yeah, Coach, T-Mark did most of his damage in the second half.
03:24 Just what did you see out of him after halftime?
03:27 Is that something that y'all maybe addressed at the break?
03:31 Well, yeah, we moved him to the point and, you know, his middle pick and roll, he was phenomenal.
03:38 I mean, he goes 10 of 10 from the foul line. We only take 22 foul shots.
03:42 He takes 10 of the 22. Thought he was super effective.
03:49 He leads us in rebounding. You know, our two guards did a great job on the glass, Devo and T-Mark.
04:00 So, you know, I thought he did a good job attacking the basket.
04:03 And he had three steals in the area.
04:06 You know, we've been talking about trying to create more turnovers and certainly his, you know,
04:11 his three steals are things that we're looking for.
04:15 He on midfield had been really good for you since he's gotten eligible.
04:18 Just what do you think was the win in his performance tonight?
04:22 Was it just an off night for him? Did Georgia do anything differently against them?
04:27 Well, I mean, they were trapping the pick and roll, but he struggled in both SEC games.
04:32 I mean, these guards are strong. They have good size.
04:38 But he's, I mean, he has definitely struggled in conference play.
04:45 Bob, final question.
04:48 OK, I don't know if we're going to get you before the Florida game, but just I know this game is obviously fresh,
04:53 but what are your thoughts about staying on the road and having to play another tough, tough team on the road come Saturday?
05:01 Yeah, I mean, Florida's a team that can win the SEC.
05:05 I don't know what the results were tonight, which is irrelevant because I know how good a coach Todd Golden is.
05:11 I've known him for a long time. Not often do coaches have camaraderie.
05:17 I actually talked to Todd earlier today. They're big.
05:21 They rebound. They have great guard play. They're well connected.
05:26 They play extremely hard. They play very, very fast.
05:32 You know, they're one of the top tier teams in the SEC.
05:36 There's no question they have an opportunity. They're not just an NCAA tournament team.
05:41 You know, they're a team that can win games in the tournament for sure.