Arkansas Razorback coach Eric Musselman got ball in hottest player at end for win over the Texas A&M Aggies at the buzzer on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
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00:00 - Can you describe the last play,
00:02 was it basically just put the ball in T-Mark's hands
00:04 and let him go?
00:05 - Yeah, I mean, we spaced the floor out.
00:08 You know, TB did, you know,
00:10 luckily we were able to get organized
00:12 'cause we were out of timeouts
00:13 and we were able to set up a little bit of a press break,
00:19 even though they kind of matched up, you know, straight man,
00:22 there was no, you know,
00:24 press as there had been, so to speak.
00:29 And I thought that, you know,
00:30 I mean, we got the ball in the hands
00:32 of who we needed to tonight
00:34 because T-Mark was playing with such great confidence.
00:38 And then we just spaced out.
00:41 We had Davenport in one corner.
00:44 We had L. Ellis in the other corner.
00:46 We had, you know, TB trailing as the inbounder.
00:51 And then we had Minifield on the 45 degree angle
00:56 on the left side.
00:57 And just said, there's no way we're taking a three.
01:00 Like we've got to go to the cup
01:02 or at least get inside of that, you know,
01:05 12 foot, 14 foot range, really.
01:08 - I know on the play-by-play it goes as a layup,
01:10 but it was a pretty clutch shot.
01:11 Just what'd you think of the way T-Mark handled that?
01:14 - Well, that's his, I mean, he's, you know,
01:16 I know that all the analytics people talk about,
01:19 you know, mid-range being a bad shot.
01:21 It's been a really good shot for us at Arkansas.
01:24 Jimmy Witt, Ricky Council, T-Mark,
01:28 like it's a great shot for him, not a good shot.
01:31 I mean, he's a lethal pull-up jump shooter,
01:34 12 to 17 foot.
01:36 And look, he had 35 points on 15 field goals attempted.
01:41 And our guys did a great job of finding him,
01:47 even this two threes.
01:49 I know they were off spot up assists.
01:51 And, you know, we did a pretty good job on the glass,
01:56 not great, but decent enough to win the game.
01:59 And, you know, I mean, look, we led for 38 minutes.
02:03 That's a drastic improvement from where we've been
02:06 in our first three games to lead
02:08 for basically the entire game.
02:10 Give Texas A&M a ton of credit.
02:12 They came back, had a great second half.
02:14 They've had a lot of come from behind wins.
02:17 It was an incredible shot by a great,
02:19 great player in Wade Taylor.
02:21 And they're super well-coached.
02:24 And they've been a hard matchup for us
02:27 since I've been here.
02:29 - Do you feel like they just didn't want to foul T-Mark
02:33 on that last play?
02:34 And that's why-
02:35 - I mean, I don't ever, you know, comment.
02:39 I wasn't part of their...
02:42 I know that we wanted to try to get the ball to the rim.
02:48 Again, I did not want to see a three-point shot
02:51 for us at that juncture.
02:54 I mean, we had been to the foul line 40 times
02:57 and wanted to try to put as much pressure
02:58 on the defense as we could.
03:01 - Coach, did you know coming in
03:02 that this might be a game that suited T-Mark?
03:04 Or when did you know that he was going to have a night
03:06 like he had?
03:06 - Yeah, I mean, yeah, we felt like there were some areas
03:12 on the floor that we could try to get him the ball.
03:15 I mean, obviously it's pretty evident
03:17 that from the start we were trying to get him
03:20 in certain matchups.
03:21 So yeah, and then I thought we did...
03:28 They have two star players, in my opinion.
03:30 Radford, we couldn't have done a better job.
03:35 And Taylor, I mean, what an incredible,
03:38 incredible performance all the way across the board for him.
03:41 But he did take 32 shots, which is...
03:46 I mean, he can get his own shot at will
03:48 'cause he's such a special player.
03:50 - And El hasn't played a whole lot lately,
03:56 but you put him in the starting lineup tonight
03:58 and he played pretty well.
03:59 Just what made you put him in the lineup
04:01 and what did you think of his performance tonight?
04:03 - Just kind of...
04:04 You know, we've kind of been a moving target,
04:09 you know what I mean?
04:10 Like on who starts.
04:12 And I felt like he's a veteran
04:17 and we're playing a veteran team.
04:21 I mean, it seems like a couple of those guys
04:23 have been there since I first got here.
04:26 You know what I mean?
04:26 I don't know if they have or not,
04:27 but a lot of fifth year guys,
04:30 a lot of guys that have played there for three, four years,
04:34 a lot of guys that have played in this building
04:36 and felt from an experience standpoint
04:41 that was why we started the group.
04:44 I thought Chandler had a lot of experience,
04:47 been very level-headed the way that he follows the game plan
04:52 and we knew that they were gonna soft trap
04:55 the pick and roll.
04:57 We felt it was important that we had a guy
04:59 that was a willing passer and a non-turnover player
05:02 in the short roll spot.
05:04 And, you know, we had five assists
05:07 and four of them from Chandler
05:09 and one of them from Kai in his three minutes.
05:11 So obviously going into the game,
05:13 our five men being ball distributors and kick out players
05:16 and hitting the dump off, man,
05:18 was something that we worked on a tremendous amount of time
05:20 in the short rep.
05:22 - Just what have you seen from El
05:27 and how he's kind of handled maybe the reduced minutes
05:29 to be able to come in tonight
05:31 and play such a big role for you?
05:32 And when did you maybe kind of tell him
05:35 that he would be back in the starting lineup tonight?
05:38 - Well, whenever we practiced the other day,
05:40 you know, to be honest with you,
05:44 he jumped out there with the first unit.
05:48 I was putting in a play, didn't call out five guys,
05:53 and he jumped out there.
05:55 I was already thinking of starting,
05:56 but then when he did that,
05:58 it kind of showed the whole staff like, you know,
06:01 he wanted to be in that first group.
06:07 I didn't call out a first five on purpose.
06:12 I wanted to see who the first five
06:13 that were eager to get out there as we were adding something.
06:18 And look, we need him to play well.
06:23 And, you know, I mean, he went three for 11,
06:26 but the key was his rebounding.
06:28 That's a career high.
06:29 He played a lot of minutes last year.
06:32 I mean, you look at those minutes every night
06:33 for him to rebound the ball like he did,
06:37 you know, phenomenal.
06:40 And our bench has to rebound, I mean, flat out.
06:42 Like, I mean, you know, this plus minus thing
06:45 is important to me and to our staff.
06:47 And we gotta get better in the plus minus area
06:52 from an individual standpoint.
06:55 Some of our guys, that's gotta happen for us.
06:58 - Tremont took, I think, 22 of the 40 free throw attempts,
07:02 but El got to the line eight times, TB eight times.
07:05 I mean, how impressed were you with just
07:06 the relentlessness of attacking the basket,
07:09 getting to the free throw line?
07:09 - I mean, they're super aggressive defensively.
07:11 I mean, they are relentless defensive attackers of the ball
07:16 and you've gotta be strong with the ball
07:17 and you can't settle.
07:18 And, you know, that was two things we tried to do,
07:24 you know, and we did a good job.
07:26 And, you know, you can't settle against Texas A&M
07:32 and you can't settle against Texas A&M.
07:33 - And coach, you talked about the eagerness of the starters
07:36 that you put out there, but, you know, 12 minutes in,
07:38 you're up 20 points.
07:39 I'm curious, just what's going through your mind
07:42 when you're up 20 on those guys?
07:44 - Where has this been?
07:46 No, I mean, look, we have, I mean, we led the whole game.
07:52 You know, again, give them credit, they led for six seconds,
07:55 but for us, forget it, you know, Texas A&M,
07:59 we needed to lead from start to finish in a game.
08:02 When you lose like we have of late,
08:06 you know, your confidence can get, you know, shaken.
08:10 And I mean, all over the locker room,
08:12 there's probably 40 signs in there that say,
08:15 you know, bring your swagger back.
08:17 I mean, when we played Duke, we had swagger.
08:19 We thought we were gonna win the game.
08:20 I know it's an exhibition game.
08:21 I know nobody wants to hear it.
08:23 I'm gonna say it even though nobody wants to hear it.
08:25 We had swagger when we played Purdue.
08:28 And we need that back.
08:31 And the only way to truly, truly get it back
08:33 is to play well.
08:35 And I thought we played great in the first half.
08:38 I really did.
08:39 I thought we came out of the jump ball
08:42 with a team that looked like we had to win the game,
08:47 which we had to win this game.
08:49 - To kind of expand on that,
08:51 just what do you feel like changed from last game to now
08:53 to make them come out that way?
08:55 And then how do you sustain that?
08:58 - Well, one, we had a good crowd.
09:00 You know, I think when you play at home,
09:02 you know, Florida had a great crowd,
09:04 you know, and different lineup.
09:12 You know, I thought that,
09:13 you know, Joseph and Layden played really well last game.
09:17 And I think that, you know,
09:19 kind of put everybody on alert, so to speak,
09:24 that, you know, you gotta play super, super hard.
09:28 You gotta follow the game plan.
09:30 And I think those two guys playing well
09:32 kind of helped some of the other guys maybe understand,
09:35 I better play or I'm not gonna get my minutes back.
09:39 And when you have guys come off the bench
09:42 that do that the prior game,
09:44 I think it carried over tonight.
09:46 I really did with guys understanding the urgency
09:49 of them performing at a high level
09:51 from an effort standpoint.
09:52 - Eric, I know it took a lot longer than you would like
09:55 to get that first SEC win,
09:57 but you can't get two or three or four
09:59 until you get one.
10:00 Just how big was it to win?
10:01 And you feel like this can be something you can build on.
10:05 - Yeah, I mean, you know, confidence-wise, Bob,
10:09 I think we needed it for sure.
10:11 It's one game, it's over, you know,
10:13 up there South Carolina's depth chart right now.
10:16 I can't wait to get home
10:18 and start digging into South Carolina.
10:23 They've had an incredible season so far.
10:27 You know, I think even myself, like you win a game,
10:32 like, you know, kind of puts an extra juice in you,
10:35 you know, and it's on to South Carolina.
10:39 We'll see what happens on Saturday.
10:41 - I asked, we asked T-Mark Scottie
10:43 or somebody asked him if he ever hit a game winner.
10:45 Said he had a half court shot
10:46 or something to beat Memphis when he was a freshman.
10:49 Were you aware of that other game winner he had hit?
10:52 - No.
10:53 - Yeah. - No.
10:55 It wouldn't matter.
10:56 I still would have put a ball in his hands tonight
10:58 if he never had one his whole life.
11:00 - Eric, I know Tyrese Radford's a guy
11:04 that you've spoken highly of in the past.
11:06 You guys held him to two for 15.
11:07 What all went into that?
11:10 - Yeah, I mean, we tried to, you know,
11:12 send help in extra areas.
11:15 You know, it really worked against Radford
11:17 and it really didn't work against Taylor, you know.
11:22 They're both great players.
11:25 Like you guys have all heard me talk.
11:26 Look, Buzz Williams, a great coach.
11:28 Not a good one, a great coach.
11:29 They're super well coached.
11:32 They're super hard to prepare for.
11:34 And both those guys are,
11:36 like I love watching those guys play
11:38 when we're not playing.
11:39 Those are two of my favorite players to watch.
11:42 And I've said it a lot, like Radford can,
11:45 I mean, he can do so many things.
11:46 He can play the one, two, three, four.
11:51 You know, we just, you know,
11:52 I thought we did a good job of Biggs
11:55 being in the right help position
11:56 and trying to get him to certain spots on the floor.
11:59 - Yeah, Eric, I don't think battle played.
12:03 Was that a coach's decision?
12:05 Was he healthy?
12:06 - Yeah, it was coach's decision.
12:07 I mean, it was, you know, tonight was, you know,
12:10 shrinking the rotation and, you know,
12:15 who knows whose night it'll be Saturday,
12:17 or I guess day.
12:18 Who knows whose day it'll be Saturday.
12:20 I have no idea.
12:21 None of you guys know.
12:23 And that locker room probably didn't know.
12:24 Somebody's got to get hot for us tonight.
12:26 It was team arc.
12:28 Devo's defense was where we wanted it.
12:30 Elle did a great job on the defensive backboards.
12:32 Chandler did a great job moving the ball.
12:35 TB was in proper spots from a defensive standpoint.
12:39 Everybody's got to be ready.
12:41 Obviously the way we sub right now,
12:44 it's, you never know.