Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman with the media after 77-51 loss at Ole Miss on Wednesday night in Oxford.
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00:00 Yeah, Eric, have the migraines been an issue with Tremont earlier and
00:03 it just didn't cause him to miss a game or kind of what happened there and
00:07 we heard Trevin hurt his knee.
00:09 Could you fill us in on that or any other injuries, maybe Mitchell and.
00:13 >> Yeah, no, T mark hasn't practiced, didn't practice Monday or Tuesday.
00:19 Obviously has a migraine.
00:20 I'm not a doctor, he's got a migraine.
00:24 So that is what it is.
00:26 And then with Brazil, his knees had soreness since Monday's live practice and
00:33 I just wasn't able to go in the second half.
00:36 >> And obviously, a Tremont leading scorer, Trevin's one of your best players.
00:43 What kind of impact did it have?
00:45 Not having those guys in battle seemed like he was playing solid and
00:49 then he had to leave first, I don't know, eight or nine minutes or some kind of,
00:52 how'd the injuries impact, didn't it?
00:54 >> Well, I think injuries allow other people to step up and
00:57 try to garner more minutes.
00:58 And so other guys got opportunities tonight.
01:02 And I mean, every team goes through injuries,
01:06 every team goes through players in and out of the lineup.
01:10 It allowed other people opportunity to play.
01:13 And then you go back and you watch the film and
01:15 try to dissect the players that got the extra minutes.
01:18 But we're not shooting the ball well, we're not defending well.
01:23 We turned the ball over to start the game way too much,
01:26 got the turnovers a little bit under control.
01:30 Thought we moved the ball better tonight than we had with our 13 assists on
01:35 the 17, made field goals.
01:37 But I mean, just go up and down, the two for nine, three for ten, one for five,
01:43 oh for five, gotta make shots.
01:48 And certainly, defending becomes a problem.
01:52 We were up on the glass at one point, rebounding the ball.
01:55 And then the second half,
01:57 the rebounding was heavily tilted towards Ole Miss.
02:02 >> And then I know you're trying to push every button you possibly can, but
02:06 I think you played 12 guys in the first half again, and I get why you're doing it.
02:11 But how frustrating, disappointing, whatever adjective you wanna use,
02:15 is it that you can't find a core seven, eight guys like you usually have,
02:21 that you feel good about playing?
02:22 >> Yeah, I mean, everybody's getting an opportunity.
02:26 Like I said, I mean, point guard play, turnovers, shooters.
02:32 Shooters are struggling shooting the ball.
02:37 At the center spot, we had zero defensive rebounds.
02:39 So there's a lot of areas, it's not one particular player,
02:44 it's not one particular position.
02:46 It's across the board, we're getting outplayed at every position right now.
02:51 >> I'm sorry.
02:52 >> Go ahead.
02:55 >> Was Devo not playing the second half, was that coach's decision, or was he healthy?
02:59 >> Yep, yep, he's healthy.
03:01 >> Okay, I might have a couple more if time allows, I'll turn it back to Mike,
03:04 thanks.
03:05 >> Daniel.
03:06 >> This is gonna be their last taste of SEC play, and
03:13 this is kinda how it's going for them.
03:14 Is that something that you've talked about,
03:17 trying to galvanize this team somehow, some way?
03:19 >> I have no idea what he said.
03:20 >> Say it again, you broke up.
03:22 >> Yeah, for a lot of these players, this is their veteran,
03:27 this is their last go amongst SEC play.
03:31 Is that something that you've used to try and galvanize the team at all, or
03:34 how to galvanize the team?
03:36 >> I don't really understand the question, you mean because we have seniors?
03:43 >> Yeah.
03:44 >> I mean, that's up to them to, I mean, no,
03:50 we haven't talked about being a senior, being a junior, being a freshman, no.
03:53 We have not discussed that.
03:54 We've talked about ways to try to beat our opposition.
03:57 >> Hutch.
04:00 >> Yeah, Eric, quick follow up on Brazil.
04:02 Is it the same knee that he hurt last year, and
04:04 what kind of level of concern is there with that?
04:07 >> Well, Hutch, I mean, again, I'm not a doctor, and
04:14 therefore, for me, right now it's soreness, you know what I mean?
04:20 So I'm sure that, I mean, anytime there's soreness involved,
04:23 I'm sure we don't have our team doctor with us, so you go back home.
04:27 And our trainer's really good, he's usually spot on with all the evaluations.
04:34 So I mean, until I get further word, I mean,
04:39 it is what Matt, our trainer, like I said,
04:43 he's been excellent since he's been with us.
04:46 And he's right now calling it soreness, and so rehab and
04:51 things like that, and you let the doctor check it out as well.
04:56 >> You mentioned the early turnovers.
04:57 What do you think was behind that?
04:58 Was it more of Ole Miss, or was it things you were doing, or
05:01 what do you think caused that?
05:03 >> Yeah, I mean, I thought Ole Miss came out super aggressive.
05:05 They jumped passing lanes,
05:07 they pre-rotated when they saw blitz, the pick and roll.
05:10 And we just didn't do a very good job being strong with the basketball,
05:16 and then I thought we made some adjustments.
05:18 And we ended up taking care of the ball, and
05:21 it allowed us to get more shots on goal, but then shots weren't falling.
05:26 >> And then also, you've told us several times this year that this team practices
05:30 really well, but can you put your finger on why that's not translating over into
05:34 games?
05:35 >> Well, right now, teams are just out playing as such.
05:39 I mean, you can have great practices, but
05:44 teams have size on us at certain positions.
05:47 And I mean, I'll say it once and I'll say it 100 times,
05:52 I'd rather have a team play good in games and not practice well.
05:56 And we've had some guys not practice well over the last three years,
06:01 but certainly really produced in a game.
06:06 >> I got a question, Bob.
06:10 Eric, do you have any idea of if Tremont might be available for Kentucky?
06:14 And you gotta play those guys in three days, and
06:17 you probably really don't know about Trev, maybe you don't know about Mark.
06:21 How tough is that, going to a game, especially like Kentucky,
06:24 when you're just trying to find answers right now?
06:27 >> I think, Bob, yeah, I mean, hopefully I've coached in enough places and
06:32 understand that injuries are part of the game.
06:36 And like I said, an injury allows another player to get an opportunity
06:42 that maybe he thought he should have or wants to have.
06:46 And so it's gotta be the next manned up mentality.
06:49 I don't know any other way to say that.
06:56 I mean, injuries are part of what happens.
06:58 And Justin Smith was injured for a five game stretch and
07:02 other guys got an opportunity.
07:03 We struggled when Justin was out.
07:05 We struggled when Isaiah Joe was out.
07:07 But we were able to win a big game against TCU and
07:10 some guys stepped up when Isaiah was out.
07:13 That's part of it.
07:14 Last year, TB was out for an entire season.
07:18 And we had other guys get the minutes that TB would have played last year.
07:25 And right now, I mean, we're a team that,
07:29 we lost four guys that have played in an NBA game this year.
07:32 And right now, that's a lot to replace as we're starting
07:38 to see this thing unfold before us.
07:40 I mean, there's not a lot of teams in college basketball that had four players
07:45 from one team go on to play in the NBA and then you try to figure out what you can do.
07:50 And right now, obviously, we're struggling on both sides of the ball.
07:55 And Daniel's question about our seniors, I mean, you want senior leadership.
08:01 You want guys to embrace, but we want all our guys.
08:06 I mean, I want our freshmen excited.
08:08 We want our seniors excited.
08:09 We want everybody excited.
08:11 We don't have that many games left, although we still have a lot left in
08:15 conference play, and we gotta try to figure out a way to get better.
08:19 >> Thank you, coach.
08:21 >> Thanks, Eric.