Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman's complete press conference Friday afternoon ahead of Saturday's game with Kentucky on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
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00:00 - Hey, you guys have not had the lead,
00:03 I think in either of these last two games.
00:05 I know, how tough was that to be playing from behind
00:08 and how important against a team like Kentucky
00:10 that you get off to a good start,
00:12 you know, keep the crowd in the game,
00:14 keep, you know, having your guys feel good?
00:17 - Yeah, certainly getting off to a good start.
00:19 You know, we were able to do that against Texas A&M.
00:22 I thought it helped fuel our confidence.
00:27 You know, and when you're playing a, you know,
00:28 a team like Kentucky and, you know,
00:32 they're number one in the country in points per game,
00:35 they're number three in field goal percentage,
00:38 number seven in three point percentage,
00:41 and eighth in assists.
00:42 So there's a lot of things defensively that,
00:45 and we have a shorter prep.
00:46 Obviously they played on Tuesday, we played on Wednesday.
00:49 You know, the shorter prep time, you know,
00:54 is a factor as well.
00:56 So we've got to have a really good practice today.
00:59 In our preparation, we got to be really clean and concise on,
01:02 'cause we're not going to have a long drawn out game plan
01:06 just because of the lack of space here.
01:09 So transition defense, super important, obviously,
01:13 and defending the three, super important,
01:15 and trying to stay out of rotations, important as well.
01:20 - And then did you have an update
01:22 or what is the update on Tremont and Trevin?
01:26 - Yeah, I mean, I would assume that, you know,
01:28 that Tremont should be getting better each day
01:30 with the migraine.
01:32 That's usually the, you know,
01:33 the history of how migraines go,
01:37 but it, you know, also very, very unpredictable.
01:40 And then with, you know, with TB,
01:43 you know, he's, I mean, he would like to play for sure,
01:48 but he's got some soreness and, you know,
01:51 there's a couple of different, you know, thought processes.
01:54 Does he rest?
01:55 Does he see how it feels before tip?
01:58 You know, so I would say, you know, as of this moment, Bob,
02:03 I would say, you know, at best a game time decision.
02:07 - So questionable.
02:09 - No, I said at best a game time decision.
02:13 - Okay, I know you're not a doctor.
02:14 We've established that.
02:16 You're a basketball doctor, I guess.
02:19 Hey, also Nate was wondering if I could ask you about Devo.
02:22 I know he didn't play well the other night.
02:25 I know he had some defensive lapses,
02:27 but he has, you know, been with you for a long time.
02:29 Does he figure into the game plan
02:33 and just kind of where's he at, do you think mentally?
02:36 And is he a guy that you need leadership from?
02:39 'Cause obviously he's your,
02:40 the guy that's been in the program the longest with you.
02:42 - Yeah, I think leadership starts with every returning player
02:46 you know, leadership in the locker room,
02:48 leadership on the floor.
02:51 You know, I think right now, you know,
02:52 we need all of our, you know, main rotation guys
02:57 to play well.
02:58 I mean, we've, you know,
03:00 when you look at our stats individually and as a team,
03:03 they've got to improve, you know, in a lot of areas
03:07 on both sides of the basketball.
03:09 I mean, we looked at, you know, deflections last game
03:12 and Joseph Pinnion and Denajai Harris
03:15 led us in deflections, you know?
03:17 And so, you know, we got to improve,
03:22 we got to get better.
03:23 We've got to, you know,
03:25 the deflections is just a small part of the game,
03:27 but, you know, it's, you know,
03:31 we went back and charted and those two guys
03:33 are the two guys that led us in deflections,
03:35 which is a little bit surprising.
03:38 Good for those two guys, but, you know, so yeah,
03:42 we need, I mean, we're playing the number one
03:45 offensive team in the country,
03:48 a team that's got a ton of pros,
03:50 a program and a team.
03:53 I think Coach Calipari is an incredible coach.
03:56 Love what he's done with this team
03:59 and the spacing that they have
04:00 and the pace that they play with.
04:02 And he's constantly adjusting and tinkering.
04:05 And, you know, I mean, this team is,
04:09 this team's a fun team to watch, you know?
04:12 I don't know if you want to say that, you know,
04:14 when you're playing a 40 minute game against them,
04:16 but when you're not playing them or preparing for them,
04:19 they're super cosmetically pleasing to watch,
04:22 super talented.
04:24 I think the biggest thing that stands out
04:25 is with all that talent,
04:27 with the NBA players that they have on their roster
04:30 is where they line up with, in the country in assists.
04:35 I mean, eight assists.
04:36 So they're doing a great job sharing the ball.
04:39 - Yeah. I got a couple more, but I'll turn it back to Mike
04:41 if you have time to come back around to me.
04:43 Thanks.
04:44 - Scotty.
04:45 - Hey, Coach, where do you place the importance
04:49 in this game on transition defense for you guys
04:52 and then identifying shooters, you know,
04:54 when Kentucky does get out and runs at the tempo numbers
04:57 up there nationally?
04:58 - Yeah. I mean, obviously, Scotty, you know,
05:00 I mean, number one, we have deep offensive rebound all year.
05:03 So I don't know why we'd start, you know, this game.
05:08 So we should be good in transition defense
05:11 if you're not going to the glass.
05:13 We have had, you know, too many sequences
05:17 where we got guys in no man's land.
05:19 They're not going to the glass and they're not getting back.
05:21 That's, you know, equates to our record, you know,
05:26 in league play.
05:27 So transition defense for sure.
05:29 Will it be emphasized today? Absolutely.
05:31 Identifying shooters. Yes.
05:33 Who are the shooters?
05:34 21, Wagner, Dillingham, zero, Reeves, 12, Shepard, 15.
05:39 Edwards can make a three.
05:42 Mitchell at the four.
05:44 And then obviously the big guy, 44.
05:46 All those guys are red shooters.
05:47 We got to get to them, close airspace on them,
05:50 contain the basketball in transition.
05:53 - That sums it up right there.
05:56 I'm curious. I think you've mentioned that-
05:58 - Now you got to go do it, Scott.
05:59 Or not you, we have to go execute that.
06:03 - I don't think I can do that to be perfectly-
06:04 - I'm not sure you should.
06:05 You couldn't do it as well.
06:07 Yeah, maybe at times.
06:08 - I'm curious.
06:09 I think you've mentioned your relationship
06:12 with Coach Cal is pretty good.
06:14 How has that, I guess, bond that you guys have
06:17 maybe developed over time?
06:18 - Just a long history.
06:23 It started, he used to do a...
06:28 He had a group of coaches come in Memphis.
06:31 It was like a coaching clinic seminar,
06:35 closed door with just a small group of coaches.
06:40 And then obviously the international stuff
06:43 is maybe where I got an opportunity
06:45 to spend a lot of time with him.
06:47 Obviously he took my job with the Dominican Republic.
06:51 I never got a chance to coach Carl Anthony Towns,
06:57 but somehow he was on the Dominican team that next year
07:01 after I left and he was there.
07:04 And then I was coaching Venezuela.
07:07 And most of those tournaments, you eat in the same spot,
07:12 you're in the same hotel,
07:14 there's a flag for the country that you represent.
07:17 And obviously, I don't know about Cal's Spanish.
07:20 Mine's probably a little better than his,
07:22 but we kind of gravitated to eat together at certain meals.
07:27 I think he's a guy that,
07:30 super important, the coaching profession to him.
07:35 We all wanna win and compete and get after it.
07:39 But I do think in the SEC coaches meetings
07:42 and things like that,
07:43 I think everything he talks about is always
07:46 in the betterment of the profession.
07:48 I think he's super creative.
07:50 His ideas about trying to create some type of summer league
07:54 like the NBA has to do that in August, super creative.
07:59 His winning goes without saying.
08:02 So tremendous respect.
08:04 I look at him as a friend, a mentor,
08:06 somebody that you seek advice from when you need it
08:10 and love how his teams are playing this year.
08:13 - Hutch.
08:16 - Yeah, coach, you mentioned Joseph Pinion a minute ago
08:18 with his deflections.
08:19 Just has he earned himself some more playing time
08:21 moving forward?
08:22 And what do you need to see from him
08:23 so he can maybe have consistent minutes the rest of the way?
08:27 - I think defensively, Hutch is the big thing,
08:31 keeping the ball in front of him.
08:32 And I think he's done a much better job.
08:34 He's getting low defensively.
08:35 He works every day.
08:37 He follows a game plan.
08:39 You know, he's, I mean, you look at his minutes,
08:43 he's been as productive, if not more productive
08:46 in his minutes than a lot of guys
08:47 that are playing more minutes than him.
08:49 So certainly we've talked about that.
08:52 The good thing is, our staff, I got great confidence
08:57 when I look around the room when we meet.
09:01 'Cause again, we get to watch these guys in practice,
09:04 all of them.
09:05 You talk about Keith Smart, three-time NBA,
09:09 former head coach.
09:10 Anthony Root has been in the G League.
09:12 You know, even Tommy Abenauer has G League experience
09:18 and college experience.
09:20 Todd Lee is a college head coach.
09:22 Michael's been with us since our winning at Nevada
09:27 and is growing in his career.
09:29 He had the opportunity to work with the Cavaliers
09:32 this summer.
09:32 So all of us get to answer your question, Hutch.
09:36 We all get to, I'm getting opinions
09:38 from a lot of really good coaches,
09:41 Anthony Root, Fort Wayne, Matt Ant.
09:43 So these guys come from incredible backgrounds.
09:48 And we're talking about all the stuff
09:50 that a lot of the things that you guys are asking
09:52 to try to come up with the correct answers.
09:54 But Joseph has done a great job.
09:56 And obviously I'm searching.
09:59 I mean, you can go back through every team I've ever coached
10:03 and I've never thrown 12 or 13 guys in a game,
10:08 let alone a half.
10:09 So, you know, as my mom says,
10:12 the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing
10:14 over and over again if it's not working.
10:16 So I'm gonna continue to search, scrap,
10:21 try to come up and push the right buttons.
10:24 Obviously those buttons have not worked
10:27 as of yet in league play.
10:29 And we'll continue to do everything we can in our power
10:33 to try to get our team to play with the identity
10:35 that it's played with over the last 10 years of college.
10:39 And even, you know, I take great pride
10:41 in the Warriors teams and how hard they played
10:44 in all our minor leagues teams.
10:46 And we're gonna continue to try to work to get this thing.
10:50 There's still a lot of basketball to be played.
10:53 - And one of those shooters you mentioned for Kentucky
10:55 a minute ago was Antonio Reeves.
10:57 He had a really big game here last year.
10:59 And I'm just curious-
11:01 - Hutch, that wasn't a good game.
11:02 That was a career game.
11:06 - Yeah, I'm curious, how do you prevent him
11:08 from having another one of those type of games?
11:10 What are the challenges maybe of defending him?
11:12 - Oh boy.
11:15 It's gonna be harder to defend him this year
11:18 because they have more shooters around.
11:22 They have two scoring point guards
11:25 who can also dribble drive.
11:26 I mean, you gotta chase him off screens.
11:31 I mean, they run some floppy action.
11:32 We've gotta chase him off the single double screens.
11:36 We gotta get to him at the 45 degree angle
11:38 on their pitch aheads in transition
11:40 when they throw a head to him.
11:42 And, you know, baseline out of bounds,
11:45 he's got a nice floater.
11:47 They'll run a B-O-B play that gets him right
11:49 in a sweet spot for a runner.
11:51 So there's a multitude of things we gotta do.
11:53 We gotta have a hand in his shooting eye space as well.
11:59 - Okay, Bob.
12:01 - Eric, what are your thoughts on game day being here?
12:06 I know, you know, this may be the best time
12:09 and you guys are uncharacteristically struggling,
12:11 but do you see it as a positive
12:13 or does that add excitement
12:15 or just what's your take on game day being here?
12:17 - Yeah, no, I take it's awesome.
12:20 Obviously you're talking about the A-plus A-plus crew.
12:23 You're talking about incredible exposure
12:25 for the men's basketball program,
12:27 incredible exposure for the university,
12:30 incredible for the university.
12:32 For one day, the University of Arkansas,
12:35 and leading up to, I mean,
12:37 all you gotta do is turn on ESPN
12:40 and there's commercials running over and over and over
12:43 about game day coming here.
12:44 So what that monetary value is for the school,
12:47 for the program, I don't know.
12:50 I'm sure somebody out there can come up
12:52 with some type of one, but great exposure.
12:55 It's awesome, as I've texted many of our former players.
12:59 And if I could text all of our fans,
13:02 game day is coming based on what's happened here
13:04 the last three years, and even in year one.
13:07 The enthusiasm and the effort to think about
13:11 how hard Adriel Bailey played as a six foot six center
13:14 and the battles that he had being undersized.
13:18 Game day is here based on, in my opinion,
13:21 I'm not in their production meetings,
13:24 but I'm assuming when the decision was made to come here,
13:28 it was based on what's happened here
13:30 over the body of work with the past teams
13:34 and probably not just the past teams since I've been here,
13:39 but the teams that Coach Anderson had,
13:42 the teams that Eddie Sutton had,
13:43 the team that Nolan Richardson's had,
13:45 all that stuff has Arkansas on a platform
13:50 that's a really good spot, even when we're having a year
13:54 that we would like to have more wins
13:56 than what we currently have.
13:58 - You started to say for one day, Arkansas,
14:00 then you didn't finish it.
14:01 I think that's probably a good quote
14:02 if you could have finished it.
14:04 You said for one day, Arkansas.
14:08 - Have you not noticed that I stopped mid-sentence
14:11 on a lot of things?
14:13 - Yeah, sometimes, but I don't wanna do dot, dot, dot.
14:16 I'd like to hear you finish the quote.
14:18 - Help me out, what was the quote again?
14:20 - You started to say for one day, Arkansas,
14:22 and I think I know what you were gonna say,
14:24 but I obviously can't.
14:24 - Yeah, I mean, it's on the forefront
14:26 of the college basketball world.
14:28 It's got a platform unlike anything else.
14:34 I've never been a part, I haven't done this a long time,
14:39 but I have not been a part of game day.
14:43 Certainly for our players,
14:44 it should be a once in a lifetime experience.
14:47 None of our current players have had that spotlight.
14:52 And look, we're also on 'cause we're playing Kentucky.
14:55 I mean, that's part of this thing too.
14:57 I mean, you're talking about a team that's 14 and four,
15:01 has a ton of NBA players that are gonna go on
15:04 to the next level in a few months.
15:07 And you're talking about Coach Calipari.
15:09 And when Coach Cal and the Wildcats come into a building,
15:14 buildings are sold out.
15:17 And credit to them, thanks to the SEC,
15:22 we're playing them on a weekend,
15:23 which is when game day happens.
15:26 - I know you're not happy, the players aren't happy.
15:30 Nobody's more pissed off than y'all,
15:32 but the fans obviously aren't happy either.
15:34 But do you feel like they'll respond
15:35 and come out and understand,
15:37 it's a tough year right now and you guys need the support
15:41 and they'll show up like they have in the past?
15:44 - I mean, I hope so, yeah.
15:46 You know, I mean, this is,
15:47 to be able to watch a team like Kentucky,
15:53 my house is full.
15:56 Bunch of people flew in from Reno.
15:59 People are flying, two guys are coming in from Minnesota.
16:04 Yeah, so this is, I would assume,
16:07 just based on my staff,
16:08 my son's got someone coming that works for the Jazz
16:13 that's a friend of his.
16:16 And yeah, I mean, everybody's house is full
16:20 with people flying in from all over.
16:22 So I would assume that the place will be rocking pregame.
16:27 Now it's up to our team to go out and play
16:34 and keep the crowd involved.
16:36 That's what has to happen.
16:39 - And we know it's been rough SEC play,
16:41 but you guys beat Duke, you beat Purdue,
16:44 you had a great half against A&M.
16:47 What's the team's mindset?
16:48 And do you feel like they kind of be galvanized
16:51 for this game?
16:52 - Yeah, I mean, as a competitor, Bob, I think,
16:57 and I've talked about it before games,
17:00 like you can never take for granted,
17:03 I mean, every one of our games is on national TV.
17:06 Everywhere we play, there's been good crowds.
17:09 I mean, you shouldn't get any more up for Purdue,
17:14 Kentucky, A&M, that's the job of a consistent competitor.
17:22 Consistent competitors get up every single game.
17:33 But I don't want us to be consistent
17:35 in what we've done the last few games.
17:38 So we do wanna change and Kentucky should grab
17:43 your attention when you look at their numbers.
17:46 And you better bring your A game
17:48 with the way that they're scoring the basketball.
17:51 - Yeah, they obviously had a rough game
17:53 against South Carolina, probably shows
17:55 that what South Carolina did here wasn't a fluke there.
17:59 They're pretty good, but they beat Kentucky by 17.
18:01 What'd you think about that game?
18:02 And what do you think that does
18:03 to Kentucky's mindset coming in here?
18:06 - Well, I mean, I know Coach Cal well enough
18:08 that after a loss, I mean, they're gonna be sky high,
18:11 ready to play, that's for sure.
18:13 South Carolina is really, really good.
18:17 And we talked about it as a staff before the game,
18:20 how good they were.
18:23 They're super well-coached, they're super connected.
18:28 I have not looked at the attendance numbers.
18:32 I'm assuming South Carolina probably had over 17,000.
18:36 And they won a home game in front of a great crowd.
18:41 Unfortunately, when a team comes off a loss like that
18:46 and they're really talented, it usually brings them together.
18:49 And so I'm gonna assume Kentucky is gonna play
18:52 as well as they have all year and be as ready
18:55 to play this game coming off of a loss.
18:59 - I just got one more.
18:59 You got a winning record against Kentucky in multiple games.
19:03 I don't know the numbers, but there can't be too many guys
19:06 that have a winning record
19:08 when they play Kentucky a few times.
19:10 What are your thoughts on that?
19:12 - I mean, nothing other than the fact that
19:15 we've had some past teams that were super talented,
19:18 super focused, and very competitive
19:20 when we've played NCAA tournament games
19:24 or when we've played games like Kentucky.
19:27 And we've had past groups that have really risen
19:29 to the occasion.
19:30 And I think that when we played Kentucky,
19:36 our players have incredible respect.
19:40 We'll see if that trend continues tomorrow.