Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman's complete press conference Saturday after a loss to the Kentucky Wildcats at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
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00:00 There were like 20 points.
00:01 You obviously were in this one all the way.
00:03 What was your overall assessment of team's effort
00:05 in the game overall?
00:06 - I thought we had three great practices
00:09 leading up to tonight's game.
00:12 I thought it was the most connected
00:15 our team has been all season.
00:16 You know, that's one of the best teams we've played for sure.
00:21 I think they're extremely well coached.
00:26 They know their roles.
00:28 We changed a lot of things over the last three days,
00:32 however many hours that is.
00:33 We tried to really control tempo,
00:36 tried to really run some of our sets
00:42 that we ran at Nevada,
00:46 that we hadn't run much here just to control tempo.
00:50 But the turnovers, I mean,
00:53 just, I mean, we need better point guard play straight up.
00:56 I mean, I thought our bigs were phenomenal.
00:59 Thought that was the best game
01:01 that Kai Mitchell has played for us since he's been here.
01:05 I thought Graham and Lawson battled
01:10 and did all they could do
01:11 against a super talented frontline.
01:15 You know,
01:19 you know,
01:26 and we're shorthanded,
01:27 but I thought the effort, again,
01:29 I mean, you know,
01:30 have not been happy with the effort
01:32 over the course of the last couple of weeks.
01:34 Tonight, I, you know,
01:35 I mean, I got to go in that locker room
01:37 and tell them we got to get ready for Missouri
01:40 and I can't fault their effort.
01:43 We're not a good offensive team.
01:45 I mean, that's, I mean,
01:46 all you got to do is watch the game.
01:48 And we struggle at, you know,
01:55 taking care of the ball,
01:56 but because of effort and defense tonight,
02:00 we were in the game and there's been a lot of games
02:03 we haven't had a lead at all.
02:05 So I don't fault, you know,
02:09 the connectivity that the team had,
02:11 and I do not fault their effort one bit tonight.
02:14 I thought they played as hard as they could play.
02:16 I thought the first half,
02:17 it was flawless how they executed on both sides of the ball.
02:23 Now we might not have made shots,
02:25 but, you know, and then they, you know,
02:28 Mitchell hit some threes.
02:29 I think he averaged just one three a game
02:31 and then he hit three tonight.
02:32 So.
02:37 - Yeah, I think you were there 53-52,
02:41 you know, down one, there he goes on a run,
02:44 has a turnover, played some threes.
02:45 What do you think happened in that stretch
02:47 to allow them to pull away at the end?
02:48 - We didn't take care of the ball.
02:50 I mean, I don't know, Bob,
02:52 I obviously haven't watched the film.
02:53 There's a lot going on in the head coach's mind
02:55 during the flow.
02:56 So, I mean, do I remember that stretch?
02:59 Yes.
02:59 And, you know, I thought we turned it over
03:04 during that stretch and, you know,
03:08 maybe one ill-advised shot,
03:10 but I did, the shot selection was much improved tonight
03:15 from where it has been.
03:17 We're way more organized.
03:22 And I thought we controlled the pace of the game.
03:23 I mean, all you got to do is,
03:24 that's the number one scoring team in the nation.
03:27 And I don't have, I haven't had an opportunity
03:30 'cause I just got off the radio.
03:32 I don't know what the lowest scoring night
03:34 that they've had, but I'm assuming that's fairly close.
03:38 And that's with them going on that 8-0 run
03:40 and busting us for some threes really late in the game.
03:44 - Most physicality has been a problem,
03:47 especially in the paint this year.
03:49 How did you feel about that?
03:50 And did you have a sense coming in game planning
03:51 that you guys might have an edge there?
03:54 - Yeah, we tried to throw it inside more than we have,
03:56 Kevin, for sure, based on, you know,
03:59 some of our sets that we ran tonight.
04:02 And I thought we did it in the first half.
04:04 I thought from a physicality standpoint tonight
04:09 against a really good front line,
04:11 I thought our bigs were great.
04:13 I really did.
04:14 I thought, and I thought KB really,
04:16 I thought battle really, you know,
04:18 I thought his defense was by far the best defense
04:21 that we've seen from him all year.
04:22 I mean, he, there was timeouts that he wanted to guard.
04:26 Reeves, you know, so the bigs and battles defense,
04:31 you know, super happy with.
04:34 - You know, you were talking about pace,
04:38 but what did you think about Reed Shepard
04:39 when they started playing more through him
04:41 and that kind of seemed to spark them?
04:43 Did you notice that having a role in their comeback?
04:46 - Yeah, I mean, Reeves is, you know,
04:48 I mean, look at his average.
04:50 I think he averages 19 points in non-conference
04:53 and he averages 19 points in SEC play.
04:55 And, you know, he had 24, so he had five over his average.
04:58 You know, they run that floppy action for him
05:02 coming off single doubles.
05:03 I thought there were some screens that we were chasing
05:06 and, you know, I'm not so sure they were all set,
05:09 but it is what it is.
05:10 And they did a great job screening.
05:13 I mean, they got him open.
05:18 And so, you know, credit to a great player
05:21 and credit to a great team.
05:23 - Bigs played tonight.
05:26 Do you feel like maybe the foul trouble in the first half
05:28 kind of held you guys a little bit back
05:29 from you being able to extend the lead
05:31 and having to rest those guys?
05:33 - Yeah, I mean, yeah.
05:34 I mean, we, you know, two of them had fouls.
05:37 We went to the bench and the bench
05:38 didn't get us any rebounds
05:39 when those two guys got foul trouble.
05:42 I mean, you can look at the stats and, you know,
05:45 we got zero rebounds.
05:47 And those two guys were, you know,
05:48 grammar scoring for us and commanding a double team.
05:52 And that's where you miss Brazil.
05:53 You know, I mean, he's preseason all league player
05:59 and he's not playing a night and he's 6'11".
06:01 And, you know, I, again, I mean, as a coach,
06:06 as a leader of the program, like effort,
06:09 enthusiasm, energy, connectativity,
06:12 that's, you know, our roster is what it is right now.
06:15 And so all those things are what you want.
06:18 And look, I know people are walking out of the building
06:21 and we don't have a good SEC record,
06:24 but I mean, if you walk out of the building
06:26 and didn't think we played hard,
06:27 then you're wrong 'cause we did play hard.
06:30 Did we turn the ball over too much?
06:32 Absolutely.
06:33 Did one position really hurt us tonight?
06:36 Absolutely.
06:38 Having said that, you know, we were close to 200 passes.
06:42 I think Michael told me we were like 197.
06:45 That's a lot better than 144,
06:47 which is what it was last game.
06:49 So I thought we shared the ball.
06:50 I thought we executed, you know, we out-rebounded them,
06:55 which has not been the case in a lot of our recent games.
07:00 So I put, you know, I think we, you know,
07:03 we moved, we inched a little bit closer
07:06 to where we want to get to.
07:08 So it's on to Missouri.
07:14 What was the key to the improved defense today?
07:17 And like, is this, given the opponent,
07:20 maybe your best defensive performance of the season,
07:21 and is it something you can build on?
07:24 Well, I hope so.
07:24 I thought following the game plan tonight,
07:28 I didn't think we had guys just going off
07:29 and doing whatever they wanted defensively.
07:32 Thought we were extremely disciplined.
07:35 I thought there was two plays late in the second half
07:37 where we got undisciplined and they hit two threes.
07:40 But for sure, you know, I'm going to assume
07:45 it's our best defensive game of the year.
07:47 I mean, we lost the game, but, you know,
07:50 I think they started off like one of 14
07:53 and our bigs were challenging everything.
07:56 We were running them off the three-point line.
07:58 You know, so yeah, Hutch,
08:04 it was a good defensive performance
08:06 and it was not a good offensive performance.
08:10 Ty, if you mentioned you thought you played flawlessly,
08:12 but did you feel like maybe you maybe left some points
08:14 out there in the first half that kind of came back
08:16 to bite you between the early turnovers?
08:18 Yeah, I mean, I've mentioned the turnovers at nausea already
08:22 and then, you know, all year long,
08:25 finishing at the rim has been a problem.
08:27 So like, when you get to this point of the season,
08:30 I mean, if a team or a player struggles at the rim,
08:33 it's probably going to be the same thing at Missouri.
08:36 And then you just got to figure out your shortcomings,
08:39 figure out what you do well,
08:41 and then try to guide in those directions.
08:44 You know, if you're struggling at the rim,
08:46 you should probably come to practice early
08:48 and two-foot jump stop and get a manager or a GA
08:51 to hold the pad and finish through it.
08:53 We do it during our extended time of practices.
08:57 Again, I mean, we're a struggling offensive team,
09:01 but we competed defensively tonight.
09:03 Like I said, I thought we were connected
09:05 and not discombobulated, and so that's a positive.
09:10 Clear up the situation surrounding Devo and just...
09:16 I think, did Mike give a release?
09:20 Just that he was...
09:20 Yeah, that's, I mean, whatever Mike said, thank you.
09:23 Yep.
09:24 Okay, and then on the other side of the,
09:25 I was just wondering,
09:26 if we saw Tremont go down with cramps late,
09:29 I was wondering how much did fatigue
09:31 kind of play a role there at the end?
09:34 Well, cramps can happen.
09:39 You know, if you play beach volleyball,
09:42 you can get a cramp five seconds
09:44 into the first two minutes of a match.
09:46 So I don't know if he was dehydrated.
09:50 I don't know if it was fatigue.
09:52 I'll probably go home and watch a game
09:54 and somebody else will have cramps.
09:56 So I've had a cramp too for the last three weeks.
09:59 Devo stepped away.
10:03 Does that mean he's left the team permanently?
10:06 I'm just going to stick with Mike's thing.
10:08 Thank you, Bob.
10:08 I mean, is the door open for him to come back?
10:11 I'm just going to stick with Mike's thing.
10:13 I appreciate the job you got and that's what it is.
10:17 Okay.
10:18 Tremont, I know he had kind of a rough shooting game,
10:20 but he came back,
10:22 I guess he probably didn't feel great off a migraine.
10:25 What'd you think of his play
10:26 and him getting back in the line?
10:27 I mean, he practiced with us, you know what I mean?
10:30 Which was, you know, which, I mean,
10:34 he practiced the next time we hit the floor.
10:38 And I think anytime you're, you know,
10:41 away from the practice floor,
10:43 you can lose a little rhythm or whatever.
10:46 But we tried to put new sets in
10:48 that could get him involved in different areas of the floor.
10:51 And I thought Kentucky did a phenomenal job
10:54 of shading an extra defender at him.
10:57 I really did.
10:58 I thought they made his looks really difficult tonight.
11:02 - So now where you want to be, obviously,
11:05 but you do have 11 games left, you know,
11:08 there were some positives.
11:10 Now you got two road games.
11:11 Do you feel like if you can take this on the road
11:14 and continue this, you can still finish well?
11:18 - I mean, both games are going to be real.
11:20 I mean, I watched Missouri today.
11:22 They played great against South Carolina.
11:24 You know, they're going to be,
11:27 they're going to be like hungry for the game on Wednesday.
11:32 And our guys have to realize how hungry they will be.
11:35 If you look at Missouri's games, a lot of close scores.
11:38 Like you look at the five minute,
11:40 five minute mark left in games of Missouri's SEC games.
11:45 It's unbelievable how close they are
11:47 and how hard they played.
11:49 So, and then LSU's playing great.
11:52 It's before this, I mean, they're tied with Alabama.
11:55 I don't know what it'll end up,
11:56 but both those teams, I think are,
11:59 I think LSU's been one of the surprise teams.
12:02 And, you know, obviously Missouri at their place
12:06 is a place that'll probably have a great crowd.
12:10 - A little bit better than those other five SEC losses?
12:14 - I mean, look, we're in the business,
12:17 unfortunately or fortunately,
12:18 however you want to word it on certain nights of,
12:20 you know, like you win or you lose.
12:24 And it's on display and there's a scoreboard.
12:27 And, you know, there's not many professions
12:31 that players and coaches go through
12:33 other than athletics where there's,
12:35 everyone knows what goes on.
12:37 And I don't know what some doctor did in surgery today,
12:40 whether it was successful or not successful.
12:42 And, you know, in our sport, it's you win or you lose.
12:45 We lost, I'm not happy.
12:47 And I am proud of the effort, I will say that,
12:50 but I'm a competitor, you know what I mean?
12:54 I walked into the building, you know,
12:56 not trying to be close.
12:57 I walked in here confident that we were going to win the game
13:01 and we didn't win the game.
13:03 So.
13:03 - I got one more, if you don't mind telling me,
13:06 you know, your roster is what it is.
13:07 What do you think are your options of pulling guard?
13:10 What can you do there?
13:11 - Great question.
13:14 You know, we'll just keep searching.
13:18 You know, like I said, I thought, you know,
13:21 we changed our style of play today
13:23 and I thought it really helped our defense.
13:25 You know, we changed some of our defensive schemes.
13:29 I thought it really helped us.
13:31 You know, as the leader of the program that, you know,
13:35 my job is to continue to tinker.
13:36 And I don't have an answer right now for you, Bob,
13:39 on that, or I would tell you.
13:41 You know, we put T-Mark there for a while
13:46 and then that makes it, you know, difficult for him.
13:48 And he's wired to score.
13:51 And, you know, we had turnovers from other guys
13:54 and fouls from other guys.
13:55 We just gotta continue to search and, you know,
14:00 find something.
14:02 - TB, how close would you say it was tonight?
14:06 And is there a chance he could-
14:07 - I heard it was not close tonight.
14:09 Yeah.
14:10 - Is there a chance for maybe next game possibly, or?
14:13 - I don't, I mean,
14:16 and I don't mean to be a smart aleck
14:17 when I say I'm not a doctor, but I,
14:20 he did not do anything practice-wise.
14:23 I will tell you that.
14:24 So when he comes back, I don't know.
14:28 Knee soreness, you know, so,
14:32 I mean, I doubt you're gonna wake up,
14:36 you know, tomorrow's what, Sunday?
14:38 I doubt you're gonna wake up Sunday or Monday
14:39 if you were unable to practice
14:42 and unable to give it a try tonight.
14:44 You know, I mean, the good thing is our bigs did place,
14:49 you know, I thought those three guys played really well.
14:52 So hopefully they can carry some confidence
14:54 and momentum into the next game.
14:57 - And was Minifield a coach's decision?
14:59 - Yes, sir.
15:00 Yep.