Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman's complete press conference after dominating the Missouri Tigers much more than the 91-84 score might indicate.
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00:00 56 points in the paint tonight.
00:01 Just kind of was that a point of emphasis going into this game?
00:04 I would say more than a point of emphasis.
00:07 Hutch, it was it was a mandate, you know, to score in what we call zone one.
00:13 You know, if you settled for threes tonight, you probably were going to come out
00:17 and not go back in.
00:19 We did not want to take a lot of three point shots tonight.
00:22 You know, this this Razorback basketball team for the last 80 minutes of play
00:27 has played really good basketball.
00:30 Tonight's 40 minutes, we played very well against Kentucky, lost the game.
00:33 They got loose on some threes and and, you know, last four minutes of that game.
00:38 Not good tonight to go on the road and lead for 37 minutes is really, really hard to do
00:44 and really proud of us offensively scoring 47 and 44 in the two halves.
00:51 I thought we did a phenomenal job sharing the basketball.
00:54 Defensive activity is where it needs to be with 10 steals.
00:58 This this group tonight played like teams of the past, creating steals,
01:03 jumping and passing lanes, sharing the basketball.
01:06 Super proud of of of the 40 minute effort tonight.
01:11 And McCoy specifically has put together back to back double doubles for you all.
01:15 Just what have you seen from him?
01:16 And is this something you maybe saw coming in practice or anything?
01:20 Well, I think he's practiced really hard.
01:23 I think he's been very focused, especially the last,
01:27 you know, 80 minutes of basketball.
01:30 He's had great practices.
01:32 He's had really good pre practices.
01:33 He's had good post practices.
01:36 I think, you know, the last two games he's he's had a different renewed focus,
01:40 which, you know, when he plays like that, he's as good as any center in the country
01:46 the way that he's played the last two games.
01:48 Bob. Yeah, Eric, I think the final score is kind of deceptive.
01:56 You guys pretty much control that thing from about,
01:58 you know, like you say, the last 37, 38 minutes.
02:00 And what was it like to really be in control in an SEC game,
02:03 especially on the road?
02:04 I know Missouri hadn't won a game, but they played a lot of tight games.
02:08 Yeah, I mean, I thought, Bob, we played great basketball.
02:12 I thought there was a there was a
02:15 renewed sense of of urgency, a
02:18 a focus, a disposition pregame.
02:24 It was a team that was that that was ready to play.
02:27 And, you know, like I said, I'm proud of their toughness tonight,
02:32 proud of the way that we defended in the first half and the second half.
02:35 When you're playing with the lead defensively,
02:37 you don't want to put them at the foul line and have the clock stop.
02:40 So defensively, we got some things that we have to clean up
02:42 before we go to Baton Rouge on Saturday for an early tip.
02:46 But I mean, the team had fun tonight.
02:49 You could see it.
02:50 They competed. They had fun while they were out there.
02:53 And just again, I mean, when's the last time we've had ten steals in a game this year?
02:58 So two really good steps in the right direction.
03:01 You want your basketball team to be improving.
03:02 I thought the last 80 minutes we've improved as much as any two games
03:06 that we've had this year.
03:09 And then you point guard, you started late and you gave
03:12 Keon quite a few minutes, you played them together.
03:15 Teamwork was kind of around the point there at the end.
03:17 Just how do you feel about the point guard play after kind of a rough
03:20 that was a rough spot against Kentucky?
03:23 Point guard play was phenomenal.
03:24 I give it an A+.
03:26 You know, Keon had much, I mean, Keon, the last two days of practice,
03:31 he was focused and, you know, so he got the nod tonight,
03:35 getting 32 minutes and his free throws were very important, going six for six.
03:41 And the ball flows really well when he's out there.
03:44 And, you know, I thought he made a couple of great pocket passes
03:48 that might not have gone down as assists because maybe one of our bigs
03:51 took two or three dribbles, but I thought our offense was really good.
03:55 I mean, 91 points on the road is a large number,
03:58 and I thought we played consistently offensively in both halves.
04:02 I thought defensively the first half great, defensively the second half much,
04:06 much areas that we need to improve on.
04:08 And if that's OK, obviously, you know, Mitchell's been been really big,
04:12 but, you know, Graham's played pretty well, you know, Lawson's played pretty well.
04:16 Just what you thought of your bigs, especially with Trevor now,
04:19 the last couple of weeks?
04:21 Yeah, I think our three headed bigs have been unbelievable.
04:24 I really do.
04:25 I mean, I think, you know, Chandler and Jalen and Kai have been outstanding.
04:31 Not good, but outstanding.
04:33 I mean, Jalen's looking at the rim and he's being super, super aggressive.
04:37 Scoring the basketball, he was, I mean, he had four steals, four assists.
04:42 I mean, Graham offensively was outstanding.
04:45 And Chandler continues to do all the little things that might not show up
04:48 in a box score. And like I mentioned, Kai's play, I mean, when he plays like that,
04:52 he's as good as any five in the country.
04:55 Thanks, Anthony.
04:57 Eric, kind of going in line with, you know, obviously the 56 points in the paint,
05:03 you guys out rebounded them with a plus nine margin.
05:07 Can you just talk about how important the rebounding was for you guys tonight
05:10 and how big of an emphasis that was going into it?
05:12 Yeah, I mean, I think that it was a I mean, it was a huge point of emphasis, Anthony.
05:17 I mean, we're, you know, we've done a lot of rebounding drills over the last,
05:22 you know, leading up to the Kentucky game and then we continued on.
05:25 So I certainly feel that that's an important
05:29 aspect to us winning basketball games.
05:33 I mean, if we don't rebound, Anthony, in this league, we're going to,
05:36 you know, really, really struggle.
05:38 So proud of our defensive rebounding.
05:41 I thought there was, you know, at times we, you know, we let some balls
05:44 slip through our hands and we've got to, you know,
05:46 we've got to get better at corraling the basketball in traffic.
05:49 But but but a much improved job
05:53 on the glass when you look one through five.
05:56 Fuller, Jackson, sorry, Jackson Fuller.
05:59 Moss, what did you make of
06:03 Leighton and Mennefield's time on the floor together,
06:06 you know, when they were kind of sharing the point guard duties?
06:08 Yeah, I mean, a lot of the a lot of a lot of matchups and stuff,
06:14 you know, Jackson, I mean, it has to do with,
06:16 you know, what the other team has out there.
06:19 Obviously, when they play Shawne East and Connor together, it allowed us
06:23 from a matchup standpoint to play two smaller guards together.
06:27 There's there's often nights where we're going against six, six off guards.
06:32 And then that changes playing two point guards at the same time.
06:35 But I thought those two guys tonight played extremely well off of each other.
06:39 I thought they both were extremely unselfish.
06:43 I thought defensively they were really good.
06:45 You know, it created a little bit more defensive havoc for the opposition.
06:51 We were able to extend our defense a little bit more,
06:53 which probably goes in line with, you know, with with those ten teams deals.
06:58 Yeah, just what did you I know they scored 84 points,
07:02 but what did you make of your team's ability to kind of control the paint
07:06 on the defensive end as well?
07:07 It seemed like there wasn't as many dribble drives getting successful,
07:11 especially along the baseline and such.
07:14 Yeah, I think our quickness with with Keon and and Leighton,
07:17 it helped us keep the ball in front and helped us not get into rotations.
07:22 So, yeah, that that definitely helped.
07:24 And then, you know, our block shots continue to to be really, really solid.
07:29 Graham had three tonight and, you know, as a team, we had six blocks.
07:33 So that's been a big strength of ours all year.
07:35 And I think if our perimeter guys can keep the ball in front like we did tonight,
07:39 you know, we did give up too many threes, obviously,
07:42 10 of 20 is an area of concern.
07:44 But tonight it was it was about stopping the dribble drive and maybe,
07:48 you know, schematically on me, you know, we were we were willing to,
07:53 you know, to live with some threes, especially with 14,
07:56 you know, Robinson and number four, Lewis.
07:59 So those three threes out of their 10, those are those are all on my shoulder
08:04 and a scouting report decision.
08:07 All right, Bob, take us home, please.
08:09 Hey, Eric, we didn't really get to ask you much about team.
08:12 Are he look more like his old self?
08:14 Just what you think of his game?
08:17 Well, I think going back to the Kentucky game, Bob, I you know,
08:20 I think he was still fatigued,
08:23 you know, from from from, you know, whatever he had headache wise
08:28 and just low energy.
08:30 I think he tried to give it his all, but I don't think he was completely healthy.
08:36 But he knew that we were a team that we were down in numbers.
08:39 And so he gave it his best shot.
08:41 I thought tonight I thought in practice, too, you know, yesterday
08:45 and in shoot around today, he looked like his old self as far as energy
08:49 and and having fun.
08:50 It was joking around with guys today at at shoot around.
08:53 And certainly I thought he looked like he had fresh legs as well.
08:57 So I think from an energy standpoint, we saw a different player tonight
09:00 than maybe what we saw against Kentucky just because of the fatigue.
09:05 You guys had a twelve to run there in the first half.
09:08 How big was that? Really got you a nice cushion.
09:10 Huge, Bob. I mean, you know, I have
09:13 been concerned with the way we've gone into halftime.
09:17 We came into a very scripted group
09:21 that we were going to have out there at the end of the half.
09:24 I think, you know, maybe one guy out of the five was not scripted.
09:29 You know, we wanted ball security to end the half.
09:33 We wanted a high level shot selection.
09:36 And I thought, you know, tonight was our best and going into halftime
09:40 that we've had one more first road win.
09:43 Just how big is that?
09:46 It's really hard to win on the road.
09:48 I know that with the fan bases, this is probably a rivalry or it seems to be.
09:53 I thought they had a great crowd.
09:57 And, you know, I think any time you can win on the road,
10:00 especially when you're struggling to get a win, when you play Kentucky
10:04 and you get emotionally up for the game, you have an incredible crowd like we did.
10:08 It's really hard mentally and spiritually to pick yourself up
10:12 and go on the road and play,
10:15 you know, against a team that, you know, is desperate for a win as well.
10:19 So super proud of the bounce back from a mental standpoint
10:22 after a game that we were all, you know, including myself,
10:26 everybody associated with the program.
10:29 We gave it our all against Kentucky and came up short.
10:31 We were able to put that in the back burner and get ready for today's game.
10:35 Like I said, super hard to do for a college team, but our guys did a great job
10:40 of it and came out and fought and scrapped and played probably their best game of the year.
10:44 Thanks, Eric. Thanks, Coach. Thanks, guys.
10:46 [BLANK_AUDIO]