Eric Musselman encourages his team against Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Defense Basis for Two Moves That Had Razorback Fans Talking in First Round

When it comes to Eric Musselman, ability to stop opponents will always drive decisions

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Mar 17, 2023 2:55 PM EDT
Original:
Mar 17, 2023

In this story:

DES MOINES, Iowa – There were a lot of questions from Arkansas fans about why Razorback coach Eric Musselman sat potential NBA pick Nick Smith with eight minutes left in the game after Illinois mounted a furious comeback after trailing by 17.

There was also a lot of concern about why forward Jordan Walsh, who has battled issues with foul trouble all season, came back in almost immediately after acquiring his fourth foul.

The answer is the same as it almost always is when it comes to Musselman.

Defense.

Yes, Smith missed a three followed by a lay-up that went way too hard off the glass, but those are things Musselman is usually willing to tolerate, especially with a big lead. It was what happened on the other end that triggered the quick move.

The Illini's RJ Melendez came in and caught Smith out of position three times in a row, making him pay each time.

The first came around the 9:15 mark. Smith was covering Melendez and lost sight of him.

He let the Illinois guard drift away from him while his eyes got lost in a scrum near the free throw line. The second Smith committed to taking a swipe at the ball from the outside, it was kicked out to a wide open Melendez.

Smith, realizing his mistake, sprinted at Melendez and left his feet. Melendez calmly took a couple of dribbles to his left while Smith went flying by and settled in for an easy 3-point shot.

The shot chipped the lead down from 55-38 to 55-41.

Just prior to this sequence of events, Walsh went to the bench with his fourth foul to get a quality demonstration of proper defensive positioning from Musselman. He watched what unfolded from the sidelines.

At 8:45 Melendez caught Smith out of position again. Smith lost sight of Melendez once again while trailing him across the paint down low.

The brief peek up the floor allowed Melendez to come open just outside the three point line. For a second time he waited for Smith to try to aggressively make up the ground.

As Smith charged him, he allowed the Arkansas guard's momentum to carry him one way while Melendez took off the other.

To Smith's credit, he caught back up to a degree, but not enough to get himself in proper defensive positioning. He arrived on Melendez's shoulder instead of cutting him off from the basket.

Melendez pushed right by him with no frontal resistance and knocked down the easy lay-up. The score was trimmed to 55-43, but just so long as there wasn't a third mistake, everything would be fine.

But, everything wasn't fine.

At this point Musselman realized Illinois had found a mismatch it could use to run it back to an even game. He's not one to call timeouts, nor did the moment call for one since there's still a double-digit lead.

Instead, Musselman signaled for Walsh and sent him to the scorer's table, hoping for a stoppage before any more damage can be done.

But there was more damage.

This one wasn't entirely on Smith, though. Arkansas got caught out of position with four guys guarding three on a semi-fast break, leaving Smith on the outside with two potential shooters.

For a third time he took his eyes off Melendez and it cost him. Smith got caught up watching what was happening inside while Melendez quietly drifted away, taking a moment to make eye contact with Sencire Harris to make sure he was aware how inexplicably open he was.

Smith then did what his body told him instead of his mind.

The mind should say that a corner three is the hardest three to make and Melendez is the hottest shooter on the court right now. Therefore, cut off any pass attempt to Melendez and take a risk with Harris shooting a low percentage shot.

However, the body naturally goes back to the first time any of us ever played keep away and chases after the ball in the corner when it's kicked out.

Smith did exactly what Harris hoped might happen and swung it over to Melendez across a clear passing lane. Being swift to punish mistakes, Melendez calmly squared up for an uncontested three for the second time in just barely over a minute and buried it.

The shot went down at the 8:04 mark. What was once a 17-point lead was now single digits at 55-46 as Melendez capped an 8-0 run in a span of 1:10.

Poor defense is a punishable sin in the Arkansas program. Defense that makes Musselman use a timeout is a one-way path to purgatory.

There is not a man on this planet who dislikes using a timeout more than Musselman, so he was not pleased when one had to be called to stop the run.

Smith headed to the bench, waiting hopefully in the closest player seat to his head coach as Walsh trotted in.

Davonte Davis was assigned the task of icing Melendez, which he wasted no time doing. It wasn't until defense rendered Melendez so ineffective he had to be pulled that Musselman put his freshman star back into the game.

This time Smith covered Luke Goode. Having learned his lesson, he kept Goode within his peripheral at all times.

However, that didn't keep him out of Melendez.'s sight The Illinois guard was determined to be in Smith's head and wasn't content with just that.

As Smith brought the ball up the floor in the closing minutes of the game, Melendez stole the ball from him and went in for an uncontested dunk that cut the game to five.

Melendez made a straight line for Smith who was pounding the side of his head repeatedly with a closed fist in frustration. Having gone out of his way to track down his prey, Melendez cut off Smith's walking path and began barking inches from his face.

Davis, a rare NCAA Tournament veteran, stepped in to put himself between Melendez and Smith while signaling the referees to call a technical. Meanwhile, Musselman quietly eased Smith off the court to allow him to regroup for the next game.

The Razorbacks instantly responded, abruptly cutting off an Illinois chance to make it a one-shot game and ran the lead back out to nine within seconds.

As for Walsh, his willingness to do the dirty work was a big part of why the Hogs were able to pull it out.

He was physical on defense and aggressive around the rim.

With 36 seconds left, he was used his body and long arms to negate an Illinois steal after Anthony Black threw an ill-advised pass from a trap on the baseline over half court. That created a loose ball that Ricky Council was able to flip back into play.

While preventing the steal, Walsh went to the ground. However, he was able to spring to his feet and come down with the floater from Council in traffic.

He was immediately shoved into the media table by Harris and the cameras captured the intense anger on Walsh's face at what had been done. Everything about his demeanor said he was doing all he could to not turn around and swing.

It was visually possible to see when the maturity kicked in. Walsh took a second to reset his mind and decide to do his punching at the free throw line.

The freshman knocked down a pair, sealing the Razorbacks' opportunity to go to the second round.

Had he let his emotions get the best of him, he not only would have fouled out, he would have kept Illinois in the game.

As Walsh played with those four fouls over the final eight minutes, the entire state of Arkansas saw him evolve from a freshman to a full grown man on the court.

A man Arkansas is going to need at his best if the Hogs are to have a chance against Kansas on Saturday.