Razorbacks Can Back Up Florida Win Against Georgia

Running out of games, Hogs probably see every game as must-win situations.

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Feb 21, 2023 9:00 AM EST
Original:
Feb 20, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — All those judgements about Arkansas coach Eric Musselman not being able to sort things out might have been premature.

Most of the fans doing all the doom-and-gloom projections know less about basketball than me and nobody's going to call me a hoops genius.

They aren't, either.

When you step back and look where the Razorbacks are in relation to the season, it might not be that bad in the postseason.

It may have taken a week or two longer to get fixed than Musselman planned, but he probably didn't figure on that whole Mississippi State thing the other night or a couple of other things.

After an 84-65 drubbing of a Florida team playing for the first time without it's best player, the Razorbacks have a quick turnaround to play Georgia on Tuesday night.

Musselman's not counting on that win over the Gators meaning a thing.

""The magic dust from tonight's not going to be sprinkled into our bloodlines come Tuesday," he said Saturday. "Every game has got its own flow. Every game has got, you know, three runs. Can we control two of the three runs?"

We'll see if Musselman has figured out all the drama with freshman Nick Smith Jr. coming back after an absence of nearly two months.

Smith didn't do a thing in the loss to the Bulldogs, but started against Florida and had what was probably a decent performance.

Starting the game may have been the answer all along. Fellow old-timer Mike Irwin of Pig Trail Nation pointed this out in an appearance on ESPN Arkansas earlier today. He wouldn't classify as a hoops expert, either, by the way.

But the comfort level for Smith was probably not starting in his first two games back.

Musselman probably just figured out rather than bring him back into the flow slowly (which wasn't working out) just throw him out there and deal with the results.

It may be the missing piece.

Whether any of the basketball genius fans want to admit that or not.