Lack of Focus, Bad Shot Selection, Turnovers Almost Costly

Razorbacks steal a win in North Little Rock,

Author:
Jacob Davis
Publish date:
Dec 17, 2023 1:09 AM EST

In this story:

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Razorbacks stole victory from the jaws of defeat on Saturday with a 69-66 win over Lipscomb at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock. Arkansas built a 20 point lead, their biggest of the night, with 11:59 to go in the second half before collapsing down the stretch.

The amount of ill-advised turnovers have been a common occurrence for much of the season as it bled into this game. 11 of Arkansas' 14 turnovers against Lipscomb were by guards. Davonte Davis committed a team high four turnovers with three of those coming in the first half. As for the rest of the guards three turnovers came from Layden Blocker and two from Tramon Mark. Khalif Battle and Jeremiah Davenport had one apiece. To make things worse there were five Razorback turnovers in the final 11:59 with the Razorbacks up 20 points.

Shot selection was odd as well once the Bisons implemented a zone defense to keep Arkansas from converting easy shots in the paint. Prior to the 20-point lead, the Razorbacks were shooting nearly 60% from the field. That all came to a screeching halt as Lipscomb kept five guys inside the three point line daring the Hogs to shoot them out of the defense which did not happen as they shot 5-14 on jumpshots and layups to close the game.

Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman against Lipsomb on Saturday night

With such an older crop of players, Coach Eric Musselman probably expected to be further along with his team's chemistry through 11 games. However, the blown lead is a cause of concern for the fifth year head coach.

“I let them play," Musselman said. "I should’ve clock managed better. You think with a veteran team you’d get good shots on goal, that wasn’t the case tonight. We've got to get a lot better in so many areas.”

There was no sigh of relief or happy to come away with a victory in this one. A win isn't just a win for Musselman as he continues to share his frustration in his team.

"I'm disappointed," Musselman said. "[Not] keeping the ball in front, not having straight line drives, reaction to loose balls. We had a baseline out of bounds play we weren't even matched up. So, we've got to become way more alert. We have to more sense of urgency. You know, all things will continue to be discussed and talked about."

Mark was scorching from the field scoring 15 of his 17 points in the first half. He provided a solid synopsis for what went wrong when the Bison went on a 21-1 run in the second half. Arkansas simply reverted to old habits which brought them to this point in non-conference play.

"We scored the ball well and defended the ball well to get up 20," Mark said. "But when they went on their run we got sloppy. They started getting more open looks, driving lanes opened for layups. We really had no rotations on their guys."

Shot selection wasn't terrible throughout the game but Arkansas turnovers undermined what could've sent a central Arkansas crowd home happy instead of indifferent.

"Our clock management can definitely could've been better," Mark said. "We had turnovers, I had a couple of turnovers. I think in terms of shot selection we were ok though but need to clean up our turnovers, especially in crunch time like that."