Musselman Dealt Different Hand of Cards to Sort Through

Razorbacks must find way to turn good things behind closed doors into solid play

Author:
Daniel Shi
Publish date:
Dec 20, 2023 1:34 PM EST

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark — Coach Eric Musselman is struggling to figure out the disconnect. He's seeing plenty of good, but the rest of the world isn't. Arkansas can consider themselves on the fortunate side of 6-4 after avoiding a monumental collapse against Lipscomb. There is a wide chasm in the play in practice and what is being translated out onto the court.

"I’ve run into the exact opposite," Musselman said. "This is a first. I’m learning on the fly because our practices are good. Work ethic is good in practice. We’ve just got to carry over what we do behind closed doors onto the floor."

Musselman also insists that the players get along fine, and there is no underlying chemistry issue hampering the team. The Hogs have dragged themselves out of the cellar in the SEC for scoring defense, but the team is still languishing at 75.5 points allowed per game.

"The practices go smooth and the shootarounds go great," Musselman said. They know all the questions when we quiz them on personnel. They’ve got to figure out once they hit the floor how we can play better basketball as does our staff have to figure it out."

The Razorbacks are also struggling in the rebounding department. They rank ninth in the conference with 36.8 rebounds per game including last in offensive rebounding with just 9.1 per game.

"You either gotta go get the board or you’ve got to block out — one or the other," Musselman said. "If you block out, you have to physically block out. And certainly, rebounding numbers up front become really important for us, whether it’s Khi (Makhi Mitchell), whether it’s Jalen (Graham), whether it Claw (Chandler Lawson). All of those guys gotta rebound the basketball."

The Razorbacks will look to improve their Chemistry and its rebounding inside Bud Walton Arena against Abilene Christian Dec. 21. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network and fuboTV .