Razorbacks hurt by home loss, ‘T’

FAYETTEVILLE — South Carolina’s 79-77 victory over the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team at Walton Arena on Wednesday shared similarities to the Razorbacks’ game at LSU they would prefer not to relive.

Arkansas also lost 79-77 to the Tigers in the Maravich Assembly four weeks ago.

The Gamecocks held on to win when Arkansas guard Isaiah Joe’s three-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim.

LSU guard Charles Manning blocked Joe’s three-point attempt with two seconds left, then blocked another

try by Desi Sills, who had grabbed the loose ball.

South Carolina, like LSU, also scored two points on free throws resulting on a technical foul called on Arkansas — but not against Coach Eric Musselman.

Razorbacks forward Reggie Chaney was called for a technical foul at LSU by official Michael Stephens with 22 seconds left in the first half when he slapped the ball into the stands after fouling Darius Days.

LSU guard Skylar Mays hit both technical free throws and Days hit 1 of 2 free throws resulting from the personal foul on Chaney to pull the Tigers within 40-37 at halftime.

In the South Carolina game, official Robert Felder called a technical on Arkansas staff member Hays Myers with 5:10 left after Chaney was called for fouling Wildens Leveque.

Jair Bolden hit both technical free throws and Leveque hit both free throws from the Chaney foul to push the Gamecocks’ lead to 72-66.

Musselman, in his 27th season as a coach on the professional or college level, said he couldn’t recall ever losing two games by the same score in which the final two-point margin included two free throws made by the opponent due to technical fouls.

“Pretty unique season in a lot of ways for what I’m used to,” Musselman said after Thursday’s practice.

Musselman said Wednesday night that he believed Myers drew the technical “because he stood up or something,” not for anything he said.

Asked Thursday if he thought the official over-reacted by calling a technical on Myers, Musselman declined to comment.

Myers is a special assistant to Musselman. He also was with Musselman the past three seasons at Nevada, first as a graduate assistant and then as director of player development.

Musselman was an assistant at LSU during the 2014-15 season when he met Myers, who was a student manager for the Tigers. He graduated from LSU in 2016.

“I think he’s an incredible worker,” Musselman said. “He cares.”

Musselman said he addressed the technical foul with Myers internally.

“I’ve got to have a conversation with somebody and kind of leave it at that,” Musselman said. “I mean, it’s unfortunate it happened. We win as a family we lose as a family and then you move on.”

The Razorbacks (15-4, 3-4 SEC) will move on to play Alabama (12-8, 4-3) at 5 p.m. on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

“When you play a game and come back the next day, there’s a lot film work,” Musselman said. “At this juncture of the season there aren’t many teams that are coming in and pounding bodies.

“But we had a long day with some film and some execution stuff on the floor. Then we started our Alabama prep.”

Musselman was asked about the frustration level of losing two games where technical fouls ultimately were involved in the outcome.

What made losing to the Gamecocks so frustrating, Musselman said, was that the Razorbacks lost at home before an announced crowd of 14,085.

“I thought our crowd last night was awesome,” Musselman said. “Personally, I feel overly fortunate to be a part of a team that plays at 7:30 with rain and a mid-week game [that drew such a large crowd].

“The enthusiasm in that building is incredible. Sometimes I wonder if everybody with our program understands how special it is, because it doesn’t happen often.

“That’s what I feel bad about, is we had an incredibly positive energy from a crowd standpoint, and we couldn’t win in front of them.”

Musselman praised his players’ effort.

“Certainly through film and our clean-up, we saw a lot things we can do better,” Musselman said. “But having said that, I do think the team plays hard. Sometimes that’s the most important thing you can do as a coach, is ask your team to try to play with great effort.

“They keep a scoreboard for a reason and we came up on the wrong end of it. But I think the guys are playing hard. I do. And sometimes you don’t get the results you want.”