Arkansas glad to still be in Indy bubble
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas basketball team gets to spend another week in the NCAA Tournament bubble in Indianapolis.
Being sequestered in hotel rooms — except for team meals, practice and games along with an hour outside each day to play badminton or toss a football around the field at Indianapolis’ minor league baseball team’s stadium — might be a new definition for March Madness.
But as Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said after Arkansas beat Texas Tech 68-66 on Sunday night at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, continuing to be in the bubble sure beats the alternative.
Staying in the bubble created to keep teams safe during the coronavirus pandemic means No. 10-ranked Arkansas is in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996.
The Razorbacks (24-6) advanced to play Oral Roberts (19-10) in the South Region semifinals at 6:25 p.m. Saturday in Bankers Life Fieldhouse — the home of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers where Arkansas opened NCAA Tournament play by beating Colgate 85-68 last Friday. The game will be televised on TNT.
“We’re not done,” Musselman said. “We don’t want to go home. We want one more. That’s our theme.
“We want one more day together, we want one more game together. And then after that, we want another day together.”
Musselman had a message for his players before the Texas Tech game.
“I told the team, ‘Hey, here’s the deal guys. If we don’t win tonight, we’re basically going to be home for dinner tonight in Fayetteville,’” Musselman said. “I said, ‘This is just the truth. If you want to eat dinner at home, don’t win tonight. If you want to survive and stay in this bubble [win].’
“Because I don’t really know if they totally understand that there’s a plane waiting for you if you lose.”
Senior guard Jalen Tate, a graduate transfer from Northern Kentucky, previously had been the only Razorbacks to play in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 for the Norse against Texas Tech.
Tate got some payback against Texas Tech on Sunday night after the Red Raiders beat Northern Kentucky 72-57 in a first-round game two years ago.
“We talked about some of the teams that have already lost and the emotion that those players showed after a loss,” Musselman said, referring to players crying in the aftermath of a loss as they understand their seasons — or college careers — have ended. “Because all this stuff is going, going, going, and then all of a sudden, bam!”
Musselman clapped his
hands together loudly for emphasis.
“You're done,” Musselman said. “You're on a plane and you're back in your apartment or your house or whatever, and you're like, ‘How did this happen?'”
In the last NCAA Tournament held in 2019, Texas Tech reached the championship game before losing to Virginia 85-77.
“I'm proud of our players,” Red Raiders coach Chris Beard said. “I wish from a coaching standpoint there was something I could do to just help them.”
Beard said Texas Tech's locker room was full of tearful players after the Arkansas game just as it was when the Red Raiders lost to Virginia.
“Back-to-back years, that Virginia locker room, and now this Arkansas game locker room, but this is part of it,” said Beard, the former University of Arkansas at Little Rock coach who led the Trojans to the 2015 NCAA Tournament. “There's only one team that finishes with a good mood. I guess if you win the NIT, you're in a good mood, too.”
CBS showed video before the game of Musselman talking to his players at practice and telling them they were going to have “a rock fight” with Texas Tech.
The was an apt description for two teams that played physically and with intensity, especially on defense.
Arkansas, a No. 3 seed, had balanced scoring from senior forward Justin Smith (20 points), freshman guards Moses Moody (15 points) and Davonte Davis (15 points), Tate (10 points) and junior guard JD Notae (nine points). Freshman forward Jaylin Williams led the Razorbacks with 10 rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore guard Terrence Shannon led the No. 6 seed Red Raiders with 20 points.
“For 40 minutes, I just don't know if I've seen a team play with such great toughness as we had,” Musselman said.
Oral Roberts, which beat Florida 81-78 on Sunday night after opening with a 75-72 overtime victory against No. 2 seed Ohio State, is the second No. 15 seed to advance to the Sweet 16 along with Florida Gulf Coast in 2013.
The Razorbacks beat the Golden Eagles during the regular season, 87-76, in Walton Arena on Dec. 12.
“It doesn't really affect anything that we beat [Oral Roberts],” Musselman said. “That goes out the window in an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.”
Musselman led Nevada to a Sweet 16 appearance in 2018, but he has a sense for what doing it for the first time in 25 years at Arkansas means for the Razorbacks program and the fans.
“It's an historic program with incredible fans,” Musselman said. “Getting this far, I can't describe it.
“Arkansas is a proud state. There are a lot of schools that are one-sport schools and at Arkansas it's all our sports. Baseball, everybody throughout the state loves it. Football, women's basketball, men's basketball.
“I've never been in a place where the whole state loves all the teams. But this is really special. Obviously, we know it's been 20 whatever years [since the last Sweet 16 team]. I just hope our students are having fun back in Fayetteville on campus.”
In previous years after such a big victory, the Razorbacks would have flown home to spend a few days — and been greeted at the airport by hundreds of fans — before traveling to the site of their Sweet 16 game. But during a global pandemic, it was good news for the Razorbacks they're still in Indianapolis and in the NCAA Tournament bubble for at least another week.