UA coach: Better execution needed
FAYETTEVILLE — The way the University of Arkansas basketball team finished its game against Texas-Arlington on Wednesday night made it difficult for coach Eric Musselman to enjoy the Razorbacks’ 72-60 victory.
At noon Thursday, Musselman was going over the game film before turning his full attention to Saturday’s matchup against Lipscomb, the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Sun Conference championship.
“I’m still breaking down film that I want to show our guys to get better in the last eight minutes,” Musselman said. “That film (review) might last threeand-a-half hours today with all the clips that I’ve pulled.”
Arkansas ( 3- 0) was never in danger of losing to UTA ( 1-3), but in the last 9: 42 the Mavericks cut the Razorbacks’ lead from 20 points to the final
12-point margin.
“We’ve got to finish games better than that,” Musselman said.
The Razorbacks shot 2 of 17 on their final 11 possessions. On nine offensive rebounds in that span, they shot 2 of 7 with two turnovers.
“Better execution,” Musselman said of what he’d like to see in the last 10 minutes of the game. “Better finishing around the rim. Those two things in particular.
“When you grab an offensive rebound and there’s five defenders next to you, maybe kicking the ball out instead of throwing it up at the rim when it’s got no chance to go in the basket. That might help.”
Last season when the Razorbacks often had no starter taller than 6-6 Adrio Bailey, they averaged 7.5 offensive rebounds.
With added height this season — notably
7-3 sophomore Connor Vanover, 6-10 freshman Jaylin Williams and 6-9 senior Vance Jackson — they’re averaging 16.3 offensive rebounds. They had 17 offensive rebounds against UTA on 37 missed shots.
“Last year, not that we ever got many offensive rebounds, but the one or two that we got all year we did a good job of kicking it back out,” Musselman said. “You’ve got to kick the ball out when there’s 10 arms between you and the basket. You can’t just blindly throw a ball up there.”
Freshman guard Moses Moody led the Razorbacks against UTA with 24 points, senior guard Jalen Tate added 14 and Vanover 12.
Moody, Tate and Vanover combined to hit 18 of 30 shots.
Among other Arkansas players being counted on to score, senior forward Justin Smith shot 4 of 15, Jackson 0 of 5, junior guard Desi Sills 1 of 6 and junior guard JD Notae 1 of 5.
“Just trying to keep our foot on their necks on both ends of the floor,” Tate said of how the Razorbacks want to put teams away. “When it comes to defense, just locking in on assignments and knowing when it comes down to it we’re going to play close games. Just realizing that at the end of those games you have to be able to close.”
Tate, a graduate transfer from Northern Kentucky, is among nine newcomers on the team, including four freshmen.
“We’ve got a young team, a lot of new guys,” Tate said. “Different lineups and different other things like that play into (early-season struggles).
“Just continuing to work on it. Paying close attention to it in practice and making sure we’re putting a focus on it.”
Musselman said he was pleased with the play of freshman guard Khalen Robinson and Williams. Robinson played 13 minutes before fouling out, but he hit a 3-pointer in his only shot attempt. Williams didn’t take a shot, but he drew two charges and had three rebounds and a steal in 12 minutes.
“I have no doubt that if I would have played seven guys that we would have won by 20,” Musselman said. “But we played some guys that were struggling and let them try to play through it.
“It’s good sometimes to just let guys play and maybe what goes on in practice you see in a game. Sometimes you let players play through struggles and then you don’t have to worry about the next game getting them in the game.”
Jackson, who scored 15 points in 15 minutes in Arkansas’ season-opening 142-62 victory over Mississippi Valley State, is 0 of 7 from the field in the last two games off the bench. He didn’t start and played eight minutes when the Razorbacks beat North Texas 69-54 after missing practice the day before when he was feeling ill.
“Due for an explosion … I trust my work,” Jackson tweeted on Thursday.
The Mavericks outscored the Razorbacks 18-8 in bench points.
“We talk about our bench (being a strength),” Musselman said. “Well, our bench got outplayed last night. Plain and simple.”
Notae, who averaged 14.5 points off the bench in the first two games, left Wednesday night’s game holding his hand.
Musselman said after the game that he wasn’t sure what happened to Notae, but thought his thumb “kind of popped out of place.”
On Thursday, Musselman said Notae doesn’t have an injury.
“His thumb was fine,” Musselman said. “But his shot selection wasn’t.
“He might have grabbed (his hand) because he knew what was coming as far as I wasn’t real happy with the quick shots.
“We need him to score, we just need him to take shots that have a probability of going in the rim.”
• The University of Arkansas’ basketball game at Tulsa will have a 6 p.m. tipoff Tuesday at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, it was announced Thursday.
The game isn’t being televised, but there will be a live stream on ESPN-Plus. No fans will be allowed to attend the game because of COVID-19 protocols.
Arkansas is playing at Tulsa as part of a two-game series between the teams after the Razorbacks beat the Golden Hurricane 98-79 last season in Walton Arena.
It will be Arkansas’ first game at Tulsa since the Razorbacks won 81-74 on Dec. 30, 2003.