Fighting from behind a staple of Musselman’s Hogs,
FAYETTEVILLE — Before each basketball season, University of Arkansas coach Eric Musselman likes to have a film session with his players emphasizing comeback victories.
“It could be film of an NFL team that scores two or three touchdowns late in a game, or a baseball team that’s down big after the seventh or eighth inning and comes back and wins,” Musselman said. “We’ve shown hockey teams that have scored multiple goals in a limited amount of time.”
Maybe before next season Musselman should show his team highlights from comebacks put together by the Razorbacks this season.
Arkansas (24-6) has 10 victories in which it trailed by 9 or more points.
One of those victories came against Oral Roberts, which plays Arkansas at
6:25 p.m. today in the NCAA South Region semifinals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Razorbacks rallied to beat the Golden Eagles 87-76 at Walton Arena in Fayetteville on Dec. 20, after Oral Roberts led by 12 points in the first half and 40-30 at halftime.
Arkansas began its 12-game winning streak against Southeastern Conference teams with a 75-73 victory over Auburn at Walton Arena on Jan. 20, when the Razorbacks erased a 19-point deficit.
Other SEC victories for the Razorbacks came after they trailed Mississippi State by
13 points, Missouri by 9, LSU by 10, Texas A&M by 14 and Missouri by 10.
To reach the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996, the Razorbacks beat Colgate
85-68 after trailing by 14 points and beat Texas Tech 68-66 after trailing by 10.
“One, Eric does a phenomenal job,” Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills said when asked about Arkansas overcoming so many deficits to win. “He’s obviously a really good basketball coach. Having taken two teams at Nevada (in 2018) and now Arkansas to a Sweet 16 is remarkable.
“To his credit, he does as good if maybe not the best job of anybody in the country of blending players from different places and bringing them together in order to play as a team.
“So whatever your lead is, because they’re going to continue to play together as a team, it’s not safe. He knows how to change personnel. He knows how to change styles in order to get the most out of his team.”
The Razorbacks changed styles in their two NCAA Tournament victories.
Musselman started 7-3 Connor Vanover against Colgate, then tried 6-10 Jaylin Williams, then 6-8 Ethan Henderson in the game’s first few minutes.
After Colgate jumped out to a 33-19 lead, Musselman went with 6-7 Justin Smith as the Razorbacks’ lone big man and played four guards.
For the Texas Tech game, Musselman started Williams, who had team-highs of 10 rebounds and four assists while forming a strong inside tandem with Smith.
“It shows we can play with anybody,” Smith said of how the Razorbacks had different strategies for each game. “Whatever you throw at us, we’re going to be able to adjust and compete.
“I’m really proud of our guys for putting that first game behind us and not trying to play like we did against Colgate and really honing in on our game plan for (Texas Tech). Our coaches did a really
good job preparing us and getting us ready, and I think we do a really good job of following the scouting report.
“It just shows the kind of versatility we have and things we can do when we’re clicking.”
Musselman said the Razorbacks practice with different scenarios in mind so that if they have to make adjustments from game to game — or even within a game — it won’t be the first time they have worked on something.
“Going into games and having a Plan A and a Plan B, and sometimes a Plan C, I think has helped us to not just be making adjustments on the fly,” Musselman said. “If we feel we have to make changes, it’s something that we’ve already drilled prior to the game. If something’s not working, that’s helped us.”
Junior guard JD Notae said Arkansas’ numerous comeback victories speak to the team’s resiliency.
“We don’t want to be getting down in these games, but sometimes it happens,” Notae said. “So it shows you how much fight we’ve got and how competitive we are.
“We always think we’re in the game, no matter how much we’re down. We know there’s not a 10-point play or a 14-point play, but we’re just going to chip away, chip away, chip away.”
Musselman said the coaches and players haven’t shown any signs of panic when the Razorbacks fall behind.
“Honestly, it’s just being able to lock in, especially down the stretch,” senior guard Jalen Tate said. “We talk about games when we were down double digits.
“Just getting stops at the right time, locking in on offense after getting those stops and getting great shots, sharing the ball as a team and knowing we have pieces and the ability to come back in those games.
“Just keep willing ourselves back. Never losing hope or belief in being able to move forward, and knowing what’s at stake a lot of the time.”
Musselman’s Nevada teams also showed the ability to rally against big deficits.
When the Wolf Pack made their Sweet 16 run in 2018, they beat Texas 87-83 in overtime after trailing by 14 points early in the second half and beat Cincinnati 75-73 after trailing by 22 points with less than 12 minutes left.
Nevada matched the second-largest deficit overcome to win an NCAA Tournament game along with Duke’s 95-84 victory over Maryland at the 2001 Final Four when the Blue Devils trailed 39-17 in the first half.
BYU had the largest NCAA Tournament comeback victory when the Cougars beat Iona 78-72 in 2012 after trailing by 25 points. “There are so many runs that can happen in a game,” Musselman said. “If you fall behind, you just can never stop competing.
“You’ve got to keep playing hard and keep believing that you’re going to win. Our guys definitely have that mentality.”