Challenging schedule

Arkansas’ schedule includes nonconference road games at Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky and Indiana before the Razorbacks open SEC play.

Arkansas’ home nonconference games include TCU in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and some tough mid-major teams that will compete for their conference championship, Coach Eric Musselman said, notably Northern Kentucky, which shared the Horizon League title with Wright State last season, won the conference tournament and lost to Texas Tech 72-57 in the NCAA Tournament.

“We really don’t want to play anybody that’s not a top team in their own conference when you talk about teams outside of Power 5,” said Musselman, who led Nevada to NCAA Tournament appearances the previous three seasons with victory totals of 28, 29 and 29. “We’re trying to play people that will challenge us for SEC play.

“Our philosophy is not to pile up wins. Our philosophy is how do we become better as the season progresses? And we understand conference play is overly challenging in this league right now.

“We want to challenge ourselves. I’ve been part of a staff where they just tried to figure out a way to get to 22 wins, and that program didn’t make it to the tournament.”

Musselman didn’t mention the program by name, but when he was an assistant coach at Arizona State during the 2012-13 season, the Sun Devils were 22-13 and played in the NIT. His other two seasons as a college assistant, at Arizona State in 2013-14 and at LSU in 2014-15, the teams made the NCAA Tournament.

“The goal is not to try to pile up wins for the media guide,” he said. “The goal is to try to challenge our players and try to give our fans really quality games whether we’re playing on the road or at home.”