Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Just like Hogs, Gators have issues
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas disgusted self-analysis post the Razorbacks routed 83-51 at Walton Arena by Auburn on Jan. 6 resounded again last Wednesday night.
Except it wasn’t Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman and Arkansas sophomore guard Keyon Menifield castigating their team’s performance.
Florida Gators Coach Todd Golden and Gators guard Walter Clayton and forward Alex Condon performed the punishing postgame apologies in Oxford, Miss., following Florida being flogged 10385 by Ole Miss.
Golden’s Gators, 10-5, 0-2, and Musselman’s Razorbacks, 9-6, 0-2, meet in today’s 3 p.m. Central ESPN-televised SEC game at Florida’s Exactech Arena in Gainesville. Fla., won its last six nonconference games then opened SEC play last Saturday in Gainesville battling No. 6 Kentucky, losing an 87-85 heartbreaker.
The Gators then showed no heart in Oxford.
“Obviously our defensive effort was atrocious,” Golden said.
“Have some pride and not be happy taking the ball out of the net every possession,” Condon said.
“They just punked us,” Clayton said.
Sound familiar?
“It feels like we quit,” Menifield said after Arkansas’ loss to Auburn. “We didn’t play as a team. So when you’re not together and you don’t have fight and let people punk you, that’s what happens.”
At least the Hogs and their coach didn’t fault effort in Wednesday’s 76-66 loss to Georgia at Athens, Ga.
“I thought we played hard,” Musselman said.
Arkansas guard Tramon Mark played superbly with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
“I’m proud of our team for showing that fight,” Mark said. “We didn’t have that that last game at home, so definitely a step in the right direction, but we still have a lot of stuff to fix.”
Musselman, with three consecutive NCAA Tournaments Sweet Sixteens, including two Elite Eights from Razorbacks teams weathering SEC skids, is accustomed to fixing what ails.
But these Razorbacks ail like no previous Musselman Arkansas team.
“Hey, we’re a different team than we’ve been in the past,” Musselman said on the Razorback Sports Network after Wednesday’s game.
“Ten missed layups in the first half. I mean 10 pointblank missed layups.”
That minimized at 34-26 what could have been a huge night in the paint improved from the 48-18 in-the- paint deficit vs. Auburn.
Three-pointers? Compare Arkansas’ 3 of 21 to Georgia’s 9 of 27.
“We had some good, clean looks out of timeouts, open threes,” Musselman said. “We miss them and they go down and hit a three. Their shooters are making shots and ours are not. I mean 3 of 21 — and we’re certainly not guarding the three-point shot.
“We’re obviously not the defensive team we’ve been over the last four years.”
The SEC knows it and exploits it.
“This is a really hard league,” Musselman said. “We need our guys to understand how hard this league is.”
Now Golden’s Gators recite their own woes.
Two teams with much to fix are fixing to collide.