Should We Even be Looking for Anything New from Razorbacks Now?
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's probably too late for Eric Musselman to debut anything particularly shocking for Arkansas. Stuck at 11-11 with just 9 games left, one of his first comments after getting some digging into Davonte "Devo" Davis's return.
In truth, none of it was surprising and likely as close to the truth as a coach will get unless it's some massive deflection against Georgia. It's starting to become pretty clear this team won't being playing in March unless there's a stunning SEC Tournament finish similar to what Nolan Richardson pulled off in 2000.
"You’re not going to change a lot in a week, but certainly we’ve added some tweaks," Musselman said Friday morning. "We start every game with a new play anyhow, so you know you’re going to add four or five wrinkles to some things that maybe we need to take more advantage of, especially when you play a team a second time."
The Razorbacks lost to the Bulldogs, 76-66, in Athens, Georgia back on Jan. 10. That seems like a lifetime ago with all the drama and swirl of things going on the past month. The Hogs haven't improved, though. What's even more shocking is that 10-point loss is one of the closer ones they've had in a 2-7 run so far in the SEC. About the only thing that hasn't changed is the Hogs still can't defend a 3-point shot.
"Part of the thing is why would you not contest a three would be because you’re concerned about getting beat off the dribble," Musselman said after explaining they've worked on technique defending it. "That’s any player at any level. When you hard close out, you are susceptible to get beat off the bounce. We’ve added some new close-out drills. I don’t know if those will help or not."
They are obviously trying. We've said repeatedly Musselman and his staff haven't suddenly forgotten how to coach. More coaches get fired because everyone knee-jerks, forgetting they can replace an entire roster. Nearly all of the Razorbacks on this team won't be back next year, anyway. There are times (and this is shaping up to be one) where they simply aren't paying attention or care about winning.
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman when things started going downhill back in December against UNC-Wilmington at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
Nelson Chenault / USA TODAY Sports
"In our search to try to continue to improve and get better as the season progresses, we have added some close-out drills because it’s vital to us to get better at defending the three," Musselman said. "We’re not as long as we have been in the past. That’s good. We’ve learned, as a staff, roster building. The length that we’ve had has been really important for us defending the three, even though that Year 1 we were really small at the center spot with Adrio (Bailey) at 6-6, but that group was pretty long 1-5."
We'll see if any of that working on technique makes a difference. The Razorbacks and Bulldogs tip off at 5 p.m. on the SEC Network and fuboTV.
HOGS FEED:
BRINGING BACK DAVIS WASN’T TERRIBLY COMPLICATED FOR MUSSELMAN
WIEBER, GYMNASTICS LOOKING TO EXPERIENCE PAIR OF FIRSTS AGAINST NO. 6 FLORIDA FRIDAY NIGHT
IT'S GETTING EASY TO FORGET ABOUT RAZORBACK BASKETBALL IN THE MIDST OF THIS LOSING
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