Eric Musselman breaks down concerns with Arkansas' on-ball defense

Arkansas suffered a 79-70 loss to Oklahoma in their last matchup, marking their fourth loss just 10 games into the college basketball season.

Just about every team in the country has areas they need to improve upon this early in the season, and for the Razorbacks one of those areas is on-ball defense.

Staying in front of a defender is one of the most difficult parts of the game, even for a veteran team like Arkansas. Ahead of the team’s next non-conference matchup against Lipscomb, Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman spoke in-depth about the need for his team to improve in that specific area.

“I think there’s several things when you talk about guarding the ball,” Musselman said. “It’s habits, what habits do you have prior to the last five months or whatever you’ve been here. It’s mobility, foot speed laterally, and then there’s a mentality part, and then there’s a help part.”

Contrary to popular belief, lateral quickness alone doesn’t make a good defender, and the same applies with just having the right mentality alone. All of the important elements of being a good on-ball defender have to come together for a player to be effective, and five effective defenders on the court at once build an elite defense.

Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, it hasn’t all been coming together well defensively to start the season. Through 10 games of non-conference play, only Alabama has given up more points per game in the SEC than Arkansas to start the season, with the Razorbacks allowing 76.4 points per game from opponents.

“It’s not just the guy on the ball, it’s are you in a gap? And then you know what? You gotta be in a gap and you gotta take away the three, that’s what has to happen for a good defense,” Musselman explained. “You don’t not be in a gap because you’re worried about a three-point shooter and then you don’t say that you’re in the gap then you can’t get to a three-point shooter.”

“It’s called multiple defensive efforts and that’s what you have to do to be a really really good defensive team and that’s what we’re trying to clear up, work on, get better at, all those things.”

On-ball defense is a collective effort that will require multiple defensive efforts from the Razorbacks if they want to step their game up on that end of the floor. And hopefully, they can do so in their next matchup versus Lipscomb which tips off on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in Little Rock.