Eric Musselman reveals mindset entering SEC Tournament

Arkansas will play their first game of the SEC Tournament Thursday as they take on Auburn at 7 p.m. ET. Before their postseason journey begins, Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman was asked if he felt confident in his team making the NCAA Tournament or if they’re entering the conference tournament fighting for their season.

“Well I think every team should go into the SEC Tournament fighting for the season, because it is a second season,” Musselman said. “The regular season’s now over and I thought we did an incredible job.”

The Razorbacks enter the SEC Tournament as the No. 10 seed following a 19-12 regular season record and an 8-10 finish in SEC play. Arkansas faced three straight ranked conference opponents in their last three games of the regular season, losing all of their matchups and entering the tournament on a three-game losing skid.

Despite this, Musselman is still confident in his team and the resume they’ve built throughout the season.

“When you think about our one-loss record, and you think about the metrics, and you think about the non-conference and you think about the success of the teams that we did beat in non-conference play, yes we feel confident that we’re an NCAA Tournament team,” Musselman said.

The latest ESPN NCAA March Madness Bracketology had the Razorbacks as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament residing in the East Region. Their spot in the NCAA tournament may be solidified, but a strong performance in the conference tournament would surely help the Razorbacks cause.

“So yes, we feel like through the regular season basketball we’ve proven we’re an NCAA Tournament team,” Musselman concluded.

The Razorbacks made it to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament a year ago as a No. 4 seed, and will be looking to go even further as a 10 seed this year. They’ll face Auburn on Thursday in their second round matchup, a team that defeated them in their regular season meeting 72-59. Freshman star Nick Smith did not play in their first matchup with the Tigers, and has scored 20-plus points in three games since returning from his knee injury.

The Razorbacks have also been using their leading scorer and the SEC’s third-leading scorer Ricky Council off of the best as of late, adding another wrinkle in their offense that will be new for Auburn. The two teams square off Thursday at 7:00 p.m. in a game airing on SEC Network.