Eric Musselman, Arkansas players explain how UConn 3-point shooting doomed Razorbacks

No. 4 seeded UConn was the master of timing in its Sweet 16 matchup Thursday with Arkansas. Whenever the Huskies needed a make, their players stepped up to put the biscuit in the basket.

Doing so kept the Razorbacks out of the game and helped keep them from getting any momentum as UConn ran away to a 88-65 victory in Las Vegas.

Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said the combination of his team’s poor shooting and the Huskies’ shot-making capabilities was not a recipe for success against a stingy UConn team.

“We didn’t get any clean looks, obviously,” Musselman said. “You can go down the line. 1-of-10, 1-of-5, 1-of-4, 0-for-2, 0-for-3. They’re a really good defensive team. You have to tip your hat off to them. But not a good combination when you’re not shooting the ball or converting from the field. And then the other team is shooting at a 60 percent clip and is making 3s.”

The Razorbacks finished the game shooting 31.7% from the field as no player finished the game shooting above 50% from the floor.

Freshmen Anthony Black and Nick Smith Jr. were the two closest to making at least half their field goal attempts. Black had a team-high 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting performance while Smith was 4 of 9 for 11 points.

Jordan Hawkins led the way for the Huskies with 24 points.

“We came into the game thinking that we had to hold them to five or less 3s and they made nine in the first 28 minutes or whatever,” Musselman said. “And Hawkins is as good a shooter as we’ve played all year. He rises up over people. He moves without the ball really well. To me, the most impressive thing is that they had 22 assists. We tried to cause turnovers and rush the quarterback, but 22 assists is a lot of assists.”

UConn shot 57.4% from the field against Arkansas while also making 17 of its 21 free throws. That high-level shotmaking made it pretty much impossible for the Razorbacks to get back into the game.

The Huskies’ timely 3-pointers didn’t help either. While the team made nine of its 20 attempts from beyond the arc — not a high number in today’s college basketball landscape — they always seemed to come at the right time.

“I think the 3s came in bunches,” Black said. “We just didn’t do a good job of stopping the bleeding. They just got momentum and started feeling good and making shots.”

Davonte Davis said it wasn’t for a lack of effort or understanding.

They knew what they needed to do against Hawkins and the other UConn 3-point shooters. But they weren’t able to make it happen.

“When we went over how they make their 3s, we guarded it right in practice,” Davis said. “We just didn’t do it the correct way every time in the game. That’s what happened — we didn’t execute on the defensive end, even though we tried.”