Eric Musselman breaks down the keys to slowing down Auburn's offense
As Arkansas prepares to face Auburn in the SEC Tournament, coach Eric Musselman is calling for better play from his frontcourt. The Tigers feature a number of weapons on offense, including big man Johni Broome.
Broome leads Auburn with 14 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game this season. Musselman knows he will need his post players to step up if they are to slow down Broome and come out with a win, as well as closing up the lane to prevent scoring from others such as Wendell Green and Allen Flanigan.
“Broome, in my opinion, is an all-league type player,” Musselman said. “He’s a hard cover. Then you have to worry about their guards and their wings. Guys like Flanigan at the wing. So they’ve got a lot of offensive weapons that you try to game plan against. We need our frontcourt to play better than what we’ve played of late. I’ve mentioned Kamani (Johnson) because Kamani brings something to our team as far as experience goes. We know we have a young roster and we know we have a lot of guys who this will be their first experience in conference (tournament) play.”
Johnson has averaged just 11.6 minutes per game this season but, as Musselman mentioned, his veteran presence could be extremely valuable in the SEC Tournament. When it comes to starters, Makhi Mitchell is likely to draw the task of defending Broome. He is averaging 6.7 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.
Eric Musselman also named Makhel Mitchell and Jalen Graham as frontcourt players whom Arkansas will be counting on against Auburn. The Razorbacks have lost three straight games entering SEC Tournament play, and was outrebounded each time. In a loss to Alabama a little over a week ago, they allowed a combined 23 boards from Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako.
“How our frontline plays out in this first game, I’m not really sure,” Musselman said. “Obviously Kamani, the Mitchell twins, Graham, all those guys. How we defend Broome is still a work in progress. We had one practice yesterday where we looked at several different ways to guard both their up front guys and then trying to guard their backcourt a little bit different as well.”
Arkansas finished the season with a record of 19-12 (8-10 SEC), but appears to be a lock to make the NCAA Tournament. With that being the case, the Razorbacks will hope the SEC Tournament can serve as a learning experience for some of their younger players.
Tip off for the game against Auburn is set for 6 p.m. CT on Thursday.