Eric Musselman critical of Arkansas' closing

Arkansas is one of the teams fighting to stay on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, having won only six of its last 14 games, albeit against a tough slate. Arkansas’ closing has been a real issue.

The Razorbacks have been in plenty of close games, they just haven’t seen enough of them come out in their favor.

“Well we haven’t been very good closing on the road at all,” coach Eric Musselman said. “We’ve lost a tremendous amount of close games, so closing has been an issue for this group.”

Chalk up yet another two-possession loss for the Hogs, the fifth in the last eight losses. The latest came in a 62-56 defeat at the hands of Texas A&M on Wednesday night.

“It started at the end of the half when (Hayden) Hefner hit the three and then they came out and knocked down threes to start the second half. Then our shot-selection, our passing was poor late game. I mean 1-of-10 from three in the second half. And then we shoot 50% from the foul line in a close game. That’s not a recipe to win a game. Then we gave up 6-of-12 from three for them.”

Arkansas’ closing has been a routine problem

Arkansas’ inability to close games has been a theme all year long. The Razorbacks actually led the Aggies 33-24 at halftime.

They just couldn’t close it.

There were several problem areas that were all emblematic of the struggles in finishing games out with wins.

“I’ve said it all year long, if we don’t guard the three we’re not going to win games,” Musselman said. “Defensively we were better rebounding the ball than we were in (the first game at) Bud Walton, but they did come up with some crucial rebounds. And again, our shot selection and struggles to close games.”

Arkansas will be back in action on Saturday at home, hosting Florida in a game that tips off at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2.