Eric Musselman frustrated with free throw shooting vs. Alabama

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman believes the answer to why the Razorbacks lost 86-83 to Alabama on Saturday is obvious. In his postgame press conference, Musselman express his frustration with the team’s free throw shooting, pointing to it as being the biggest difference.

“They take 30 free throws,” he said. “We took 29. The difference is they made five more free throws than us. As I’ve looked at the stat without looking at film, that’s the difference in the game.”

Arkansas finished the game 20-of-29 from the stripe (69%) compared to 25-of-30 (83.3%) for the Crimson Tide. The Razorbacks struggled especially in the second half, where they were just 12-of-20 on their foul shots.

“Disappointed in our free throw shooting in that second half,” Musselman said. “If we shoot a decent percentage from the foul line, possible different outcomes. This Alabama team is obviously ranked second in the country and playing at home and hasn’t lost a game. I thought our effort was tremendous. Some guys played really well and some guys struggled today. That’s happened to us on the road. But we’ve gotta get back and quick turnaround for Tennessee.”

Ironically, it was a missed free throw from Alabama that gave Arkansas a chance to send the game to overtime late. However, Ricky Council missed what would have been the game-tying 3-pointer with four seconds left.

Council, Nick Smith and Davonte Davis combined for 65 of Arkansas’ 83 points in the loss. Smith led the team with 24 points, which was his second-straight 20-point outing. He returned from injury just two weeks ago but appears to have shaken off the rust from his two-month absence as he played all 40 minutes Saturday.

Arkansas dropped to 19-10 (8-8 SEC) as a result of Saturday’s loss. The Razorbacks will hope to close out the regular season strong with games against Tennessee and Kentucky before the SEC Tournament begins. After that, they will wait to find out their spot in the NCAA Tournament, where they are currently projected as a No. 8 seed according to Joe Lunardi.