Eric Musselman frustrated with the defensive intensity from Arkansas

No. 25 Arkansas has dug itself into a hole to start its SEC slate. The Razorbacks, who sit at 12-5 overall, are now just 12th in the league after a 1-4 start to conference play. At the root of the problem for Eric Musselman is how hard his team is playing defensively.

Following their surprising 97-84 loss at Vanderbilt, Musselman criticized his team’s intensity on that side of the ball. Just looking at the numbers that the Commodores put up offensively is something that he said is a problem that’s a first for his career.

“We didn’t play with defensive intensity at all,” said Musselman. “I mean to have a team go 18-26 in the second half from the field? It’s a lot of firsts that I’m experiencing as well.

Overall, Arkansas is giving up an average of 76.2 points per game. However, it’s been their play over this three-game losing streak that has been so troubling. They gave up 72 to Auburn, which is manageable, but they scored just 59 of their own against the Tigers. Against Alabama and Vanderbilt, though, they gave up 84 and 97 respectively.

Considering the Commodores are just 9-8 and are scoring an average of 72.9 points per game, it was a fairly unacceptable performance from the Razorbacks. Vanderbilt shot 51.8% from the field and 55.6% from deep on the afternoon. Overall, it was their 63 second-half points that led Arkansas to give up their season-high on defense with the 97.

As far as improvements, Musselman said he just wants to see his team play harder. He also said the staff may have to do better, both with that part of the game plan as well as a whole.

“You’ve got to play harder. You’ve got to keep a guy in front of you, you’ve got to defend at a high level,” said Musselman. “The staff has to do a better job as well across the board.”

With a rematch at Missouri up next, Arkansas will have to buckle things up against a Tiger offense that’s averaging 84.4 points per game. If not, Musselman may be giving similar answers during his postgame press conference on Wednesday night as well.