Eric Musselman gives early thoughts on scouting Kansas for Round of 32

You never know which game could be your last this time of year. Surviving and advancing is a way of life for teams vying for a national championship each season — it’s what makes March Madness so special.

Staying alive gets even harder when you get matched up against a No. 1 seed in the second round. That’s the misfortune Arkansas has been tasked with after besting Illinois 73-63 — the win earned them a date against reigning national champion Kansas on Saturday.

With the quick turnaround, Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman is making sure his guys are locked in ahead of their biggest game of the season.

“Our belief has always been I’m coming on the team bus with the players and just making sure that we were focused for [the first-round] and never look ahead,” Musselman said. “I don’t think you can in this tournament. Our assistants were all here and watched the game because we needed to prep. We’re ready right now to go have a meeting. The guys probably already have scouting reports texted to them on their phones.”

Musselman will be the first to tell you about his team’s defensive inconsistencies throughout the season, but the Razorbacks defended Illinois at a high level on Thursday. Despite shooting just 38.7% from the field themselves, they held the Fighting Illini to 38.5% shooting.

That effort was led by Davonte Davis, an SEC All-Defense Team selection who also scored 16 points for Arkansas in the win over Illinois.

“That’s our team,” Davis told TBS’ Allie LaForce after the game. “Just getting stops and then, just putting on a run within the fast break game. I think we did that. I think we withheld the lead that we had, and I think we came through pretty good.”

Doing that against Kansas will be a larger task. Arkansas’ main task will be figuring out how to slow down the Big 12’s leading scorer this season, First Team All-American selection Jalen Wilson. He didn’t only take home the conference’s scoring crown at 20.1 points per game, but he also lead the league in rebounds, too, with 8.4 per outing. Dajuan Harris Jr. ranks ninth in the country with 6.3 assists per game as well.

Tip-off between the Razorbacks and Jayhawks is set for 5:15 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon live on CBS. Kansas has opened as a 3.5-point favorite. Check out the full list of point spreads for each of Saturday’s games here.