Eric Musselman hoping for strong showing from fans

One unique aspect of the NCAA Tournament is the fans. Games are held at neutral sites, often not near the schools that are playing geographically. So, it can be difficult to get fans in person. Still, Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman knows that a strong showing from fans would help.

The Razorbacks and Fighting Illini are going to play in Des Moines, Iowa. As Musselman explained, this is close enough where both programs are able to have a good showing from fans.

“Yeah, we hope that we have a really good showing,” Eric Musselman said.

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“Champaign is an hour closer than we are, but both programs are close enough that somebody could drive to it. Our fans have traveled really well in the past and I hope that continues for us tomorrow.”

Arkansas-Illinois is an eight-nine matchup in the West Region. The winner is going to take on Kansas unless 16-seed Howard can pull off a shocking upset.

Eric Musselman on having time to prepare for games

With the break between the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, Arkansas had time to reset and get ready for Illinois. That’s incredibly important, as Eric Musselman explained.

“Maybe I should have been a football coach. I think from a preparation standpoint there are a lot of things. One, players have to retain whatever you talk about. We have had some pretty decent success with time, but Illinois has had the same amount of time,” Musselman said.

“They’re really well coached. Their offense is something that you kinda need a little bit of time, because they’re spread. They will run a blind pig action which is an old Phil Jackson backdoor-type action and they try to get the ball to the elbows and the nail with their four or five men and then they run a lot of cutting action off of that. So, we have needed this time to prepare for them and learn their personnel as well.”