Eric Musselman impressed by play of Makhi Mitchell in Mississippi State loss

Arkansas came up short in what ended up being a career night for Makhi Mitchell. That didn’t take away from his importance, though, based on how he performed in Starkville.

Eric Musselman applauded Mitchell’s outing in his postgame press conference following the 71-67 loss at Mississippi State. In a game that turned out to be a fight, he respected that the fifth-year senior came ready and willing to battle.

“We needed his physicality,” said Musselman.

Mitchell’s skillset was also a plus in this matchup considering how he could test the Bulldog defense. For one, he could work out of the pick and roll in various ways. For two, he put extra pressure on an important member of Mississippi State’s lineup to play on both ends of the floor.

“I thought he did a great job in pick and rolls as a short roller making plays. We utilized him in spots depending on how the opponent plays pick and roll coverages,” Musselman noted. “It was a really good game for him to step up.”

“We knew that Tolu Smith is an incredibly offensive talented player. We wanted to make Smith defend a little bit,” added Musselman. “I thought that (Makhi) did that by aggressively going to the basket.”

Mitchell finished with a career-best and game-high of 21 points. He did so by knocking down 8-12 (66.7%) of his shot and making all five attempts from the free-throw line. He also added nine rebounds, a pair of blocks, and a pair of steals in 23 minutes off the bench.

Without players like Trevon Brazile or Jalen Graham, Arkansas needed an extra presence down low to handle Mississippi State’s front line. That’s why Mitchell’s efforts were so important as he played that role perfectly as a reserve, even in a loss, on Saturday.

Musselman addresses free throw discrepancy in Mississippi State loss

In Arkansas‘ four-point loss at Mississippi State on Saturday, the Razorbacks shot 19 free throws compared to 32 by the Bulldogs.

After the game, Eric Musselman didn’t bite his tongue about that difference at the charity stripe.

“It doesn’t matter what we send in, what we talk about,” Musselman said. “They’re a very high steal team. Normally? High steal teams are high foul teams. I have the utmost respect for Coach Jans and the physicality that his teams have played with.”

“(Free throws) are a part of our offense, quite frankly,” Musselman said. “We work on it, we talk about it, we drill it. It’s just as if a three-point shooting team doesn’t get any 3-pointers. I mean that’s part of our offense. We got 19 free throws attempted and you can look at how many we took the first half. They took 32. I don’t know what else to say other than numbers don’t lie.”

In the game, Arkansas shot 14-19 (73.7%) from the free-throw line while MSU only connected on 19-32 (59.4%) of its attempts from the stripe.

In the first half, Arkansas only shot four of those free throws. MSU was assessed six personal fouls in the first 20 minutes of the game while Arkansas received 11. The Razorbacks finished the game with 25 total personal fouls, which is six more than their season average.