Eric Musselman not worried about slow start to SEC play

It has not been a great start to SEC play for Arkansas and head coach Eric Musselman.

The ranked Razorbacks are 1-2 over their first three games with away losses to LSU and Auburn and a home victory over Missouri.

Slow starts to its conference slate has become a trend for Arkansas — it went 1-2 two seasons ago and 0-3 last year to the start the season.

It won’t get any easier with top-five ranked Alabama next on their schedule. But Musselman isn’t worried.

“Just because it’s happened that way the last two years doesn’t mean that that’s going to happen this year,” Musselman said. “When you look at our road games towards the end of the year and you got to go at Tennessee, you gotta go (against) Alabama. But I will say this, and I learned it a long time ago from my father, your schedule often dictates wins and losses at times as well.”

Musselman then continued with a breakdown of his team’s conference schedule so far.

“Auburn’s won what 26 straight at home so it’s not just Arkansas going in there and feeling that that’s a difficult place to play,” Musselman said. “There’s 26 opponents before us in a row that that didn’t win there. LSU is playing good basketball. They lost to Kentucky by one on the road. Missouri’s obviously played great basketball. If the commissioner said we were only playing through four games, and that was the SEC schedule, then it wouldn’t be very good for us the last couple years or this year. But luckily we have a full schedule and so you got to see how it all plays.”

It’s not like the sky is falling down, either.

The Razorbacks are still 12-3 and ranked in the mid-teens of the both the AP and Coaches Poll. Ricky Council IV is having a great year averaging over 18 points per game and true freshman Anthony Black has been great as well.

“It’s the same if you look at an NBA team,” Musselman said. “If they’re a West Coast team and they go on an East Coast swing, sometimes your record is what it is. You look at Golden State’s home record this year as opposed to the road record. The biggest key is are you still trying to figure out ways to improve your team. That’s where we are really. How do we keep getting better? How do we keep tinkering?”