Eric Musselman praises competitive spirit of Arkansas in recent games

The Arkansas basketball team has had a tough season, as injuries have taken their toll and the team just hasn’t quite gotten firing on all cylinders yet this year.

But the Razorbacks might be close. On Tuesday night, Arkansas knocked off Texas A&M 78-71, putting together a complete game.

With two full halves of quality play against Texas A&M, coach Eric Musselman believes his team has now played five of its best six halves of basketball in the last three games.

“I thought our competitive spirit, our toughness, will to win, I thought it was at a high level against Mississippi State, and I thought we carried that over to another 40 minutes tonight,” Musselman said. “To think we have three players out, short turnaround, back-to-back road games against a team that we had beaten previously, it’s always hard to win two games against the same opponent. I think we played our best 80 minutes of basketball in our last two games.”

Arkansas has been beaten up, as Musselman pointed out.

“Look, this has not been easy when you look at the injuries we’ve had,” Musselman said. “(Jalen) Graham was out the entire Bahamas, he’s been out of late. (Trevon) Brazile has been out of late. (Keyon) Menifield was a factor in the last game against Texas A&M.”

Still, the Razorbacks have kept it together enough to remain competitive for most of the season. When this team is playing well together it can hang with anyone. After all, the squad knocked off Duke earlier this year.

Musselman is beginning to see some signs that players are learning right now.

“That group that was out there tonight played with great toughness, great enthusiasm,” he said. “I mean I think you could see the joy. (Jeremiah) Davenport was playing with great fun and a great competitive spirit. So really proud of our team tonight, and quite frankly sometimes you lose a game and you can still be proud of a team, and that’s what happened on this two-game road segment.”

The goal now is to keep building on it. The Razorbacks have two very winnable games up next against Missouri and Vanderbilt at home. Then it’s on the road to No. 17 Kentucky.

One step at a time, though.

“Hopefully we continue to improve, continue to get better,” Musselman said. “But behind closed doors everyone is working extremely hard. We had not a good shootaround, but a phenomenal shootaround today. Sometimes when you’re struggling it’s hard to have the energy and enthusiasm, but I think the staff and the players have done a great job of continuing to try to get better, and I thought tonight was reflection of a team that is getting better.”