Eric Musselman previews challenges against Texas in exhibition game

It’s secret scrimmage season in college basketball. Or, perhaps not-so-secret, since Arkansas coach Eric Musselman hosted a press conference ahead of their exhibition vs. Texas, which takes place Oct. 29 in Austin. He discussed the exciting opportunity for his Razorbacks to test themselves against another excellent program ahead of the season, noting that it is actually the first time traveling for many of his players.

“Right off the bat, I know it’s just an exhibition. But it’s a great one to kick things off with. Yeah, we wanted to play on the road because we have so many new players and six freshmen that have never traveled as a collegiate player. And then we have a lot of transfers, obviously, that have never traveled with us. So 11 new travel members out of our 13.”

We played Coach Beard when I was at Nevada and that game went into overtime. His teams are always really tough, physical, he has a really mature team this year. If you look at the age difference, quite a drastic age difference in our two rosters this year. Which I think will prepare our guys.”

It’s true. While both coaches cashed in heavily on the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail to build their rosters, Musselman’s group is far younger. He figures to potentially start three freshman, while Texas is likely to start four returners who are all seniors or super-seniors — and also all transferred in ahead of last season in 2021.

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But Eric Musselman likes the challenge of putting his less-experienced roster up against a veteran and well-coached group like the Longhorns. A great test for his guys.

“But the one thing, at least in our opinion, in our offices, they’re as well-coached as any team in the country and they play with the tenacity and a toughness that is often times unmatched.

“So we feel really fortunate that we were able to get this game in. We feel fortunate that it’s a road game, because this group needs that. Because these games in Hawaii are coming after only three home games. So I think it’s a great opportunity for our guys. And like I said, especially because they have some fifth-year seniors and some guys that have played in a lot of big games. It’ll be a really good test for our younger roster.”