Eric Musselman shares feelings of Arkansas having full control in Missouri win

This season, especially conference play, hasn’t been a walk in the park by any means for Arkansas. That’s why their trip to Columbia had to feel as good as it did considering they led from start to finish, mostly by double digits as well, at Missouri on Wednesday.

Eric Musselman was proud of and happy for the Razorbacks following their 91-84 victory over the Tigers. He could sense that a quality effort was going to come from his team based on their approach. They then gave one, and had a great time while they were doing so, based on how they played from start to finish last night in earning their second conference win.

“I mean I thought we played great basketball,” said Musselman. “I thought there was a renewed sense of urgency. A focus, a disposition. Pregame? It was a team that was ready to play.”

“The team had fun tonight,” Musselman said. “You could see it. They competed. They had fun while they were out there.”

Mizzou scored 16 points late to cut the final margin to seven. Besides that, this was one that Arkansas controlled for the duration. They made a run halfway through the first half and then held a double-figure lead until the final minute.

On offense, the Razorbacks shot 54.1% from the field, including 4-6 (66.7%) from three, with four in Tramon Mark (22), Makhi Mitchell (19 points, 14 rebounds), Keyon Menifield Jr. (16), and Jalen Graham (13) in double figures. Then, on defense, the ‘Hogs won the glass by nine, blocked six shots, and got 10 steals as part of the 18 turnovers that they forced.

The defensive performance, along with the rest of the outing, was better for Arkansas. With that said, Musselman still has one or two aspects that he’d like to see them continue to square away on that end before they take the floor again this weekend.

“Like I said, I’m proud of their toughness tonight. Proud of the way that we defended in the first half,” Musselman said. “In the second half, when you’re playing with the lead? Defensively, you don’t want to out them at the foul line and have the clock stop. So, defensively, we’ve got some things that we’ve got to clean up before we go to Baton Rouge on Saturday for an early tip.”

After a 10-9 start, Arkansas has showed some form of progression in their last two, even though that they lost to Kentucky last weekend. That’s all that Musselman has been wanting to see in regards to strides from his team at this point.

“Two really good steps in the right direction,” Musselman said.

“You want your basketball team to be improving. I thought, the last 80 minutes, we’ve improved as much as any two games that we’ve had this year.”