Eric Musselman shares how Arkansas fought off Missouri's second half run

Arkansas staved off Missouri at home 88-73 on Saturday despite the Tigers’ best efforts in the second half.

The game was competitive, and even saw the Tigers lead the Razorbacks at times during game’s final 20 minutes. It wasn’t until the under 12-minute media timeout that Arkansas put their foot on the gas, scoring 38 points in the final 11:04 to help take down Missouri at home.

“I don’t know if I called a timeout at that point it was ‘wake up.’ I think we subbed, as well,” Musselman revealed. “Maybe went a little smaller. [Khalif Battle] came in and he’s played so well for us. At some point we got [Jeremiah] Davenport in there as well [to] be a floor stretcher. But we’ve got to guard better. We’ve got to share the ball more. I thought played really good in the second half after those first four minutes of the second half were disasterous.”

A major contributing factor to the Razorbacks’ winning efforts saw Battle score a career-high 42 points. He made six 3-pointers during the contest and hauled in six rebounds in 38 minutes played on Saturday. Davenport, a 6-foot-6 forward, ended the game with five points and three boards — including a made 3-pointer — in 16 key minutes off the bench.

Arkansas was able to balloon its lead at this point by relying heavily on outside shot attempts. 44 percent of the Razorbacks’ total shots in the second half came beyond the arc, and finished 6-of-12 in the second half from deep.

“I think Missouri kept the lane a little bit more clogged. They were helping off the corners a little bit more. Once we saw that adjustment, we are a team that shot the 3 well. If our team makes 10 3s and we get to the foul line, that’s a really good formula for us.

“They did a good job of taking away what was our strength in Columbia, which was paint points and zone 1 scoring. We did a good job tonight of getting into the teeth of the defense and finding the extra guy. It was a good adjustment by the players understanding, recognizing that the extra pass was going to equate to feet-set 3s.”

Arkansas will try to bottle up this victory and keep the momentum going heading into a quick turnaround for Tuesday’s home stand against Vanderbilt. The opening tip is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET live on the SEC Network.