Eric Musselman shares how WNBA has helped Arkansas offense this season

The Arkansas Razorbacks hammered the Georgia Bulldogs on Tuesday, picking up a 32-point victory at home. And after the game, Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman shared that his squad recently got some help from the professional ranks, the WNBA. And that was the key to Arkansas’ 97-65 victory.

“The zone offense worked tonight,” said Musselman. “What do you know, a change in personnel, and it looks a little bit different. Look, as a staff; we’ve been studying WNBA (and) FIBA. We’ve looked at about every zone clip that we possibly can. About two weeks ago, I assigned a staff member to call five different WNBA head coaches because we’ve just been searching for how to get better looks. The zone offense that we’ve had it’s been pretty good up until a certain stretch this year. But you saw a lot more movement and cutting tonight against the zone.”

Arkansas zone beating offense was on fire from the opening tip, which allowed guards Ricky Council IV and Nick Smith Jr. to torch the Bulldogs’ defense. Council had 22 points from off the bench, shooting 9-16 from the field and 3-6 from beyond the arc. Smith was the game’s leading scorer with 26 points while shooting 9-14 from the field and a blazing 5-8 from 3-point land.

Musselman believes Nick Smith changes Arkansas offense with shooting

Arkansas freshman Nick Smith has been working his way back into the lineup the last few games after returning from a knee injury that only allowed him to play in five regular season games. And Smith officially had his coming out party on Tuesday against Georgia, looking the healthiest he has since his injury with a career-high 26 points versus the Bulldogs. Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman spoke on Smith’s return and what it means to the team.

“I thought Nick was phenomenal, not just offensively. Obviously the nine of 14 and the five of eight from three and his 26 points, but I thought h did a really good job defensively as well,” Musselman said. “For our team I mean that’s the most passes of any team I’ve ever had, without going back through the film we had it recorded as 266 passes. Which I mean I don’t know if we’ve had a team over 250.”

Smith made his first return to action on February 11, coming off of the bench in two contests and making just two field goals in both games combined. His first start coming off of his injury was against Florida where he scored 10 points, but the performance he followed it with in his second start versus Georgia was superb. Smith shot over 60% from the field and behind the arc, not only making his own buckets, but setting up others through his shot making.