Eric Musselman shares key to improved ball security

Arkansas snapped a four-game losing skid with a win over Ole Miss at home on Saturday, and one major difference was improved ball security.

The Razorbacks had turned it over 21 times in their most recent loss to the Missouri Tigers. Saturday against Ole Miss?

That number was cut down to just 11. But head coach Eric Musselman credited Missouri as much as anything in the big discrepancy.

“There’s always like two sides of it,” Musselman said after beating the Rebels. “One, Ole Miss, they’ll 1-3-1 and they’ll make you eat clock. It’s not just the University of Arkansas against Missouri turning the ball over, I mean they’ve led the country in steals for most of the season. And then you add in the fact that you’re playing in front of a sold-out building or close to it and a team that plays that way.”

In other words, Missouri is just a team that forces a lot of turnovers.

In any case, he’ll certainly be pleased to finally snag another win. Arkansas had been stuck in a rut, having lost five of their last six going into Saturday’s showdown with Ole Miss.

Improved ball security a key factor on … defense?

Interestingly enough, Musselman pointed out that Arkansas’ penchant for turning the ball over during the four-game losing skid had actually hurt the defense as much as anything.

Improved ball security correlated with fewer points allowed.

“Certainly getting a shot on goal for us is important, because we feel like we’re a good offensive rebounding team,” Musselman explained. “So no live ball turnovers is just like in football, if you turn the ball over in football you’re probably not going to win. So for us, the way we go through droughts scoring, we can’t turn the ball over. Because if we don’t, I think you’ll see results like our defense tonight.

“So some of the defensive struggles of late have really not been defensive struggles, it’s been our offense has let us down with taking care of the ball, and then it looks like we’re not defending when in reality… you could have nine guys out there defensively, but when you have live-ball turnovers there’s not much you can do.”

Arkansas will be back in action again on Tuesday night with a 7 p.m. ET home game against LSU, with a broadcast set for ESPN2.