Eric Musselman shares what Missouri game says about Arkansas

Arkansas has learned a lot about itself over the last few weeks. After opening within the Top-10, the Razorbacks are now on the brink of falling out of the Top-25. That’s due to their recent 1-5 record over their last six plus a four-game losing streak.

After their latest 79-76 loss at Missouri, Eric Musselman pinpointed his team’s poor execution late in games as one thing that he learned because of the loss in Columbia. While their intensity still comes and goes, he says that has become the No. 1 problem that he and his staff have to help their players with now.

“I mean, as a coaching staff, you want your team to play as hard as they possibly can. I thought that was the case tonight. (But) it’s just a team that has not figured out how to win in crunch time,” said Musselman. “So that’s (now) our coaching staff’s job to continue to talk and breakdown late-game situations. I thought this was an improvement. But the way we’ve played over the last six games is not what it’s been for the last four years. So we’ve got to continue to try to figure this out.”

If you look at four of Arkansas’ last five losses, letting go of the rope late caused them all. After leading, being tied, or being within a possession of LSU, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and Missouri? The Tigers outscored them by nine in the last 10 minutes, the Tide by 13 in the last five minutes, the Commodores by 15 in the final 14 minutes, and Mizzou by 13 in the last five minutes.

The proof is in the pudding when you look at how Arkansas has ended some of their last few games. Now, it’s on Musselman and his staff to better prepare their team for crunch time and avoid these late-game collapses.