Eric Musselman shares what went wrong for Arkansas in second half vs. Alabama

Anytime you give 58 points in one half, odds probably aren’t in your favor. Arkansas had no for the No. 2-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide over the final 20 minutes in Saturday’s 86-83 loss.

The Razorbacks gave up a nine-point halftime lead en route to one of its most frustrating losses of the season. After the game, head coach Eric Musselman revealed his perspective on his team’s defensive collapse.

“Obviously, we weren’t scoring baskets, either. At Alabama, out of all the teams in the country, teams like Houston and other great teams probably have the ability to put together [scoring] spurts as well as any team in the country,” Musselman said postgame. “Our gameplans was to try and take away the three, to try and limit fast break points.

“From a fastbreak point, we actually doubled them up on fastbreak points. So, I thought we ran the floor really well, especially in the first half and then I thought we ran the floor well down the stretch.”

Still, Arkansas’ offense performance was almost as impressive as the Tide’s. Saturday was the first time any team has hung at least 80 points on Alabama since Gonzaga did it back on Dec. 17 when the Bulldogs knocked off Alabama 100-90.

There are no moral victories, however, and the loss drops Arkansas to 8-8 in SEC play (19-10 overall) with just one week remaining until the SEC Tournament. If the season ended today, the Razorbacks would be an eight-seed in the conference tournament.

Despite their poor conference record, the Hogs currently rank No. 14 in the NET rankings and are firmly in the NCAA Tournament picture. ESPN’s Bracketology expert Joe Lunardi has the Razorbacks as the eight-seed in the West.

They can improve their overall rankings if they can win their final two regular season games at No. 11 Tennessee and against Kentucky at home.