Nate Oats says Arkansas will improve after playing 'a few tough games'

Arkansas is off to another tough start in SEC play. Wednesday night, the Razorbacks were dropped to 1-3 in the league after Alabama went into Bud Walton Arena and handed Eric Musselman’s group their latest loss. No shame in losing to the Crimson Tide — they’re a great team that may have the most raw talent in the country next to a fully-healthy Arkansas squad. However, the loss is the third of four for the Hogs to start the SEC slate. Panic mode for the Muss Bus? As Lee Corso would say…not so fast!

Arkansas has been down this road before. Last season, they lost their first three SEC games, one of which was at home against lowly Vanderbilt. And in 2021, they got off to a rocky 2-4 start in the league. Obviously, they righted the ship both years to wind up in back-to-back Elite Eight’s. So, Eric Musselman’s teams are some January sandbaggers, losing questionable games early in the conference slate before rallying to become one of the most dangerous teams in the country come March. It’s all on schedule for Arkansas.

Nate Oats knows this, and after the game, he said the Razorbacks just have to get through some of these tough contests early in the conference slate in order to find their groove. He also emphasized the importance of his own team’s difficult road schedule so far and how those tough games prepared his team to come out victorious in Wednesday’s.

Nate Oats on importance of tough road games

“So I thought our schedule in the non-conference really prepared us for this game,” said Oats, before ragging on Arkansas’ own out-of-conference slate. “They didn’t play as tough a schedule in non-conference.”

But, as mentioned, Oats saw this same story unfold in Fayetteville a year ago. He’s not underrating this squad because of a few new Year’s hiccups.

“Shoot, I think they were 1-3 last year. They’re 1-3 again. They ended up 13-5 last year. They’ll get it figured out. Sometimes I think they have to play a few tough games in conference before they figure themselves out. But based on what they’ve done here in the past, I’m pretty sure they’ll get it figured out and this is gonna be a huge road win for us. They’re a top-25 team. It’s the third top-25 team we’ve beat on the road – Houston, Mississippi State and now them.” 

Per Nate Oats, Arkansas has nothing to worry about long-term this season. They’ll be right in the thick of the SEC in a month’s time. Meanwhile, Alabama is absolutely rolling with all those quality road wins.