Ricky Council reveals mindset once Davonte Davis fouled out

Ricky Council and Davonte Davis were the leaders of Arkansas‘ 72-71 upset victory over Kansas in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Both players scored over 20 points with Council having 21 and Davis having 25.

However, Davis fouled out with 1:56 left in the game with the Razorbacks down 65-63. When that happened Council said head coach Eric Mussleman looked at him and told him to take over.

“Devo pretty much had the second half,” Council said. I was on the first half and Devo had the second half, and I was in the corner ready to rebound if he missed and he wasn’t missing. And Coach, when he fouled out, looked at me and he wanted me to take the role that Devo had. I was just trying to make the right play and I think I only missed one shot out of that and Kamani got that rebound and put it back up. Other than that, I was getting fouled. I was just glad he had the confidence in me and we pulled through.”

Council scored seven points down the stretch as he led Arkansas over Kansas. He hit a shot on the other end to tie the game at 65 on the possession after Davis fouled out.

He missed a jumper on the next Razorbacks possession to break the deadlock but Kamani Johnson got the offensive rebounds and scored.

With the scored tied at 67, Council drew a foul with 23 seconds left and hit one of two free throws. But he got his rebound on the second free throw to draw another foul. He hit the next two free throws to go up three. He then hit another two free throws to give Arkansas 72 points and three-point lead.

Eric Musselman gives credit to players like Ricky Council, Davonte Davis for Arkansas’ success

Arkansas is now in the Sweet 16 for the third straight year after making the Elite 8 the past two seasons.

Musselman said the team has continued to make runs in the tournament because of the skill level and and buy-in from good players.

“I feel fortunate to coach this team, last year’s team, high character guys that hate to lose and really compete,” Musselman said. “Start of conference play didn’t look good for us and we kinda hung around and won some big games and lost some really tough games against some really good competition. We told everybody, don’t listen to the noise. Worry about what’s going on internally in this locker room and let’s just keep getting better. Like I said, I thought our Illinois game was as good of a game we played. I thought tonight in the second half we played as good of a game as we have all year.”