Shorthanded or not, Eric Musselman expects fight from Kentucky in Fayetteville

Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman knows the Kentucky team it faced inside Rupp Arena back on February 7 isn’t the same group coming to Bud Walton Arena on Saturday. It certainly isn’t the same group the college basketball world saw to open conference play.

This version is banged up — potentially very banged up — but has been playing its best basketball of the season since February 15. Players are developing and embracing their roles, a cohesive unit compared to one that couldn’t seem further apart in December and early January.

The Razorbacks are preparing for the new-and-improved version of the Wildcats in the regular season finale.

“Coach Cal did a great job when they kind of went through a little bit of a struggle, getting them out of it. They’ve been playing great basketball,” Musselman said Thursday. “Obviously, they lost at home to Vandy, but they’ve been playing great basketball. (Chris) Livingston’s improved, which is what you want out of a younger player. He’s done a great job of offensive rebounding, cutting, shooting the three better. Obviously, (Cason) Wallace has had a great year all season long and is one of the better players in the country. (Antonio) Reeves, his shooting.”

Injuries have hurt (literally), most recently with Cason Wallace (ankle), CJ Fredrick (rib) and Sahvir Wheeler (ankle). Still, the Wildcats have been able to battle through and build a solid NCAA Tournament resume to close out the season.

“They went through injuries and so they get a guy like (CJ) Fredrick back and all of a sudden, that stretches the defense out. You’ve got to guard another 3-point threat and that opens things up for No. 34, (Oscar) Tshiebwe, inside. And (Jacob) Toppin has played well all year, he’s a multipositional player. They’ve played good basketball, they put themselves in a very solid, good position for the NCAA Tournament. They’ve played really, really well the last three weeks of this season.”

The last matchup was a back-and-forth battle in the first half, but a demolition handed down by Arkansas in the second. Shooting 62.7% from the field and 44.4% from deep overall, the Razorbacks then exploded for 47 points after the break on an absurd 72% shooting.

It was also a defensive shutdown — relatively speaking — of Kentucky superstar center Oscar Tshiebwe, who finished with ‘just’ seven points and seven rebounds in the loss.

But that game and that half are irrelevant, Musselman stressed. Kentucky has since broken down the film and adjusted, just like Arkansas has. The script won’t be the same for either team.

“I think we did a good job of being alert to where (Tshiebwe) was on the floor. Every game got its own theme, so it doesn’t really matter what happened in Lexington,” Musselman said. “Certainly, we’ve looked at the film on things that we did well and certainly things that we want to get better at in that particular game. I know that Coach Calipari and his staff are looking at different things that they can do to get all their — we all want to get our best players as many good shots as we can.

“We want to guard the three of Wallace, Reeves and Fredrick, and like I said, Livingston has improved, Toppin is playing good basketball.”

In terms of individual keys, though, the Arkansas head coach is looking at freshman wing Jordan Walsh to step up once again in Fayetteville. He came in and provided 13 points (4-4 FG, 4-4 FT), one rebound and one block off the bench, one of his best all-around performances of the year.

“In the game in Lexington, I thought that Jordan Walsh was really, really aggressive and had a big, big impact. It was one of his best games of the year,” he said. “He was aggressive, they kind of helped off Jordan and he was really, really aggressive. So we need Jordan Walsh to have that same aggressiveness as he did in Lexington.”

And yes, Tshiebwe is back at the top of the scouting report for the Razorbacks, just like he is for every team. He may not be taken out of the game completely, but he must be neutralized for Arkansas to have a chance — especially with the Wildcats potentially shorthanded in the backcourt.

“Whatever happened last game, whether a player has a great game or a player struggles, it’s kind of out the door,” Musselman said. “You look at Tshiebwe, can you hold him under his average? That’s a goal with anyone that we play that we deem a star player. So we’ll take a look at Oscar’s numbers, field goal percentage, number of free throws attempted, the offensive rebounds that he averages, his point total, his efficiency numbers and we’ll try to shrink those numbers to the best of our ability.

“Just under his average will be our goal with him in particular, as well as what we deem their other star players are, as well.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET in Fayetteville on Saturday, with the game broadcast live on CBS.