After stacking a pair of promising performances, Arkansas men’s basketball delivered a sobering reminder of its season-long issues in Saturday’s embarrassing 95-74 loss at LSU.
The Razorbacks teased a turning of the corner with a dogfight in Fayetteville against Kentucky and a convincing road win at Missouri, but Eric Musselman’s squad fell right back into bad habits in a non-competitive clunker in Baton Rouge.
“Defensively, not good. Offensively, not good,” Musselman said. “I was hoping we’d be able to capitalize off our last two games. Obviously, we did not. Disappointed we were unable to capitalize from our last 80 minutes of play. Not a good game for us today.”
Arkansas scored the first basket of the game on a Jalen Graham finish less than 30 seconds in, but that would be the only time the Hogs would sniff a lead as LSU scored the next 10 points and led by as many as 28 in in the thorough thumping.
“No, we just have to play harder man collectively as a team,” Graham said. “We just have to figure some things out.
“We just haven’t been playing as good as we’re capable of. I don’t know. We’ve just got to play better man. It’s kind of frustrating honestly.”
It was the fourth loss of the season by more than 20 points for Arkansas, which equals the total of similar losses in Musselman’s first four years at the helm combined.
“The only thing I know is to go back and coach,” Musselman said. “This has been unlike things we’ve experienced. All I know is we get in the gym Monday and try to get better. That’s the job of any coach in any sport. We’ve got a lot of spots we have to get better at on both sides of the ball.”
Prior to the game, Musselman hinted at his concerns for Arkansas playing the late game on the road Wednesday night and then having to travel again for the early tip Saturday, but the unfavorable turnaround was no excuse for the lifeless effort against an LSU team that will be fortunate to make the NIT.
“Seeing how we lost by the margin we did I don’t want to comment on that. I don’t want to get fined or anything,” Musselman said. “I alluded to it before the game because I thought it was semi-important.
“We woke up at 7:30 wakeup call, breakfast and on the bus. But, that’s not why we lost. We lost because LSU completely outplayed us. No shape or form has nothing to do with the results other than it was a quick turnaround.
“It’s much like an NBA situation where you travel, play, travel back home, day and a half, back on the plane… Actually it’s not like the NBA because I’ve never played a game then turned around and played at 11 in the morning. I’ve played games at 1 or 3 but not 11 in the morning. But it has nothing to do with the loss.”
Arkansas now hits a rare week off between league games at a time where the program is sitting at .500 overall and a 2-7 mark in SEC play that is good enough for 12th in the league standings.
With any hopes of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid officially shattered, Musselman will have his work cut out for him to keep his team’s focus for the final month of the regular season.
“I’d certainly like to have a week off after a win,” Musselman said. “We’ve got to get better. We have to keep coaching. We have to find a way to improve.”
The Razorbacks return to action Saturday, Feb. 10 when they host Georgia for a 5 p.m. tip at Bud Walton Arena. The Bulldogs beat Arkansas 76-66 in Athens on Jan. 10.