For the first time in SEC play, Arkansas men’s basketball proved capable of stacking strong performances in Wednesday’s 91-84 win over Missouri.
Both teams were desperate for a victory with just one SEC win on the docket between the two programs, but it was the Razorbacks who finally unleashed a measure of road rage and tamed the Tigers in Columbia.
“With the fan bases this is probably a rivalry, or it seems to be,” Eric Musselman said. “Any time you can win on the road — especially when you’re struggling to get a win.
“When you play Kentucky and you get emotionally up for the game with an incredible crowd like we did, it’s hard mentally and spiritually to pick yourself up and go on the road and play against a team you know is desperate for a win as well.
“We were able to put that on the back burner and get ready for today’s game. Super hard to do for a college team, but our guys came out and fought and scrapped and played probably their best game of the year.”
With the season on the brink of being lost, and the rumor mill churning in overdrive, Eric Musselman’s squad took a page out of the Eli Drinkwitz playbook and stood on business in a game not nearly as close as the final score suggested.
In its first three SEC road games, Arkansas held a lead for just 97 seconds out of 120 minutes played, but it was nearly wire-to-wire dominance at Mizzou Arena as the Hoop Hogs held the advantage for more than 37 minutes of the contest.
“Tonight, to go on the road and lead for 37 minutes is really, really hard to do,” Musselman said. “Proud of us offensively scoring 47 and 44 in the two halves. I thought we did a phenomenal job sharing the basketball. Defensive activity is where it needs to be with 10 steals. This group tonight played like teams of the past.”
Knocking off a winless SEC foe is nowhere near enough to move the needle from a big-picture perspective, but it felt like a satisfying shot in the arm for a program that has been going through it the past several days.
Arkansas was without its two players with the most experience inside Mizzou Arena, but it was no Devo Davis and Trevon Brazile, no problem as the Hogs cruised behind a dominant front court effort from Makhi Mitchell and Jalen Graham, a resurgent scoring night by Tramon Mark and a breakout performance at the point guard position from Keyon Menifield.
The Razorbacks were not without flaws, but Wednesday’s win was another refreshing reveal of a roster that suddenly looks connected, hungry and energized.
“The team had fun tonight. You could see it,” Musselman said. “They competed. They had fun while they were out there. When is the last time we had 10 steals in a game this year? Two really good steps in the right direction. You want your basketball team to be improving. I thought the last 80 minutes we improved as much as we have in any two games this year.”
Arkansas (11-10, 2-6 SEC) will look to continue building momentum this weekend when the Muss Bus rolls down to Baton Rouge for an 11 am Saturday tip against LSU (11-9, 3-4 SEC) on ESPN2.
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