The last time the Arkansas men’s basketball team sat at 10-10 after 20 games was in 2016 when the Razorbacks needed four wins in their last six games to finish a ho-hum 16-16 under former Head Coach Mike Anderson.
After a promising outlook this season, ranked No. 14 in the AP Preseason Top 25 poll, Arkansas (10-10, 1-6 SEC) has stumble hard, losing six of its first seven conference games out of the gate.
Hopefully for the Hogs, the best remedy for a struggling team may be playing a team who has struggled even more. Missouri (8-12, 0-7 SEC) eked out an 8-5 record in non-conference action this season and has since been unable to beat another SEC team. The Tigers did take South Carolina to overtime on Jan. 13, before taking a 71-69 loss at home.
Still, Arkansas Head Coach Eric Musselman isn’t taking anything for granted with the way his own team has flopped in January. He knows the Tigers will be motivated against their “Battle Line Rivalry” foe in Columbia on Wednesday night, and a win for the Hogs will take a better effort than what has been displayed so far.
“They’re gonna be hungry for the game on Wednesday and our guys have to realize how hungry they will be,” Musselman said. “If you look at Missouri’s games, a lot of close scores, like you look at the five-minute mark left in games of Missouri’s SEC games. It’s unbelievable how close they are and how hard they’ve played.”
The Razorbacks hold a 33-27 advantage over the Tigers, all-time, and 14-9 since Mizzou joined the SEC in 2012. Arkansas has won six of the last eight meetings between the two schools, including a home-and-home split last season.
Arkansas showed it’s best effort in SEC action last Saturday, leading No. 6 Kentucky at halftime in Bud Walton Arena, before falling to the Wildcats, 63-57. The did hold Big Blue to 27 points under their season scoring average.
“I have not been happy with the effort over the course of the last couple of weeks,” Musselman said following Saturday’s loss. “Tonight I have to go in the locker room and tell them we have to get ready for Missouri. I can’t fault their effort. We are not a good offensive team. All you have to do is watch the game. We struggle at taking care of the ball, but because of effort and defense tonight, we were in the game.”
The Razorbacks will again be without the services of senior guard Davante Davis, who has taken an undisclosed leave of absence from the team, and may still be without 6-foot-10 sophomore Trevon Brazile, who reinjured his surgically repaired knee in a 77-51 loss at Ole Miss a week ago.
Wednesday’s game will tipoff at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network, then the Hogs stay on the road with a trip to LSU on Saturday for an 11 a.m. tip, on ESPN2.