Stumbling off of it’s worse loss in the 31-year history Bud Walton Arena, the Arkansas men’s basketball team must now hit the road for a two-game conference road trip that begins Wednesday at Georgia.
The Razorbacks (9-5, 0-1 SEC) were outscored by 25 points in the second half Saturday, and put up little fight in an embarrassing 83-51 loss to No. 16 Auburn. It is the third straight season that Arkansas has lost its conference opener.
This is the program’s worse start in Head Coach Eric Musselman’s five seasons at the helm. With a slew incoming transfers on the roster, the Hogs have struggled to mesh together and play with the intensity that the coach expects.
“When you lose by 30, we could go all the way around the room and each of you could pick a different area, and you would all be right,” Musselman said following the loss. “We stunk in all areas. I can go on and on. Yeah, we stunk and we got to get a lot better to even survive in this league. We got to get a lot better. We got to be a lot more competitive.”
Musselman indicated changes were coming, but didn’t give specifics.
“We’re not going to just do the same thing over and over,” Musselman said on Monday. “We’re not going to stop tinkering, and try to get better. There’s a lot of former players that have been texting in the last 24-48 hours that have said, ‘Hey coach, been there. Figure it out.’ That’s what we’re trying to do.”
The trip to Athens will be the Razorbacks’ first true road game this season – not at home or on a neutral court. After facing Georgia, they will head straight to Gainesville for Saturday’s matchup with Florida.
“I don’t think any struggling team coming off a game like that wants to go on a two-game road trip in SEC play, but that’s what the schedule says, so that’s what we’re going to go do,” Musselman said.
Arkansas will face a Bulldogs team that is red-hot under second-year Head Coach Mike White, with nine straight victories overall, and a perfect 10-0 record on their home court. Georgia (11-3, 1-0 SEC) went on the road to defeat Missouri 75-68 in their conference opener on Saturday.
“Mike White’s done a great job with his program,” Musselman said. “It’s a confident team that’s coming off a huge win. Mike White is a great coach, he’s been doing it a long time, and his teams do a great job executing on both sides of the ball.”
Arkansas has won three straight against Georgia, including a 97-62 rout in Bud Walton last season. This will be the two schools’ 43rd meeting on the basketball court, all coming since Arkansas entered the SEC in 1991-92.
The Razorbacks lead the all-time series 26-16, and have won 10 of the last 13, but the Bulldogs do hold a 10-7 advantage in Stegeman Coliseum.
The game will tip off at 8 p.m. (CT), and will be aired on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+.