Tag: Arkansas Old Dominion

Beyond the Box Score: Rebounding, free throw concerns for Hogs in narrow win

No. 14 Arkansas came away with the win over Old Dominion but it wasn’t pretty. Here’s a closer look at what happened in the 86-77 victory.

The Arkansas Razorbacks survived their first scare of the season on Monday night. Old Dominion came into Bud Walton Arena and gave the Hogs all they could handle.

Ultimately, the Monarchs didn’t have enough to pull off the upset, but they provided [autotag]Eric Musselman[/autotag]’s team with a valuable learning experience.

Once again, Arkansas got off to a very slow start and allowed the Monarchs to hang around well into the second half. The Hogs looked like a team just going through the motions and lacking energy into the early parts of the second half. From there, it was all about weathering a scorching 3-point onslaught from Old Dominion.

Eventually, the Monarchs cooled off from deep and the Razorbacks were able to ice the game with a handful of stops and made free throws. However, it was the first time we saw things that could be concerning for Musselman’s Hogs going forward.

Let’s go beyond the box score and take a closer look at Monday night’s tight contest.

What Eric Musselman said after Arkansas beat Old Dominion

Monday was not the night Eric Musselman wanted to talk much about the positives of Arkansas basketball.

Between Arkansas’ poor 3-point defense and perhaps poorer rebounding, everyone in the media room after No. 14 Arkansas beat Old Dominion on Monday figured coach Eric Musselman would be unhappy.

Everyone was right.

The Razorbacks won, 86-77, but gave up 11 3-pointers and were outrebounded by a Sun Belt team.

Makhi Mitchell played a season-high in minutes largely because the Razorbacks were struggling so bad inside and he responded with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The points were the most he has scored in his two years at Arkansas.

Still, Musselman was a bit more focused on the negative. That isn’t unusual, especially in the nonconference season.

Check out everything the Hogs coach had to say below. Note: Musselman’s remarks are paraphrased.

No. 14 Arkansas not sharp, but good enough to put away Old Dominion

Arkansas’ win wasn’t pretty, especially defensively, but the Razorbacks’ athleticism proved too much for Old Dominion.

Eric Musselman was animated on the sidelines in animus toward his team than he had been in Arkansas’ first two games.

His No. 14 Razorbacks beat Old Dominion on Monday, 86-7, but some of the issues that have plagued Hogs teams in the past under Musselman’s watch reared their head.

ODU stuck around via the 3-pointer, knocking down 11 of 24 from deep. Chaunce Jenkins, the Monarchs’ first-team All-Sun Belt player, scored a game-high 21 points and was 3 of 6 beyond the arc.

Arkansas’ athleticism was too much in the end, especially as Musselman trimmed his bench.

Only seven players logged more than six minutes of game action. Five of them scored in double figures, led by El Ellis’ 17. Ellis scored 15 of those in the second half. Trevon Brazile also scored 10 of his 11 in the final 20 minutes as Arkansas had to push off an Old Dominion charge as the Monarchs were within six points in the final minutes.

Arkansas is back in action Friday against North Carolina-Greensboro from Bud Walton Arena on Friday.

No. 14 Arkansas vs. Old Dominion: How to watch, stream and listen

14th-ranked Arkansas welcomes the Old Dominion Monarchs to Bud Walton Arena on Monday. Here’s how you can catch all of tonight’s action.

The 14th-ranked Razorbacks are looking to start 3-0 on the regular season after taking care of business through their first two contests.

Friday night’s 86-68 final score doesn’t paint the whole picture, though, as Arkansas struggled through the first 13 minutes of action. [autotag]Eric Musselman[/autotag] made it clear in his postgame press conference that that kind of effort is unacceptable and has to be corrected.

“I think as a group, we’re not happy with how we started the game,” Musselman said. “About the 13-minute mark of the first half we started playing better. I thought we finished really good, but again, defensively, we’ve got to guard the ball better and we’ve got to guard the rim better.”

With Old Dominion coming into town, Arkansas will face another slight step up in competition. We’ll see just how much the Hogs were able to correct with just two days of prep between Gardner-Webb and Monday night.

Here’s how you can watch, stream and listen to all of the action from Old Dominion and Arkansas from Fayetteville.