Arkansas' run of three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances under head coach Eric Musselman is hanging on by a thread after the Hogs' 77-51 blowout loss to Ole Miss on Wednesday evening.
Following the fifth double-digit defeat of conference play, Arkansas has just a 0.1% chance of receiving a tournament bid according to Bart Torvik.
Team Rankings gives the Razorbacks a better chance at extending their tournament streak, as it thinks Arkansas has a 4% chance at acquiring a postseason bid.
A path to hearing its name called on Selection Sunday is nowhere in sight for Arkansas, but nailing down a core rotation might be a solid start for the struggling Hogs. Musselman played nine different players by the first media timeout of the night against Ole Miss, and 13 overall.
"Yeah, I mean everybody’s getting an opportunity," Musselman said. "Like I said, point guard play, turnovers, shooters… Shooters are struggling shooting the ball. At the center spot, we had zero defensive rebounds. There’s a lot of areas. It’s not one particular player. It’s not one particular position. It’s across the board. We’re getting out-played at every position right now."
Blaming all of Arkansas' deficiencies on a lack of consistent substitutions is disingenuous, though, especially when all-around effort is missing by a majority of the Hogs night-in and night-out. Look no further than Arkansas' 10 turnovers to eight made field goals in the first half against Ole Miss to see the problem.
"I thought Ole Miss came out super aggressive," Musselman said. "They jumped passing lanes. They pre-rotated when they soft blitzed the pick-and-roll, and we just didn’t do a very good job of being strong with the basketball. I thought we made some adjustments and we ended up taking care of the ball and it allowed us to get more shots on goal, but then shots weren’t falling."
It should be noted that top scoring-guard Tramon Mark didn't play against Ole Miss as he was dealing with migraines, but that alone doesn't excuse a near 30-point defeat. Older players like Davonte Davis, Khalif Battle, El Ellis, Jalen Graham, Jeremiah Davenport and so on should be able to showcase their experience in games, but something just isn't clicking.
In fact, Davis — who is averaging career-lows across the board this season — played a season-low 7:30 minutes against Ole Miss. That's the least amount of game action he's seen since March 11, 2022, against LSU when he played five minutes.
Arkansas shot just 33.3% from the field, 22.7% from beyond the arc and 66.7% from the charity stripe on Wednesday. The Razorbacks didn't have a single player make more than three made field goals, and Joseph Pinion's 10 points marked the only other double-digit showing outside of Battle's 11 points.
"You want senior leadership," Musselman said. "You want guys to embrace. But we want all of our guys… I want our freshmen excited, we want our seniors excited, we want everybody excited. We don’t have many games left, although we still have a lot left in conference play and we’ve got to try to figure out a way to get better."
The time for Musselman to perform one of his miracle turnarounds is quickly dissipating, but Arkansas (10-9, 1-5 SEC) could help itself this Saturday when it takes on the No. 6 Kentucky Wildcats (14-4, 4-2 SEC) inside Bud Walton Arena. The game is set to tip off at 5 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN.
