Offense has never been a strong suit for the Arkansas Razorbacks (9-6, 0-2 SEC) under Eric Musselman, but it seems that the Hogs have hit a new low after their 76-66 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday.
In three-straight Sweet 16 qualifying seasons, the Hogs have only had one offense ranked better than 50th in the nation in scoring (2020-21). Coming into Wednesday's matchup against the Bulldogs, Arkansas' offense ranked 63rd (80.1 points per game)
"I thought we played hard," Musselman said after the game. "I mean, we come out of timeouts and have at least three times wide open looks and miss them. And then they come down and their shooters are making shots and ours are not.
"Ten missed layups in the first half. I mean 10 point-blank missed layups. We’ve got to get better. I mean all I can do … as a staff. … We had some good, clean looks out of timeouts, open threes. We miss them and they go down and hit a three."
Just four days after scoring a season-low 51 points in a loss to No. 25 Auburn, Arkansas continued to look disjointed in its first true road game of the season. At the half, the Razorbacks scraped up just 24 points on 10-30 shooting with nine turnovers to boot.
After scoring double-digits in three straight games, Keyon Menifield Jr. was held scoreless against the Bulldogs. That absence was missed by the Hogs and needs to be more consistent going forward.
"Well I mean they were trapping the pick and roll," Musselman said. "But he’s struggled in both SEC games. These guards are strong. They have good size. But has definitely struggled in conference play."
The second half did see better fortune for Arkansas — in large part to a team-leading 24-point performance by Tramon Mark — but it wasn't enough as the Hogs finished the game just 3-21 from beyond the arch.
"You bring up why did we score 42 one half and 24 the other, we took much better care of the basketball," Musselman said. "Five second-half turnovers as opposed to the 10 turnovers that we had at halftime.
"So we did a really bad job taking care of the basketball in the first half and the second half took a little bit better care of the basketball."
Up next, Arkansas will travel to Gainesville, Florida, on Saturday to take on the Florida Gators 10-5 (0-2 SEC). The game is set to tip off at 3:00 p.m. CT and will broadcast on ESPN.
