Two-a-days benefitted Arkansas in win over UNC Wilmington
Having four losses by the time conference play starts is uncharted territory for Eric Musselman during his time as head coach at Arkansas.
The 2023-24 edition of the Hoop Hogs dropped four games by Dec. 9, when a 79-70 loss to Oklahoma at the BOK Center in Tulsa provided Musselman and his team with another reality check.
Since then, the Razorbacks (9-4, 0-0 SEC) have rattled off three straight wins, including a 106-90 win over a respectable UNC Wilmington team on Saturday. Despite not playing for nine days between an 83-73 win over Abilene Christian on Dec. 21 and the win over Wilmington, there was no rust for an Arkansas team that has been doing two-a-day practices for a while now.
"When you practice as hard as we did, there’s not going to be any rust," Musselman said. "Trust me. I was not worried about rust tonight. I might be Saturday (against Auburn). But not the way we’ve been practicing."
Musselman said Dec. 20 that they were doing defensive work in the morning and then offense in the afternoons. It sounds like practices picked up even more after Christmas.
"I feel like we did good," guard Keyon Menifield Jr. said. "We came back early, got in and practiced hard. Our scout on the team, we did very good. We did well practicing hard, and it paid off in the game."
Menifield scored a career-high 32 points and added five assists and four rebounds in just his third game as a Hog after receiving an eligibility waiver from the NCAA on Dec. 15. The transfer from Washington has been a key factor to Arkansas' success over the past three games.
"Obviously we see the impact that Keyon can have, and we’re a different team with his energy out there and his basketball IQ," Musselman said. "We missed him the games he wasn’t a part of our team. We recruited him with the thought he could score and also ... I didn’t think he hunted his shots tonight, which you really don’t say that about a player that scored 32. I thought all of his shots were great, and 17 free throws attempted is a lot."
Arkansas did well all-around offensively against the Seahawks, as it had just eight turnovers, 16 team assists, 40 total rebounds, 50 points in the paint and the Hogs shot 52.4% from the field.
Menifield had his big day, while Devo Davis scored 14 points and added six rebounds and six assists. Davis also knocked down three first half 3-pointers in a performance that Hog fans are hoping to see more of from the senior guard.
"It was his best game of the year," Musselman said. "The assists were really important, especially when Keyon was scoring the ball. We needed another distributor. He did that. This is the time of year that Devo elevates his game for whatever reason. He’s got some biological clock that says, ‘Alright, it’s getting close to January 1. I’ve got 8 weeks to play and turn it up.’ Hopefully, you know, he did it a game earlier than he did last year."
While the Razorbacks still need plenty of resume-building wins with only SEC games for the foreseeable future, Saturday's victory over a Wilmington team with a win at Kentucky was a step in the right direction.
"Really pleased with our offense and we want to continue to get better defensively although we knew this team was a really, really good offensive team that we played tonight," Musselman said. "Super excited about only eight turnovers and only two in the second half. So really excited about how we took care of the ball against a team that does create turnovers."
As Musselman said, the Hogs still have work to do defensively. The Seahawks scored 90 total points and shot 42.4% from the field, while also knocking down 10 threes and taking 34 total free throws.
KenPom has Arkansas ranked 62nd nationally after the 13 non-conference games. That is good for ninth-best in the SEC, with the teams behind the Hogs being Ole Miss, Georgia, Missouri, LSU and Vanderbilt. Just ahead of Arkansas is South Carolina at No. 60, while the next opponent — Auburn — ranks 9th.
"I think we are moving and trending in the right direction," Musselman said. "Now, obviously, things change. Big game obviously on Saturday against Auburn, and I would expect this place to be absolutely bedlam. I would expect it to be sold out and I would expect incredible energy in the building in Bud Walton next Saturday afternoon. Our guys will be excited to play in that environment, and we will all want to be a part of the start of SEC play."
Arkansas and Auburn will tipoff at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday, Jan. 6, inside Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The game will be televised on ESPN2.