And with that, it's time to head back to NWA...
arkansas.rivals.com
TULSA, Okla. — Arkansas dug itself a deep hole at the start of the game and couldn’t ever climb out of it Saturday afternoon.
After scoring the first 13 points, Oklahoma weathered runs by the No. 12 Razorbacks and eventually pulled away for an 88-66 win inside the BOK Center.
It was Arkansas’ first loss of the season, marking the second straight year it has started 9-0 before suffering a double-digit loss to lose its perfect record. The Sooners improved to 8-2 with the win.
“I thought Oklahoma played an incredible game,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “We dug ourselves a hole to start the game. We clawed ourselves back in there to be down three or four or whatever it was. … We got out-toughed today to be quite honest.”
Despite trailing by as many as 15 points early in the second half, Arkansas managed to cut the deficit to single digits and actually got within three when JD Notae was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws.
The Razorbacks seemed like they’d get the ball back in a one-possession game, but they failed to secure a rebound, Oklahoma came up with it and got fouled on a layup attempt. The ensuing two free throws kick started a 29-6 run by the Sooners.
“I’m really disappointed tonight with everything, so we’ll get back to the drawing board and see what happens moving forward,” Musselman said.
Here are a few other notes and key takeaways from the Razorbacks’ loss to the Sooners…
Musselman Ejected
During a 17-0 stretch by Oklahoma, Musselman was clearly frustrated with some calls and received two quick technicals to get ejected from the game with 3:30 remaining.
The third-year coach was fuming and had to be restrained by his staff before his son, Director of Recruiting Michael Musselman, helped escort him off the floor.
“I’m not going to talk about the reffing,” Musselman said afterward. “You guys watched the game. I had my opinion, and I’ll leave it at that.”
It is the second time he’s been ejected during his tenure at Arkansas. The first time also happened to be in the team’s first loss of the season, as he was tossed during the Razorbacks’ 81-68 loss to Missouri back in January.
Slow Starts
Oklahoma dominated the first few minutes of each halves and that proved to be critical in putting distances between itself and Arkansas.
As mentioned above, the Sooners actually scored the game’s first 13 points and Arkansas didn’t get on the board until Davonte Davis knocked down a 3-pointer nearly five minutes in.
“The guys came out from the jump with an edge when we came into the game,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said. “Sometimes you come out with an edge and you don’t transform it in the game. I thought our kids did for 40 minutes.”
Despite that sluggish start, the Razorbacks cut their deficit to six at by halftime and then opened the second half with a tough bucket by Davis to make it a four-point game. However, Oklahoma answered with an 11-0 run to push its lead back to 15.
Those runs also limited the impact of the crowd, which sounded pro-Arkansas despite Tulsa being located almost equal distances from both campuses and tickets being distributed 50/50.
“They came out chirping with their signs (and) that ‘woo pig’ or whatever it is,” Oklahoma guard Elijah Harkless said. “They were trying to get us out of our game, and I think it was big of us to show our maturity and not let that affect us.”
One major key to the Sooners’ success in those runs, as well as the big run at the end of the game, was their efficiency on the boards. Arkansas came into the game with a plus-10.0 rebounding average, but was minus-7 against Oklahoma on Saturday.
“We just have a ton of respect for how they rebound the ball,” Moser said. “We got out-rebounded the last game against Butler and we had a tough 72 hours talking about what we needed to do to beat Arkansas and it started with rebounding. I thought we set the tone. We really challenged the guards for rebounding.”
Lineup Change?
Arkansas used the same starting lineup as it has since Game 2 and it was on the floor as Oklahoma jumped out to that early lead.
Musselman was critical of the Razorbacks’ starting unit after the game, pointing to their plus-minuses as evidence of how poorly they played. Jaylin Williams was minus-24 in 27 minutes, JD Notae was minus-23 in 38.5 minutes, Au’Diese Toney was minus-21 in 35 minutes, Davis was minus-20 in 39 minutes and Connor Vanover was minus-10 in four minutes.
Although Vanover didn’t come back in the game after checking out following the initial 10-0 start by Oklahoma, Musselman didn’t seem particularly upset with his play.
“I actually thought Connor played pretty decent,” Musselman said. “It was just a matchup situation because we knew that Tanner Groves could made threes in pick-and-pops and we wanted to switch to try to change the complexion of the game. Again, I thought there was times that it really helped us, but Connor didn’t do anything wrong at all tonight. Just the quickness factor.”
To start the second half, Musselman inserted Stanley Umude in Vanover’s spot, but it doesn’t sound like that will be a permanent change for the Razorbacks. Umude finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds in his 26 minutes of action.
“Stan didn’t step up and do anything to shove Connor out of the starting lineup,” Musselman said. “Maybe if there would have been more productivity we would look at that, but I didn’t think we got much productivity either way.”
HawgBeat - Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' 88-66 loss to Oklahoma
HawgBeat gives the key takeaways from Arkansas' ugly loss to Oklahoma on Saturday.
arkansas.rivals.com
TULSA, Okla. — Arkansas dug itself a deep hole at the start of the game and couldn’t ever climb out of it Saturday afternoon.
After scoring the first 13 points, Oklahoma weathered runs by the No. 12 Razorbacks and eventually pulled away for an 88-66 win inside the BOK Center.
It was Arkansas’ first loss of the season, marking the second straight year it has started 9-0 before suffering a double-digit loss to lose its perfect record. The Sooners improved to 8-2 with the win.
“I thought Oklahoma played an incredible game,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “We dug ourselves a hole to start the game. We clawed ourselves back in there to be down three or four or whatever it was. … We got out-toughed today to be quite honest.”
Despite trailing by as many as 15 points early in the second half, Arkansas managed to cut the deficit to single digits and actually got within three when JD Notae was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws.
The Razorbacks seemed like they’d get the ball back in a one-possession game, but they failed to secure a rebound, Oklahoma came up with it and got fouled on a layup attempt. The ensuing two free throws kick started a 29-6 run by the Sooners.
“I’m really disappointed tonight with everything, so we’ll get back to the drawing board and see what happens moving forward,” Musselman said.
Here are a few other notes and key takeaways from the Razorbacks’ loss to the Sooners…
Musselman Ejected
During a 17-0 stretch by Oklahoma, Musselman was clearly frustrated with some calls and received two quick technicals to get ejected from the game with 3:30 remaining.
The third-year coach was fuming and had to be restrained by his staff before his son, Director of Recruiting Michael Musselman, helped escort him off the floor.
“I’m not going to talk about the reffing,” Musselman said afterward. “You guys watched the game. I had my opinion, and I’ll leave it at that.”
It is the second time he’s been ejected during his tenure at Arkansas. The first time also happened to be in the team’s first loss of the season, as he was tossed during the Razorbacks’ 81-68 loss to Missouri back in January.
Slow Starts
Oklahoma dominated the first few minutes of each halves and that proved to be critical in putting distances between itself and Arkansas.
As mentioned above, the Sooners actually scored the game’s first 13 points and Arkansas didn’t get on the board until Davonte Davis knocked down a 3-pointer nearly five minutes in.
“The guys came out from the jump with an edge when we came into the game,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said. “Sometimes you come out with an edge and you don’t transform it in the game. I thought our kids did for 40 minutes.”
Despite that sluggish start, the Razorbacks cut their deficit to six at by halftime and then opened the second half with a tough bucket by Davis to make it a four-point game. However, Oklahoma answered with an 11-0 run to push its lead back to 15.
Those runs also limited the impact of the crowd, which sounded pro-Arkansas despite Tulsa being located almost equal distances from both campuses and tickets being distributed 50/50.
“They came out chirping with their signs (and) that ‘woo pig’ or whatever it is,” Oklahoma guard Elijah Harkless said. “They were trying to get us out of our game, and I think it was big of us to show our maturity and not let that affect us.”
One major key to the Sooners’ success in those runs, as well as the big run at the end of the game, was their efficiency on the boards. Arkansas came into the game with a plus-10.0 rebounding average, but was minus-7 against Oklahoma on Saturday.
“We just have a ton of respect for how they rebound the ball,” Moser said. “We got out-rebounded the last game against Butler and we had a tough 72 hours talking about what we needed to do to beat Arkansas and it started with rebounding. I thought we set the tone. We really challenged the guards for rebounding.”
Lineup Change?
Arkansas used the same starting lineup as it has since Game 2 and it was on the floor as Oklahoma jumped out to that early lead.
Musselman was critical of the Razorbacks’ starting unit after the game, pointing to their plus-minuses as evidence of how poorly they played. Jaylin Williams was minus-24 in 27 minutes, JD Notae was minus-23 in 38.5 minutes, Au’Diese Toney was minus-21 in 35 minutes, Davis was minus-20 in 39 minutes and Connor Vanover was minus-10 in four minutes.
Although Vanover didn’t come back in the game after checking out following the initial 10-0 start by Oklahoma, Musselman didn’t seem particularly upset with his play.
“I actually thought Connor played pretty decent,” Musselman said. “It was just a matchup situation because we knew that Tanner Groves could made threes in pick-and-pops and we wanted to switch to try to change the complexion of the game. Again, I thought there was times that it really helped us, but Connor didn’t do anything wrong at all tonight. Just the quickness factor.”
To start the second half, Musselman inserted Stanley Umude in Vanover’s spot, but it doesn’t sound like that will be a permanent change for the Razorbacks. Umude finished with 8 points and 4 rebounds in his 26 minutes of action.
“Stan didn’t step up and do anything to shove Connor out of the starting lineup,” Musselman said. “Maybe if there would have been more productivity we would look at that, but I didn’t think we got much productivity either way.”
