Hoop Hogs notebook: Previewing Arkansas’ two-game SEC road swing (Georgia & Floirda); Muss musings; more

By Kevin McPherson LITTLE ROCK — Nothing comes easy for this 2023-24 version of the Arkansas Razorbacks, and certainly no first handful or so of SEC games have gone well spanning the previous seasons, so there is no comfort taken this week knowing the team will be playing its first two true road games of the season (back-to-back) in enemy league territory while trying to bounce back from an all-time-worst 32-point home loss in the SEC opener on Saturday. Arkansas (9-5, 0-1 SEC, NCAA NET No. 107) will stay on the road this week with no return home between games as the Hoop Hogs will first face Georgia (11-3, 1-0 SEC, NET No.

85) tonight in Athens, Ga. (8 p. m.

CT, ESPNU) in Athens, Ga. , before moving a bit more southeast to take on Florida (10-4, 0-1 SEC, NET No. 49) on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.

(3 p. m. CT, ESPN).

The Razorbacks are coming off a crushing 85-31 home defeat at the hands of then-No. 25 Auburn in the teams’ SEC opener on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, marking the program’s largest margin of defeat at BWA (522 games) in a matchup that saw the wheels completely fall off in the season half. Arkansas has a history of slow starts in SEC play before righting the ship in time for deep March Madness runs.

A 2-4 beginning to league play in 2020-21, an 0-3 start in ’21-22, and a 1-5 opening salvo in ’22-23 ultimately turned into three consecutive NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 runs (includes back-to-back Elite Eights in ’20-21 and ’21-22), but this ’23-24 Hog squad has already authored an ugly 3-losses-in-4-games skid in November followed by pitiful performances in lopsided losses to ranked Oklahoma and Auburn teams. To think their fortunes could turn favorably in their first true road games that promise to bring hostile crowds might be wishful thinking, compounded by the fact that through their first 14 games these Hogs have been both dysfunctional and soft, especially on the defensive end of the floor and when considering hustle / blue-collar play on both sides of the ball. Under the direction of former Florida coach Mike White, Georgia has won nine consecutive games, which includes the Bulldogs going on the road for a 75-68 win over Missouri in the teams’ league opener on Saturday.

Georgia ranks in the top 30 in Division 1 in both free throws made (17. 1) and free throws attempted (24. 5) per game, and defensively the ‘Dogs are 40th in D1 in limiting opponents to 39.

7% overall field goal shooting. Senior 6-8 wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim (12. 9 points and 3.

5 rebounds per game); senior 6-4 guard Noah Thomasson (12. 5 points and 3. 6 rebounds); junior 6-7 combo forward RJ Melendez (9.

4 points, 4. 7 rebounds, and 1. 4 steals); senior 6-0 guard Justin Hill (9.

1 points and 3. 3 assists); and senior 7-0 center Russel Tchewa (6. 9 points and 6.

6 rebounds) lead the way for a squad that goes about 8-deep in its top player rotation. Florida is coming off an 87-85 homes loss to then No. 6 Kentucky in the team’s SEC opener on Saturday, and the Gators are on the road tonight to play Ole Miss.

Prior to losing to the Wildcats, Florida had won all six of its games in December. The Gators lead D1 in total rebounds per game (45. 2), and they have an elite offense in many respects — 15.

8 offensive rebounds per game ranks 4th in D1, 86. 2 points per game ranks 11th, and 26. 0 free throws attempted per game ranks 8th in D1.

On defense, Florida ranks 97th in opponents’ overall field goal percentage (41. 3%) while ranking 18th in defensive rebounds per game (29. 4) and 19th in blocked shots per game (5.

4). Five Gators average double-figure scoring — junior 6-2 guard Walter Clayton, Jr. (15.

7 points, 3. 9 rebounds, 3. 3 assists, 1.

4 steals); senior 6-4 guard Zyon Pullin (14. 9 points, 4. 8 assists, 3.

9 rebounds); senior 6-10 forward Tyrese Samuel (13. 5 points, 8. 7 rebounds, 1.

9 assists, 1. 5 steals); sophomore 6-5 guard Riley Kugel (11. 8 points and 4.

2 rebounds); and junior 6-4 guard Will Richard (11. 1 points and 3. 6 rebounds).

Florida goes about 9-deep in its top player rotation. – “I think the DNA of the program has been competitiveness, it’s been toughness and it’s been grit. Or whatever you guys have written in the past or whatever opposing coaches have said about our team and you know, look the game against Auburn, No.

1, you’ve got to give credit to Bruce Pearl, you’ve got to give credit to his team. They came in here and they played a great game. And we’ve got to get better from it.

That’s what you do. You take accountability, from staff to players to … and then certainly guys that have been here: Devo (Davis), Khi (Makhi Mitchell), Cade (Arbogast). Anybody that’s been here and been part of the program.

You continue to talk about it. We went back to the Covid year today (SEC home game against Auburn in ’20-21) and we took the 5-minute mark, the 10-minute mark, the 15-minute mark, halftime, and then went the same way in the second half and we showed the scores. Auburn was really playing well and they were up 20 in the first half and we fought, we scrapped and we won the game by two.

So it was a tale of two different games and we just talked about, you know, when we get down you never know what could happen in the game. We had a great practice this morning, super physical. I moved players to the scout team today.

So we had five players on the scout team. That’s not been the case in the four years that I’ve been here. We’ve always used managers or graduate assistants.

But today they had to guard five scholarship players. That’s a different look. We’ll see what happens.

I mean we had another really good practice. I try to shoot straight with you guys on everything and try to not have any gray area and to let you know exactly how I feel, whether it’s agreed upon or not. But this team continues to practice really well.

Today it was a great practice and the game on Saturday was a really poor performance. (He makes a strange sound). If it was bad I would be the first to tell you guys that it was bad.

Matter of fact, sometimes I wish I could get on here and tell you guys we did have some bad practices because really practice doesn’t matter. What matters is the game. That’s what coaching staffs are paid for.

That’s what players want to do is they want to play in the game. And we’ve got to carry over from the practice floor to a game. If you look at the four years of what our identity has been is what I mentioned earlier.

A tough team, a team that never stops playing, a team that plays for forty minutes. You know, everybody in college basketball has… one stinker. You know what I mean, it happens.

Everybody has one. Some of our teams that have made Elite 8s and Sweet 16s have had multiple stinkers and have figured it out. Hopefully, that game is not a pattern, hopefully, we played a ranked team that we played pretty decent in the first half.

I probably subbed too early when I go back to look at it. That thing was at 12, that’s still striking distance. I let that thing play out for 30 minutes and we hadn’t, you know, dented into that double-digit lead so I wanted to see if someone else could come in and energize.

As we went to the bench, you know, Auburn’s lead continued to grow. Moving forward, maybe a shorter rotation. would be something that could possibly happen.

But if guys aren’t playing good then you certainly have to go to your bench. ” – Arkansas is 26-16 all-time against Georgia and 15-26 all-time against Florida. The Hogs have won three consecutive games against both the Bulldogs (includes a 99-73 win the last time the teams met in Athens in February 2022) and Gators (includes an 82-74 win the last time the teams met in Gainesville in February 2022).

– Musselman is 104-47 overall as Head Hog, which includes a 45-34 mark against SEC foes and a 59-13 record against non-conference opponents. – As of Wednesday, Jan. 10, Arkansas is ranked 107th in NCAA NET with a 1-4 mark in Quad-1 games, no results in Q2, 3-1 in Q3, and 5-0 in Q4.

The Razorbacks are No. 70 in ‘s ratings for Division 1 (includes rankings of No. 64 in adjusted offensive efficiency and No.

99 in adjusted defensive efficiency), and they’re No. 89 in ESPN’s BPI (Basketball Power Index). – The Hoop Hogs were not among the 8 SEC teams included by Joe Lunardi in his most-recent ESPN Bracketology update (Tuesday, Jan.

9) that predicts the entire NCAA Tournament 68-team field. – Hogville is your one-stop shop for complete 2023-24 Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball coverage (schedule, results, and game articles are linked here: ). .