FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas and Kentucky will close out the regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena and televised on CBS.
Arkansas (19-11, 8-9) defeated Kentucky (20-10, 11-6) 88-73 on Feb. 7 in Lexington. The Hogs will enter Saturday's game having lost its last two outings. Both were on the road to Alabama and Tennessee.
Kentucky lost to Georgia following the loss to Arkansas, but then appeared to have figured things out winning four in a row. However, Wednesday night they were surprised in Rupp Arena by Vanderbilt 68-66. Eric Musselman knew this stretch of games was going to be difficult.
"Yeah, we knew the last three games of the year will be as hard as any three teams played, but I’m not really thinking about Kentucky right now," Musselman said Tuesday night. "Obviously I will on the plane but right now I’m extremely disappointed with many different factors in the game against Tennessee."
How did that film study go?
"We're really going to start diving in to stuff today," Musselman said Thursday. "Certainly, the clean up today, we will clean up some Tennessee stuff and certainly dive in to Kentucky stuff. Get on the practice floor today and try to get better and get ready for Saturday's game."
Arkansas needs to win on Saturday to help solidify its spot in the NCAA Tournament. A home loss to Kentucky would be devastating to the Razorbacks. Musselman was asked if the Hogs can bounce back from an 86-83 loss at Alabama and then a poorly played 75-57 loss at Tennessee?
"Well, we didn't bounce back like we had hoped after playing Alabama," Musselman said. "We'll continue to do what we've done with all of our teams and go back and prepare. We've got to do a better job, obviously. But the only thing I know is to go back to work and continue to try to improve. We took a step backwards tonight, there's no question, both as a team and individually, we took several steps backwards. And so we'll get back and try to prepare for Kentucky."
Wichita State transfer Ricky Council IV is leading the Razorbacks averaging 16.6 points per game. He's averaging 3.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals each outing. Council is shooting 45.9 percent from the floor and 28. 4 behind the 3-point line. Council talked about Saturday's game.
"I just think that we need to bring positive energy," Council said. "That’s all I’ve got to say about that. We’ve got to bring positive energy throughout the board. Start with the coaches, all the way down to the players. Got one more game left (in the) regular season then we go into the SEC Tournament. So hopefully win this one and bring momentum."
Kentucky is lead by preseason SEC Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe who is averaging 16.5 points, 13.1 rebounds and 1.0 block per game. Tshiebwe is the leader for Kentucky in each of those three categories. The Hogs did an outstanding job on him in the first meeting. They held Tshiebwe to seven points, seven rebounds, two assists and a block. Is it realistic to think your team can do that again?
"Whatever happened last game, whether a player has a great game or a player struggles, it’s kind of out the door," Musselman said. "You look at Tshiebwe’s average and can you hold him under his average? That’s the goal with anyone we play who we deem a star player. We’ll take a look at Oscar’s numbers — field goal percentage, number of free throws attempted that he has, the offensive rebounds that he averages, his point total, his efficiency numbers — and we’ll try to shrink those numbers to the best of our ability. Just under his average will be our goal with him in particular, as well as what we deem their other star players as well."
Cason Wallace had a big game scoring 24 points against the Hogs. Wallace is a freshman guard who is projected as a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Wallace is averaging 11.7 points per game. He leads the Wildcats averaging 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals each game. The Wildcats had been playing much better basketball until getting upset by Vanderbilt at home Wednesday night. Musselman knows he will get Kentucky's best shot on Saturday.
"I thought Coach Cal (John Calipari) did a great job of when they kind of went through a little bit of a struggle of getting them out of it," Musselman said. "They've been playing great basketball. Obviously, lost yesterday at home to Vandy, but they've been playing great basketball. (Chris) Livingston has improved, which is what you want out of a younger player. He's done a great job of offensive rebounding, cutting, he's shooting the three better. Obviously, Wallace has had a great year all season long and is one of the best players in the country. (Antonio) Reeves, his shooting. And they went through injuries. They get a guy like (CJ) Frederick back and all of the sudden that stretches the defense out and you have to guard another three-point threat.
"That opens things up for No. 34, Tsheibwe, inside. And (Jacob) Toppin has played well all year. He's a multi-positional player. So, they've played good basketball. They've put themselves in a very solid, good position for the NCAA Tournament. So, they've played really, really well the last three weeks of this season."
While Wallace was banged up and some questioned if he would play Saturday. Musselman talked about how the Hogs are preparing for him.
"Well, our first prep for Kentucky’s going to be today," Musselman said. "When we go down there, we know that Coach Cal said that they’re hopeful he’ll play at Arkansas. We know that Coach Calipari said there was no swelling. And we know that Coach Cal said that the X-rays came back and he was fine. So certainly preparation will be for No. 22, Wallace, to play, without a question."
Freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. didn't play in the first meeting with Kentucky. He has now played in 11 games and is averaging 12.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.6 steal each outing.
The SEC Tournament will be March 8-12 in Nashville, Tenn.
