LAS VEGAS — After Arkansas beat top-seeded Kansas in the Round of 32, Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman ripped his shirt off and turned to the fans in celebration. That win, as an eight seed, made it the second straight year Arkansas took down a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Dan Hurley and the fourth-seeded Huskies will have work cut out for them in order to keep Musselman’s shirt on Thursday.
“It happened (when I was coaching) at Nevada, I don’t know how or why. I was not planning on doing it the other night, but one of our hosts was kind of begging me, even after the first game. He was one of the guys that walked us around,” Musselman said of his propensity for the shirtless celebration.
“And so, I mean, I guess my emotions got the best of me. My wife’s not always happy about that. But it’s not something that we plan on doing all the time, it just kind of — emotions run through you and I guess you get a certain age and you just kind of do it just because.”
“I always say a happy ‘Muss’ is a happy us,” Arkansas senior forward Kamani Johnson said. “More shirt off is good for us.”
Arkansas entered this season No. 10 in the preseason AP Poll, expected the coach to lose the shirt often. The Razorbacks started their season winning 11 of their first 12, the only loss being an overtime thriller and an early game of the year candidate against Creighton at the Maui Invitational in November.
The Razorbacks struggled once SEC play began, losing five of their first six, and suffered multiple injuries — including a season-ending knee injury to sophomore Trevon Brazile who Musselman called “one of college basketball’s most talented players.”
“I truly think he was one of the most versatile players in all of college basketball. We kind of built our team around him. And obviously with Nick Smith being in and out of the lineup, this team has dealt with a lot,” Musselman said. “But we were fairly healthy the two prior years and it was the same kind of theme where maybe we didn’t start SEC play really like we would have liked to have. But we just kept on grinding and looking at the next game on our schedule and trying to have a belief. And here we are again. But it’s a resilient team that’s overcome a lot for sure.”
The Razorbacks have made the Sweet 16 three seasons in a row and are looking to advance to the Elite Eight for the third straight year. Along their run last year they knocked off another No. 1 in Gonzaga.
In addition to Smith, averaging 12.6 points per game, the Razorbacks are headlined by five-star freshmen Anthony Black (12.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4 assists per game) and Jordan Walsh (7.2 points, 4 rebounds per game). Ricky Council IV scored the game-winning basket against Kansas and led the team in scoring with 16.1 points per game.
Emphasis on the backboards
Arkansas outrebounded Illinois and Kansas by a combined 16 boards, but UConn is the top rebounding team left in the tournament in terms of its margin and the best on the offensive glass. Musselman noted that the Razorbacks played some good rebounding teams in the SEC, but UConn would be the best they face all season.
“You’ve got to be physical. They’re a physical team. They send four to the glass almost every time, a lot of teams will send three to the glass and two back, but they almost every possession they’re sending four to the glass,” Musselman said. “Everyone says UConn is the best rebounding team in the country. And they have two centers that, in my opinion, is the best center combination basically in all of basketball. They basically have a backup that’s a starter on almost every team in the country and is a freshman and had a great year.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley added: “It’s going to be — obviously a part of this game is going to be played in a really physical way on the backboard. For us, I don’t know that we have maybe quite the same level of athleticism. So we’ve got to be more fundamental in terms of putting a body on a body, being in inside position, and then being really physical at that point. But we pride ourselves on winning the rebounding battle as they do and it’s going to be a war when the ball goes up tomorrow on the glass, no doubt.”
What to know
— Site: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
— Time: 7:15 p.m.
— Series: UConn leads, 3-1
— Last meeting: Nov. 26, 2017 — Arkansas 102, UConn 67 at the Phil Knight Invitational
— Last UConn win: Dec. 3, 2011 — UConn 75, Arkansas 62 at the XL Center, Hartford
— TV: CBS — Kevin Harlan, Dan Bonner, Stan Van Gundy and Lauren Shehadi
