Musselman Answers Razorbacks' NBA Critics

Arkansas coach addresses why spacing issues came up in draft, evolution of Davote Davis as potential draft prospect next year

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Despite all the success the Arkansas Razorbacks and Eric Musselman have had over the past few years, there will always be critics. 

This year, throughout the NBA draft process, the two biggest critiques from analysts and scouts centered around Arkansas players being elite on defense and solid scorers, but lacking the ability to actually shoot the ball, and the lack of quality spacing within the offense. Monday afternoon offered Musselman the opportunity to answer those concerns without fear of it potentially hurting the draft stock of one of his players. 

It's no secret that the albatross around the Razorbacks' neck was that this team couldn't shoot the deep ball. It was a problem Musselman identified before the season even started. 

"It's not going to change," Musselman said after the Razorbacks went 7-of-31 in the Red-White game back in mid-October. "We're not a good three-point shooting team. There's too much of a body of work that we struggle behind the three-point line."

The Hogs shot 23% from beyond the arc that day. That number improved to 31 percent by season's end, buoyed by 32.3% shooting during conference play. That percentage went up despite Arkansas losing its second best 3-point shooter, Trevon Brazile, just before conference play started. 

Ricky Council finished the regular season at 27%, but shot only 25% from three in conference play. Walsh and Black also saw drop offs from already poor shooting numbers from behind the arc. Black shot 30% on the season and 28% against the SEC, and Walsh took the farthest fall in conference play, finishing with 27% on the season, but only 23% against the rugged SEC defenses. Musselman attributed the drop to age and the general grind of playing against bigger, stronger players come late December.

"For freshmen, in the NBA [too], some guys hit a little bit of a wall," Musselman said. "When you get into conference play, you are playing against longer guys and more athletic guys. The season's a little bit longer than normal. The grind's a little bit longer than normal."

So, while the team's average went up during SEC play, it wasn't because of the three NBA prospects on the floor every night. The heavy lifting from three was done by now senior guard Davonte Davis. He shot 41% in conference play and made more than twice as many threes as anyone else on the team. For perspective, the NBA league average for 3-point shooting is roughly 36%. That makes Davis above average for the NBA against quality competition while Council, Black and Walsh fell woefully below that number. 

"Devo's got a veteran mentality where he kind of paced himself in the right way very similar to the way we want to pace the team where you are hitting your stride in March," Musselman said. "The way he played in conference shooting the ball and the way in the NCAA Tournament, especially against Kansas, is the way that you want to play as an individual and also as a team. He's a guy who can kinda create his own three off the bounce, and I think that really helped him elevate his percentage as league play happened." 

It's a pacing and effort that Musselman said has helped Davis increase his NBA prospects. However, he will need to continue to build on his 3-point shooting if he wants to hear his name called next season.

"I think that he's trending in the right direction," Musselman said. "If you look at his 3-point percentage last year, he's made drastic improvements from three. He came in as an elite dribble driver and has now evolved into one of the best 3-point percentage shooters and volume shooters in our league. I think there's been incredible growth for Devo in an area that is important for him at the next level."

As for the spacing issue, Musselman said he didn't hear much of that type of critique from the NBA executives who drafted his players, but did have a valid reason why spacing may have been a concern in the second half of the season as people made an effort to watch his NBA prospects take on prospects from other teams.

"We had no idea that we were going to have a significant injury," Musselman said. "In my opinion Brazile was the best stretch forward in basketball. We didn't have any spacing injuries in Hawaii when we were healthy. Any spacing issues, when you have two significant scorers that are out for a significant amount of time, I think it would affect anybody. If an NBA team loses a shooting stretch forward to an ACL injury, there are probably going to be some spacing issues, even on an NBA team."

It's also unlikely Musselman makes any tweaks to what he's doing to appease anyone who might have those concerns. He said what he and his staff are doing at Arkansas is working, so there's no need to possibly wander too far from a winning formula both in terms of wins and getting players into the NBA. 

"We had more players drafted than anybody, so I don't want to get away too far away from what we have done," Musselman said. "I certainly feel like we have not been a great 3-point shooting team, but we have been a great loose ball getting team and a great defensive team. It's really hard to statistically put up numbers on both sides of the ball. There are very few teams in college basketball that are great defensive teams that are great defensive teams and offensive teams"

 As for that recipe that's brought Arkansas back to the forefront of college basketball as one of the most watched teams in the country while also leading the sport in college draft picks this year, Musselman is perfectly fine sharing it. After all, it's never been a secret recipe – just Musselman's recipe.

"I think the style of play is no zone defense," Musselman said. "The style of play is playing with great pace. The style of play is running NBA quick hitting sets with low volume of continuity that eats up a college shot clock. So, I think the NBA people are intrigued with our style of play and our commitment to try to mirror what NBA teams do." 

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