Potentially Depleted Hogs Face Deep Veteran Team in Fordham

Musselman's Arkansas Razorbacks face Rams team that may be most experienced group they face all year, not easily rattled

FAYETTEVILLE – The Eric Musselman basketball education seminar continues tonight and it's only appropriate that the Razorbacks are taking on Fordham on Veteran's Day.

The Hogs face what may be their most experienced opponent of the season. The starting five for the Rams includes three juniors and two graduates. 

This won't be a game where Arkansas can hope to awe their opponent into submission. Forward Khalid Moore has 118 games under his belt, 72 of which were against ACC teams while starting for Georgia Tech. 

As for fellow graduate Darius Quisenberry, he's too old to pay much mind to young guns getting themselves all worked up on the court. The man is colder on the floor than the front that blew in last night.

That dead pan focus built over the years extends into the rest of the team. Fordham is a squad that will not be rattled.

When Dartmouth jumped out to an early 10-0 lead earlier this week on the strength of the adrenaline that comes with the first game of the season, the Rams barely blinked. Instead of freaking out, the veteran bunch calmly went on a 37-20 run over the next 14 minutes and never looked back. 

North Dakota State featured a great deal of experience also, but not nearly as much and also without anywhere close to as much floor time together as Fordham. Arkansas also had the luxury of rolling through a deep bench while wearing out the Bison to pull away as the minutes piled up.

That isn't going to happen against Fordham. Only Quisenberry and 6-5 junior guard Antrell Charleton topped 30 minutes in an opener that warranted Fordham's best effort until the final few minutes in a 88-74 win.

The Rams will always have fresh legs on the floor and every player who touches the court has already proven he can put points on the board while logging quality minutes. Four players hit double digits against Dartmouth with two more just off the pace.

Fordham runs so deep that Musselman indicated he had a list of five players this week that he describes as "Red Shooters," meaning no Razorback can give up a 3-point shot to them on defense because of their capability to fill the basket.

Fordham gave up a lot of open looks from beyond the arc on defense, but their ability to constantly push with all those fresh legs allowed them to eventually wear Dartmouth out.

When they push tonight, it may be against a depleted Arkansas roster. Musselman described his team as very banged up earlier this week and had received notification that four of his players were either out or significantly limited in practice. 

Freshman guard Nick Smith is expected to be out, junior guard Ricky Council has been dealing with an elbow injury, sophomore forward Trevon Brazile is nursing an ankle injury, and it is assumed the fourth player is probably freshman guard Anthony Black, who went down against North Dakota State, but did return to the game Monday. 

One way Dartmouth was able to hang around with Fordham as long as it did was that it had the discipline to not foul. The Rams are a very good free throw shooting team, knocking down 10-of-14 Monday.

If Fordham is still hanging around in the second half, or even leading, free throw shooting is going to play a huge part.

Foul trouble was a point of emphasis for Musselman in practice this week. He was vocally frustrated with his team's inability to defend without fouling, especially behind the arc and on loose balls. 

Musselman especially wants to see an adjustment out of freshman forward Jordan Walsh so he can avoid fouling out and putting the team down even lower in the body count as the game hits the final stretch.

Arkansas follows this game with a showdown against the other half of the Dakotas on Wednesday night in Bud Walton before heading out to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational beginning Nov. 21 for a 4 p.m. tip against Louisville.

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