Musselman Not Counting on Any Momentum from Wins

What back-to-back wins means for Razorbacks heading to face Wildcats on Saturday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Beating Texas A&M and Missouri a couple of weeks ago should now just be a fond memory for fans. Same thing about winning at Rupp Arena a couple of times in the past. It obviously is for Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman ahead of a trip to Rupp Arena to face the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.

"Winning two games, I don’t think that has any true impact on this particular game," Musselman said about the wins last year and 2021. "Those two teams in the past went in with confidence, went in with toughness. They went in there with grit, they went in there with belief, so hopefully this year’s team can carry some of those characteristics into the game. If you don’t have those characteristics, it’s going to be hard to win in Rupp, but certainly going into those games, that was how those 40 minutes unfolded when we were able to have success there. As we’ve mentioned, every team, every season, every game, new identities are created and games take on themes as themselves."

With just three games left on the schedule, the Razorbacks' season is down the tubes. Anything in postseason is over. Oh, they could win the SEC Tournament and get into the NCAA Tournament, but you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody who would believe that is something to bet money on happening. Musselman admitted he's weighed a couple of options on it.

"You discuss the state of where you are based on where your team is mentally and at some points we have discussed it," Musselman said. "At other points there’s been no reason because we have three games left and the biggest theme is how do you compete and give yourself a chance to win the next game on your schedule? If you do that, good things kind of happen. In our mind, it’s how do we get ready for Kentucky. We can’t control what other teams do in the league.

"Obviously, we have a very difficult schedule the last three games playing at Kentucky, at Alabama and LSU at home. A team that did what they wanted last time in Baton Rouge against us. So, we have a difficult three games, got to get ready for each game. Each game will take shape based off how the players on the rosters compete against each other."

The bottom line to all that is he's going to keep preparing and playing games without thinking too far down the road. Have whatever opinion you'd like on that approach. You can figure, though, it's really probable he's got somebody on the staff looking at the players in the portal and starting to figure out the roster for next year. He's got a lot of replacing to do.

HOGS FEED:

• We've seen a similar blueprint for Razorbacks to have big run in March having to win

• ESPN's Chris Low goes no holds barred on college athletics on Arkansas radio

• Razorbacks' Deke Adams accepting, changing to fit changing world of college football

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube

• Follow allHOGS on Twitter and Facebook