Arkansas Gets Knocked Out in Oklahoma

Protecting Hogs with soft schedule wasn’t best approach in the long run

There’s a scene in Rocky III where Mickey tells Rocky he isn’t ready to face what he’s going to go against in challenger Clubber Lang.

Rocky retorts that he’s won 10 title defenses. When Mickey tells him ‘that was easy,” Rocky asks if they were set-ups.

“Naw, they weren’t set-ups,” a flabbergasted Mickey responds. “They was good fighters, but they weren’t killers like this guy. He’ll knock you to tomorrow Rock!”

Not long afterward, Mickey’s not able to be ringside because he’s had a heart attack and the shine on Rocky is gone after Lang issues a brutal beating.

If a metaphor for today’s 88-66 curb stomping of No. 12 Arkansas by Oklahoma exists, this is it.

Under Musselman, Arkansas has developed a habit of scheduling tomato cans to inflate the team’s record.

This was understandable in the early days as Musselman tried to install his way of play and build a culture. He had also just watched former head coach Mike Anderson get fired despite a 169-102 record with multiple NCAA tournament bids and no losing seasons.

While the approach has led to three consecutive seasons with 8-0 starts, what was gained from it this year other than false bravado?

The Hogs went the distance with the champ last year in the Elite 8, leaving Baylor glad there wouldn’t be a rematch. Instead of following last year’s performance by increasing the number of challenging games to the schedule, the team responsible for assembling Arkansas’s schedule chose to protect its fighter instead.

It’s an approach that has brought disrespect upon the Hogs as the AP voters decided to drop the Razorbacks out of the Top 10 instead of rewarding wins over Central Arkansas and Little Rock.

When the Razorbacks finally played a legitimate opponent in Oklahoma, it was brutal. The Sooners landed a haymaker right from the start with a 13-0 run, and kept landing them throughout the game. Every time Arkansas made a run, Porter Moser’s team sent the Hogs right back to the mat.

In the second half, the sight of it all became too much for Musselman’s heart to bear. Following a questionable call, frustration got the better of him and the head Hog showered the refs with a string of words that fortunately weren’t picked up on camera.

Arkansas head coach Erid Musselman is escorted off the court by his staff during the second half of an 88-66 loss to Oklahoma at the BOK Arena in Tulsa :: Brett Rojo/USA TODAY Images

A scene straight out of a boxing weigh-in where things got out of hand broke out as Musselman charged at the refs time and time again. Eventually, the assistants were able to separate the coach from the scene and turn him toward the locker room, but it was already over.

Alone in a fight against a better opponent without its leader, the team suffered the final knockout as Oklahoma built nearly a 30-point lead.

So where does Arkansas go from here?

Fortunately, there’s a second half of that Rocky movie. Much like Balboa, it may take a bit for the Hogs to regain their confidence. They will need to strip everything back and rebuild with the heart that brought them to the game.

It’s also going to take extreme conditioning and a change in mental approach. Rocky came back and beat Lang by being in dramatically better shape and letting the champ punch himself out to the point of exhaustion.

This Arkansas team has two major strikes against it. It can’t shoot the three, and it can’t defend the three, at least not in the traditional way.

Musselman will have to switch up his strategy of playing with a short bench. Much like Nolan Richardson back in the day, he’s going to need every set of legs he’s got available.

By turning the game into a sprint, provided the players can increase their coordination so they don’t keep falling down every other break down the court, Arkansas plays to its strength. Points in the paint have been at a high for this team and quickness is at a premium.

While Arkansas uses its speed to land body blows, its 3-point defense will automatically get better. Weak legs make for bad shots, especially behind the arc. The Hogs seem hopeless when it comes to guarding perimeter shots, but if teams punch themselves out trying to run the Razorbacks down, those falling shots will become long rebounds going the other way.

It won’t be easy. And for the players, the training montage is going to be every bit as painful as it looks in the movie.

But if it works, Arkansas might get its Rocky moment after all.

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