Arkansas basketball struggled vs. Tennessee's physicality. Why that's a bad late-season sign
In Arkansas basketball's last two losses, the Razorbacks have been dominated in the interior. Arkansas let No. 2 Alabama score 54 in the paint on Saturday. In Arkansas' 75-57 loss at No. 14 Tennessee on Tuesday, the Razorbacks gave up 42. Those two totals are the highest Arkansas has allowed this season.
The Razorbacks' 18 paint points against the Volunteers were their fewest in SEC play by a margin of eight. The Razorbacks couldn't protect the rim or finish there, and it doomed them.
It's a prime example of the problem coach Eric Musselman identified post-game: Physicality.
"(Tennessee) completely out-physicalled us," Musselman said. "There’s no doubt about it."
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It wasn't just the paint points. Tennessee dominated Arkansas in rebounding in the first half, grabbing 22 boards to the Razorbacks' 14. The Volunteers had seven offensive rebounds; Arkansas had none. The Razorbacks managed to even it out in the second half and finished minus-3 in rebounding margin. Tennessee had three offensive boards in the second half, but they weren't missing many shots.
Tennessee also grabbed 11 steals, a large portion of Arkansas' 16 turnovers.
"They were physical, and we were not able to withstand the physicality taking care of the basketball," Musselman said. "But the rebounding up front with our bigs was not very good as well. Unfortunately, we’ve got one regular-season game (left) and still a lot of areas we need to continue to teach."
Most teams get more physical as the season goes on, Musselman said. Arkansas seems to be doing the opposite. To be fair, some of that has to do with the teams the Razorbacks have faced in their last two games. Tennessee leads the country in adjusted defensive efficiency. Alabama is fourth. Arkansas played them both on the road.
The Razorbacks have one tough game left in the regular season. They host Kentucky on Saturday (1 p.m. CT, CBS). Then, it's on to the postseason, where things aren't going to get any easier. Arkansas needs to find some toughness fast, because it didn't show it against Tennessee.
"We knew as the season wears on that you are going to have to play physical basketball," Musselman said. "It only gets more physical. It’s going to be physical on Saturday. It’s going to be physical in the SEC Tournament. Again, a very disappointing loss in many different ways for us."
Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks for the Southwest Times Record and USA Today Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at clong@swtimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas basketball's struggles vs. Tennessee bad signs down the stretch
