FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has won two games in a row and now will clash with undefeated and No. 19 Oklahoma Saturday at the BOK Center.
Arkansas (6-3) enters the game against Oklahoma (8-0) knowing will be another key test much like the game in the Bahamas as well as Duke. Eric Musselman talked about the Sooners.
"When you look at Oklahoma, and your question is about up front, obviously No. 10 (Sam) Godwin is a guy that plays really hard. Really good around the rim. Loves to set screens. He's a dynamic rim roller. The point guard No. 12 (Milos Uzan) loves to throw jump lob passes to him. The other center (John) Hugley can make threes. He made four threes against USC. He's a good post player with his back to the basket. He's got good weight and good size. Obviously, you've got up front (Jalon) Moore is a really active player that is the front of their little diamond press. He can guard one through four. Then they come in with (Rivaldo) Soares. He's another athletic guy. So, I think when you talk about their up front guys, those are the four that you're talking about.
"Two of them are super, super athletic. The two guys at the four spot for Coach (Porter) Moser, and then obviously the two big guys. They have two different games. Godwin’s really good at going vertical. And then the other is a guy that can make threes and then also post up with his back to the basket."
Forward Trevon Brazile rolled his ankle in the second half against Furman. Musselman addressed his forward's status for the game.
"Severe sprain," Musselman said Wednesday. "Will not participate in anything we do today. There's a possibility of him going on an underwater treadmill to walk tomorrow. So, not a glowing report. It wasn't something that he just woke up the next day and felt fine. So, we still have some more days before we play, but unable to shoot around or anything today."
Former Temple guard Khalif Battle scored 25 points off the bench against Furman. He has had big offensive games like that dating back even to when he was at Temple.
"A couple things... He can get his shot off real quick," Musselman said. "Can elevate over people, and if you crowd him, he's going to take the ball to the basket and draw free throws attempted. So, when you have a guy that can shoot, dribble and draw FTAs, it makes him really hard to guard. And he has deep range. All those things factor into his ability to have an impact on the game offensively."
While the injury report on Brazile wasn't good, former Houston guard Tramon Mark did get to play enough against Furman to help shake off the rust. Mark was injured against North Carolina and then didn't play against Duke. He played just over 26 minutes off the bench against Furman adding seven points, three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
"Well I think that was the decision we had to make — do we only use him if needed or do we let him get back in the flow with his teammates and not have too long of a layoff?," Musselman said. "Obviously we went with the decision to play him. I think it’s a huge positive for him and the team because we won a big game against Duke without him and if we would have gone into this Oklahoma game without him playing in the last two games, I think it’s a rhythm, it’s a flow game and I think it certain gets effected. Now that he’s back, we all understand the roles and everything a lot clearer with him back in the lineup."
Musselman was asked if there is any special significance added to this game since OU will be in the SEC next season?
"Not really," Musselman said. "Not really. No. Whether we were playing Texas or…look, they’re a really well-coached team. It’s great they’re coming into the league [because of] proximity. All those things make a lot of sense, but I’m not looking at Saturday’s game — not for one second — and saying, ‘Oh, wow, they’re coming into the SEC next year. How are we going to play this game?’ I don’t really care that they’re coming in at all."
OU has soared out to a hot start despite entering the season with lower expectations.
"Yeah, I would say that all preseason polls are so meaningless," Musselman said. "In football. Basketball. Because you just don’t know about chemistry. You don’t know how pieces are going to fit together. Everyone’s rosters are fluctuating. I love what Coach Moser’s done. I think he’s done an incredible job. They have some returners that are key pieces like their point guard 12, and 10, and 3 (Otega Oweh) is much improved at the small forward spot. So those three primary returners, and then they add really good pieces like No. 2, (Javian) McCollum at the off guard or point guard. He’s kind of a combo guard as a dynamic scorer who can really shoot the ball off the bounce. Moore is a guy that’s played at Georgia Tech for three years. He’s an energy guy. Plays really hard. Loves to dribble-drive middle. Crashes the offensive glass, and they have good physical strength and good physical athleticism at the small forward, power forward position.
"Really solid three backups, so they have a really solid 8-man rotation. He’s got a great team, and so does BYU by the way. Both those teams are really good and the preseason stuff is, I don’t know how anybody can have a true gauge when as coaches, we don’t really know our team, I don’t think, until the end of December. I think teams are still trying to figure things out. I know that Coach (Chuck) Daly, he always used to say in the NBA, you figure out your team about game 50, so I don’t know how anybody can figure them out before we’ve even played a game or anyone’s watched a team scrimmage. What a wild, I don’t know what word to use. I knew they were going to be good. I thought the transfers they got were really good players and I thought their returners were really good players and I know he’s an awesome coach, so that’s a recipe to have a good team. An undefeated team and a ranked team, it’s a game that you have to bring your A-game to compete with Oklahoma."
The tip is set for 3 p.m. on ESPN2.
