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Hogs have bad game, still in NCAA, but Muss wanted to win

Arkansas’ 78-71 loss to LSU on Saturday didn’t affect their NCAA seeding, but you get the idea Eric Musselman really, really wanted to win.

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One of the things I’ve liked about Eric Musselman is he doesn’t tolerate losing very well and he doesn’t appear to do a whole lot to hide it.

You get the idea he hates losing more than he likes winning. That’s usually what you find in championship-type coaches, by the way.

Saturday, Musselman was about as miserable as he usually is following a loss after LSU knocked Arkansas out of the SEC Tournament, 78-71.

“We just had some guys not play well at all,” Musselman said. “You can’t do that in a tournament setting.”

The Razorbacks had several that were just, well, not sharp at all.

As it does so often, missed free throws made a difference. The Hogs were 11-of-19 and in a seven-point loss that drives coaches crazy.

Players, too.

“I don’t know what it was … a lot of them just weren’t falling,” said Moses Moody later. He had 28 points, but missed four free throws. “Myself and the team, the ball was just going in and out. Sometimes it just goes that way.”

Justin Smith added 21 points, but only four other players registered points at all.

Overall, they just looked sloppy offensively.

“We did a poor job of taking care of the basketball,” Musselman said.. “We had 10 second-half turnovers. We drove the ball into traffic.”

Those were things this team hadn’t done very often while piling up 13 straight SEC wins to become one of the hottest teams in the country by the end of the year.

Jaylin Williams being out for the tournament finally caught up with the Hogs. When they needed a body with some fresh legs, they didn’t have anybody.

“We just didn’t have enough gas in the tank tonight on a back-to-back,” Musselman said.

And through all of that, Arkansas still had a shot to win the game down the stretch.

They cut it to a single point, 72-71, with 37 seconds left but JD Notae had a live-ball turnover when he just flat lost the ball while dribbling and LSU hit free throws to close it out.

“I give our guys a lot of credit for playing until the very end,” Musselman said. “We cut that thing back to one.”

Some coaches don’t mind losing in the conference tournament. When you’re safely in the NCAA, it really doesn’t matter. When Arkansas won the national title in 1994, Kentucky ran them out of The Pyramid in Memphis in the SEC semifinals, 90-78.

Nolan Richardson wasn’t too worried about it. He had a bigger goal in mind.

But Musselman wants to win every single time there is a game. Probably of just about any type. He’s a competitive guy.

Which, for fans, is what they should want and expect. It’s what you have to have to compete for championships.

And should be the goal … in every single sport.

Musselman has that and will have a shot at a bigger championship starting next week.

The Hogs will probably be a No. 3 seed when the rankings come out Sunday, starting at 5 p.m. Winning the entire tournament wouldn’t have improved that seeding, in the opinion of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi on Saturday morning.

That doesn’t change anything for Musselman.

If you’re keeping score, he wants to win.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole MissL, 63-31
Sat, Nov 16vs TexasL, 20-10
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana Tech3:00 PM
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (25)10-02681
2.Greenwood (2)10-02343
30Conway9-12022
4.Little Rock Parkview9-11714
5.Bentonville7-31625
6.Benton9-11486
7.Fayetteville8-21117
8.Pulaski Academy8-2898
9.Rogers7-3439
10.Joe T. Robinson9-122
Others receiving votes: Valley View 8, Mountain Home 7, Cabot 6, Little Rock Catholic 6, Shiloh Christian 6, Elkins 1, Farmington 1.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (27)10-01351
2.Conway9-11022
3.Bentonville7-3813
4.Fayetteville8-2454
5.Pulaski Academy8-2395
Others receiving votes: Rogers 3.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (27)10-01351
2.Benton9-11082
3.Mountain Home8-2623
4.Shiloh Christian7-3494
5.Little Rock Catholic9-1345
Others receiving votes: Marion 6.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (27)9-11351
2.Joe T. Robinson9-11062
3.Valley View10-0793
4.Farmington9-1484
5.Hot Springs Lakeside8-2205
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 7, Harding Academy 7, Morrilton 3.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (20)10-01261
3.Arkadelphia (5)8-2913
2.Little Rock Mills (1)10-0682
4.Warren8-2554
5.Dardanell (1)9-123
Southside Batesville10-023
Others receiving votes: Malvern 12, Gravette 5, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
1.Bismarck (12)10-01051t
2.Fordyce (10)10-0961t
3.Prescott (1)9-1704
4.Osceola (2)8-1543
5.Booneville (1)9-1395
Others receiving votes: Mansfield (1) 23, Rivercrest 10, Rison 4, Salem 4.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (20)10-01271
2.Conway Christian (7)10-01152
3.Des Arc8-2595
4.East Poinsett Co.7-352
5.Bigelow6-4183
Murfreesboro7-3184
Others receiving votes: Mount Ida 6, Junction City 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3.
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (27)5-0811
2.Midland9-0532
3.Cedar Ridge8-1253
Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 3.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.