Arkansas coach Eric Musselman talked with the media Monday afternoon looking ahead to Tuesday night’s Texas Southern game and could Reggie Chaney be back for that game?
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — Connor O’Gara on Ark/LSU
Phil & Tye on the Gus Malzahn QB’s, Hogs over Montana, Connor O’Gara, plus coaching search!
Talented freshmen may hold key in landing new Hogs’ football coach
While it’s far too early in the process to even really begin the guessing game about who Hunter Yurachek is seriously talking to, an educated guess says some of the freshmen playmakers on the roster may play a big role.
Oh, that’s not an indication Yurachek is going to take a straw poll among them to see who to get, but every coach looks at the roster before he even listens to how much.
I hate to burst your bubble, but coaches don’t think the way fans do. The last thing most of them will do is take a job that right now looks as much like career suicide as a destination job.
They look at who they’ve got in some key spots, mostly playmakers. Some will study the players on the line of scrimmage, but inevitably they go back to the guys handling the ball.
Right or wrong, most of them think they can fix the line issues in a year or two. Whoever Yurachek hires is going to have to be assured he’s got that long or the guess is the list is going to get short really quick.
Right now, Yurachek is just trying to figure out if anybody on the A-list is actually interested. He’s not calling them, you can rest assured. That’s what agents do.
We’ve had the usual unconfirmed rumblings that Gus Malzahn and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell said they weren’t interested and Washington State’s Mike Leach — a favorite among some Razorbacks fans — having his people lobby for the job.
What’s true and what’s not is really what you wish to believe at this point.
And don’t fall into the trap of believing they will stumble into Fayetteville and duplicate what they’ve done at other places. They might, but recent history tells us that may not be accurate (Bret Bielema).
Oh, and hope doesn’t work out well, either (Chad Morris).
Bobby Petrino likely isn’t an option. It would be interesting to see how they get around the regulation on state employees terminated for cause not eligible for re-employment. Yes, the football coach for the Hogs is a state employee.
You can bet, though, one thing any coach that takes the job is going to be well aware of is the collection of offensive playmakers on the roster like K.J. Jefferson, Treylon Burks, Trey Knox, Hudson Henry and A’Montae Spivey.
They will also be aware of the youngsters on the defensive side of things, too.
Every coach talks about the importance of recruiting. For anybody that gets hired, he’s not going ot have a lot of time before the early signing day.
The new coach is going to have to recruit the freshmen on the roster now. The mysterious NCAA transfer portal makes that an ongoing issue for college coaches, especially with a coaching change.
Whoever takes the job could have 17 freshmen already in place … or have to recruit a bunch to replace them plus round up some new players.
The margin of error for Yurachek is slim … and it’s a good bet he knows that.
If he doesn’t get it right he may not get a second chance.
Volleyball downs Alabama for first time in 10 meetings, going back to ’13
FAYETTEVILLE — Volleyball coach Jason Watson led his team to its first win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in 10 meetings, a streak that dated back to 2013.
The Razorbacks defeated the Tide in five sets on Sunday afternoon in Barnhill Arena (25-22, 18-25, 25-18, 22-25, 17-15).
Hog highlights
• Jillian Gillen | 28 kills | 13 digs
• Devyn Wheeler | 10 kills | .381 clip | 3 service aces
• Rachel Rippee | 32 blocks | 5 blocks | 5 kills
The turning point
The Hogs dominated in the first and third sets, recording .400 and .394 clips in those sets respectively.
Arkansas dropped a thrilling fourth set, 25-22 despite a late 3-0 scoring run to come within two of Alabama’s lead.
The Razorbacks jumped out to an early three-point lead in the fifth set, but the Tide responded and after the mid-set break, led 11-7.
Arkansas capitalized on back-to-back kills from Maggie Cartwright and Gillen to spark a 4-1 scoring rally that put them within one of the Tide.
Gracie Ryan recorded a crucial service ace to tie the score at 13 points apiece and after back-and-forth rallies, the Razorbacks came out on top, clinched with a block by Maylin Garrett and Ellease Crumpton.
From coach Watson
“I’m happy for our athletes. They have put in a lot of time and effort to get a win. They continue to battle and found a way this afternoon. We have another great home stand this coming weekend as well against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. I’m excited to get back in the gym and build upon this weeks’ work.”
Neighbors on how opponents making Hogs play better each game
With the Razorbacks’ opponents getting better each game, Mike Neighbors talked after an 88-58 win over Stony Brook about the the Hogs are having to step up each time.
Ramirez, Dungee recapping big days in win over Stony Brook
Arkansas’ Amber Ramirez (26 points) and Chelsea Dungee (19 points, 6 rebounds) talking about the 88-58 win over Stony Brook on Sunday afternoon.
Ramirez, Dungee pace Hogs in another big win; face Belmont next
FAYETTEVILLE — No. 23 Arkansas remained perfect, topping Stony Brook (3-1), 88-58, at Bud Walton Arena on Sunday afternoon.
The Razorbacks used a big first half from beyond the arc (7-13) to get ahead and stay ahead, five of which came from redshirt junior guard Amber Ramirez.
Ramirez, who finished the game with a season-high 26 points, was sensational all afternoon. She finished the game with six made 3’s, matching the most made by a Razorback this season. Five of her deep balls came in the first half, helping propel the Hogs to a 21-point halftime advantage.
Turning point
The Hogs had given themselves a little bit of breathing room late in the first quarter, as coach Mike Neighbors’ squad led 23-15 after one.
The Hogs exploded in the second quarter, erupting from beyond the arc, making six straight treys to put the game away.
The run started with the Hogs up 30-23 with 4:56 to play in the second quarter, and saw the Hogs score 21 points in just under four minutes of clock time. During the run, Ramirez hit four 3’s, redshirt junior guard Chelsea Dungee hit one and freshman guard Makayla Daniels hit one.
The Hogs entered the halftime break leading, 51-30.
Hog highlights
• Ramirez’s 26 points was her most as a Hog, and her six treys matched the most made threes in a game by a Razorback this season.
• Dungee moved her double-figure scoring streak to 21 today, going for 19 points.
• Daniels continues to score the ball with efficiency, going for 13 points on three of six shooting. She has been in double-figures in all four of her career games so far.
• Junior forward Taylah Thomas once again led the Hogs in rebounding, grabbing nine of them in the game.
• Redshirt junior guard A’Tyanna Gaulden led the charge for the Razorback bench, dropping a season-high nine points (3-6 FG).
Next time out
Arkansas looks to finish its homestand undefeated, as Belmont comes to Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
That game will start at 7 p.m., and will be streamable on SECN+.
In hindsight, we probably should have seen this coming with Hogs
Hindsght is always much more accurate than trying to look a couple of years down the road.
It’s easy to say now you saw the Chad Morris Trainwreck coming. Some of you did. Most of you were fully on board and I’ll admit I was on that wagon, too.
Looking back now, though, we probably should have been a little more cynical, but there were people who know more than any of us saying Morris was a home-run hire. He’d been one of the “can’t miss” coaching prospects since about 2012.
Let’s face it, the Bret Bielema era went downhill so fast folks were ready for any kind of positives. Athletics director Jeff Long set the program on a downward trajectory, then inexperienced incompetence took over.
After a brief Gus Malzahn flirtation (which was never going to happen), the folks doing the hiring took his recommendation of Morris, threw in a couple of popular opinions from others and basically hired him before athletics director Hunter Yurachek.
Don’t throw out there that Yurachek was on board with the hiring. Whether he was or not we may never know, but what did you expect him to say at that point?
Nobody knew Morris was going to be in water so far over his head he wasn’t going to make two full seasons. So over his head he couldn’t win an SEC game in 14 attempts.
He had offensive assistants in more over their heads than Morris and he reportedly didn’t listen to folks around who did know.
Houston Nutt could have coached the 2018 team to a 6-6 record and would have had them sitting on top of seven or eight wins right now, in my opinion. No, that doesn’t mean I’m jumping on the bandwagon to hire him back. Repeats seldom turn out well for anybody.
In hindsight, Morris may have lost the team in a second-half collapse against Colorado State in just his second game. That’s when the whispers started from some of the veterans.
Against North Texas they collapsed completely, getting blown out at home by a team they should have been able to beat in the worst of times.
While Morris may have been able to motivate high school players to perform at a high level, he often appeared quite incapable of motivating a frog to jump into a pond.
One person from Dallas told me before Morris’ first game that him making Joe Craddock the offensive coordinator was going to get them all fired. Again, that was before the first game and I dismissed it as sour grapes.
After the first game this same person told me, “I don’t know what that offense is, but that’s not what he was running at SMU.”
Did Morris not have the experience to step in a do what he does best? One of his friends, a high school coach, said he advised Morris to “do it your way and with your people.”
Based on what people who saw Morris at SMU, that wasn’t the case at Arkansas. According to some sources, the playcalling during games often resembled recess at playschool and Morris kept over-ruling Craddock on the quarterback situation.
It was clear almost from the outset that Morris had no idea how to deal with the SEC stage. He came off as confused in press gatherings and either wasn’t coached or wouldn’t be coached on how to sound like he had a clue with the media.
Or how to make in-game adjustments (I don’t even want to begin counting the number of second-half collapses).
Or how to communicate with his players, often sending mixed signals, which some interpreted as outright lies.
Morris started out confused, made excuses to buy time and in the end the evidence on the field looked like his team quit on him.
How much progress Barry Lunney, Jr., can make with two games, including starting on the road at night against LSU, remains to be seen.
But there are some players on thsi roster, particularly at the skill positions.
The guess here they need a leader.
And we know now that wasn’t Morris.
Defense sparks Hogs (again) in 64-46 win over Montana State
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has not allowed an opponent to score more 20 points in the first half and no more than 46 points total in each of its three wins this season.
On Saturday, the Razorbacks claimed a 64-46 victory over Montana in the teams’ opening game of the Collegiate Hoops Roadshow presented by AtmosAir — Razorback Regional at Bud Walton Arena.
Adrio Bailey (12 points and career-high 11 rebounds) recorded his first career double-double while Mason Jones led the team in scoring for the third straight game, pumping in 19 thanks to a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line, while having a team-high four assists and team-high four steals.
Jimmy Whitt Jr., finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Overall, Arkansas has only allowed 132 points in three games (43, 43, 46) which is the program’s lowest point total through three games since the 1946-47 season when the Hogs only allowed 122 (21, 55, 46).
Also, according to records available (dating back to 1969-70 by HogStats.com) this is the only time Arkansas has held its first three opponents to less than 20 points in the first half spanning the first three games (Rice 19, North Texas 16 and Montana 18).
Arkansas was only up one, 14-13, with eight-and-a-half minutes to play in the first half but finished the first half on a 17-5 run to take a 31-18 lead at the break.
Overall, Arkansas kept Montana scoreless the final 2:51 of the first half.
In the second half, Arkansas led by as many as 16. However, Montana cut its deficit to seven (40-33) with 11:50 left in the game.
From that point, Jones and Bailey combined to got 4-of-4 at the free throw line and Isaiah Joe sank a 3-pointers to spur a 13-2 run (putting the Hogs up 53-35) with 5:49 left.
The Razorbacks held a double-digit lead the rest of the game — going up by as many as 20 with 1:20 left — before the Grizzlies made two free throws to provide the 64-46 final score.
Arkansas returns to action Tuesday (Nov. 19) versus Texas Southern. Tipoff at Bud Walton Arena is set for 7 pm.
Game notes
• Arkansas’ starting lineup was Jimmy Whitt (G) – Isaiah Joe (G) – Desi Sills (G) – Mason Jones (G) – Adrio Bailey (F) for the third consecutive game.
• Arkansas is 3-0 for the second time in the last three seasons and the ninth time over the last 17. Arkansas was 4-0 in 2017-18.
• For the second straight game, Arkansas scored the first points of the game and led the entire contest. In three games, Arkansas has only trailed for 45 seconds.
• This was the first ever meeting between Arkansas and Montana. Eric Musselman is now 2-0 versus Montana as a head coach and 6-0 as head coach versus teams from the Big Sky Conference.
• Arkansas lost the opening tip for the first time in three games this season.
• Jimmy Whitt Jr. scored the first points, a jumper in the lane at 18:50.
• Mason Jones led the Razorbacks with nine points. Adrio Bailey, thanks to two dunks, had seven points and team-best five rebounds.
• Arkansas held Montana to 25.8 percent shooting in the first half, including 0-of-5 from 3-point range.
• Montana was 2-of-16 from 3-point range. Arkansas has not allowed an opponent to make more than two 3-‘s in a game this season and opponents are just 6-of-58 (10.3 percent).
• Mason Jones was 8-of-8 at the free throw line, is a perfect 21-of-21 for the season and has made 30 straight dating back to last season. Based on available records, the Arkansas record for consecutive free throws made is 48 by Ricky Medlock over 20 games in the 1974-75 season.
• Jalen Harris tied a career-high with four steals.
