BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman has called his late father, Bill, his idol.
But on Sunday night, Musselman accomplished something his father never did -- win a game at Indiana.
The Razorbacks beat the Hoosiers 71-64 at storied Assembly Hall before an announced crowd of 14,892.
Bill Musselman -- a longtime college, NBA and ABA coach held in high esteem by his peers -- was 0-3 at Assembly Hall when he was at Minnesota from the 1971-72 through 1974-75 seasons. He coached against Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight's first four Indiana teams.
During those seasons, Eric Musselman, 55, traveled with his father's teams and served as the Golden Gophers' ballboy.
Prior to Sunday night, the last game Eric Musselman had been on the visiting bench for at Assembly Hall was 45 years ago when Indiana beat Minnesota 79-59 on Jan. 13, 1975, en route to a 31-1 record.
"To coach in a building that my dad coached in and played in this conference, even my son was like, 'Wow, this is really cool to think that grandpa coached here,' " said Musselman, whose son, Michael, is on the Arkansas staff as director of recruiting.
Musselman's wife, Danyelle, and daughter, Mariah, also came on the trip.
"Mariah probably would have rather stayed at home and done some dance [class] or whatever," Musselman said.
"But we wanted her to experience Assembly Hall as well, just because of the historical things that had to do with this building from a basketball perspective."
Since Assembly Hall opened for the 1971-72 season -- Bill Mussleman's first season at Minnesota and Knight's first at Indiana -- the Hoosiers have a 600-123 home record.
Indiana (11-2) had been 9-0 at home this season -- including an 80-64 victory over No. 17 Florida State -- before Arkansas rallied from a 61-52 deficit with less than eight minutes to play.
The Hoosiers also beat Nebraska at home, and have neutral site victories over Connecticut in New York and Notre Dame in Indianapolis.
"It's a huge, huge win for us," Musselman said. "It's hard to win on the road."
Arkansas (11-1) improved to 2-1 in road games this season, including a 62-61 overtime victory at Georgia Tech and 86-79 overtime loss at Western Kentucky.
The Razorbacks led Western Kentucky 73-68 with 36 seconds left in regulation, but the Hilltoppers tied it 73-73 to send it into overtime.
"When the nonconference schedule was finalized and we had a game at Georgia Tech, a game at Western Kentucky and this game [at Indiana], we knew we had some tough challenges," Musselman said. "I mean, really, we're 40 seconds away from being undefeated."
The Razorbacks open SEC play against Texas A&M (5-5) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Walton Arena. The game is a sellout and will be televised on the SEC Network.
"We played well all nonconference," Musselman said. "Now we've got to carry some momentum over into the Texas A&M game."
Arkansas won its first road game against a Big Ten team after starting 0-7. The Razorbacks' most recent Big Ten road game had been a 63-60 loss at Indiana in the NIT last season after they had beaten the Hoosiers 73-72 in a regular-season game in Walton Arena.
"Hey, that's a Big Ten school, but we're SEC, and I feel like the SEC is better," said Arkansas sophomore guard Desi Sills, who had 10 points.
Sophomore guard Isaiah Joe led Arkansas with 24 points, and junior guard Mason Jones added 21. They scored 33 of the Razorbacks' 38 points in the second half.
"When we have two of the best scorers in the country, anything can happen," Sills said.
Joe and Jones combined to hit 7 of 16 three-pointers in the second half, including four in a row by Joe during a 3:23 span.
Jones hit back-to-back three-pointers to put Arkansas ahead 67-62, and Joe clinched the victory by hitting 4 of 4 free throws in the final 27.3 seconds.
The Razorbacks hit a season-high 12 three-pointers on 31 attempts.
"We knew they would have to take a lot of threes," Indiana Coach Archie Miller said. "We were in a situation with big guys guarding guards. Give them credit, I thought they made some timely ones. I don't think every single one they took was good."
The Razorbacks closed the game on a 19-3 run to erase a 61-52 Indiana lead.
"Coach Muss was like, 'We have enough time to come back,' " Jones said. "The players in the group were like, 'Let's make a comeback.' "
Led by 6-9 freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis, 6-11 Joey Brunk and 6-7 Justin Smith, the Hoosiers came into the game with a 156-111 edge in second-chance points on the season, but the Razorbacks -- with 6-6 senior Adrio Bailey as their tallest starter and 6-8 sophomore Reggie Chaney off the bench -- outscored Indiana 12-9 in that category.
The Razorbacks also stayed with the Hoosiers on the boards. Indiana ranked sixth nationally in rebound margin at plus-10.3 and Arkansas was 270th at minus-2.1, but the Hoosiers outrebounded the Razorbacks 41-35.
Bailey led Arkansas with 8 rebounds, the 6-5 Jones had 6, the 6-2 Sills had 5, the 6-5 Joe had 5, Chaney had 4, 6-3 senior Jimmy Whitt had 3 and 6-2 junior Jalen Harris had 1.
Musselman was asked whether he got the idea of playing "small ball" from his father.
'My dad's teams were actually really physical and really slow," Musselman said. "When I was his assistant coach and I would watch us play so methodical, I thought, 'I never want to play this way.'
"I just think for whatever reason I've always been real comfortable coaching guys that can pass, dribble and shoot. If you're a plodding big man, probably not a good fit to come play at Arkansas."
There was plenty of praise for Musselman on Twitter after the game, including from his younger sister.
"That was the BEST!" Nicole Musselman tweeted. "Dad would have loved it!!!"
Bill Musselman was 2-4 against Indiana, but both victories were at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. But now his son -- 10 years old the last time his father's team played at Indiana -- has a victory in Assembly Hall for the Musselman family.
Sports on 12/31/2019