SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL ARKANSAS (12-1, 1-0 SEC) AT LSU (9-4, 1-0)

Game-changer: LSU paved Musselman’s path to UA

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman reacts to a call during a game against Texas A&M on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2020, in Fayetteville.

BATON ROUGE -- If Eric Musselman hadn't been an LSU assistant coach in 2014-15, there's a pretty good chance he wouldn't be back in the Maravich Assembly Center tonight to face the Tigers as the University of Arkansas head coach.

Musselman -- with an extensive NBA resume as a head coach at Golden State and Sacramento and assistant at Minnesota, Orlando, Atlanta and Memphis -- worked in college basketball for the first time as an Arizona State assistant during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.

Then came an offer to return to the NBA as an assistant coach with Minnesota again.

It seemed like a no-brainer for Musselman to have a second stint with the Timberwolves, where he had previously worked when his father, Bill, was the head coach.

Flip Saunders, the Timberwolves' coach, team president and a part-owner who offered Eric Musselman a job after the 2013-14 season, had played for Bill Musselman at the University of Minnesota.

"I had idolized [Saunders]," Eric Musselman said. "I wanted to wear his No. 14 when I played."

Saunders' other assistant coaches, Sidney Lowe and Sam Mitchell, also played for Bill Musselman, making the situation even more inviting.

Instead of returning to the comfort and familiarity of the NBA, Musselman opted for a new adventure and accepted an offer from then-LSU Coach Johnny Jones to become the Tigers' top assistant.

"I didn't know Coach Jones at all," Musselman said. "I'd never been to Baton Rouge."

Musselman's wife, Danyelle, encouraged him to see what LSU and Jones were about and they traveled to Baton Rouge for a job interview.

"My wife said, 'Let's stick with this college thing, go meet Johnny,' " Musselman said. "I met him and really liked him. I just felt like, 'Let's go to Baton Rouge and see what happens.' "

Jones added Musselman to the staff because he wanted a coach with an NBA background to help with the recruitment of Ben Simmons, a freshman at LSU in 2015-16 who then was the NBA Draft's No. 1 overall pick by Philadelphia.

Musselman never got to coach Simmons, who was the godson of Tigers assistant David Patrick, a Musselman friend who is now head coach of California-Riverside.

The Tigers went 22-11 and made the NCAA Tournament in Musselman's only season at LSU, which helped him land the job as Nevada's head coach.

Musselman's 110-34 record in four seasons at Nevada -- with NCAA Tournament appearances the last three seasons -- led to his being hired at Arkansas by Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek.

If Musselman had decided to take the Timberwolves' offer instead of going to LSU, it's easy to picture him still coaching in the NBA and never being at Nevada and now Arkansas.

"But as a family we made the decision that we wanted to stick with the college route, and I'm overly joyed that I did that," Musselman said. "It was kind of a turning point on where my career and our family's life was going to go."

Junior guard Mason Jones, averaging team highs of 19.5 points and 6.2 rebounds, said it's a blessing Musselman became Arkansas' coach.

"It's just crazy how God works things out," Jones said. "I didn't know that we were going to get Coach Muss after the season, but he came.

"He's been a blessing ever since. Like I always tell Coach Muss, just be happy, keep God first and just know that whatever is planned is planned. It's already written.

"If Coach Muss would have went back to the NBA it would have been good for him and his family, but God had other plans for them, and he came to Arkansas. He is prospering."

The Razorbacks (12-1, 1-0) have been among the most surprising teams in the nation after being picked in a preseason media poll to finish 11th in the SEC.

"I've only met [Musselman] a couple of times, but I think he's done a remarkable job," LSU Coach Will Wade said. "His team plays extremely, extremely hard. They put you in some tough predicaments just with their spacing on offense and their shooting.

"I think they're a team that will be in the hunt all year in the SEC, just because of how hard they play."

Musselman primarily goes with seven players.

"They play a short rotation," Wade said. "All those guys know and understand they're going to get a bunch of minutes and I think they play with freedom and play relaxed because of that.

"They're the hardest-playing team I've seen on tape all year."

Musselman, who has lived in California most of his life, said it was a major cultural change moving to Baton Rouge.

"I gained weight right away because of the food,"said Musselman, whose favorite Louisiana delicacy is grilled alligator. "It's as good of food as anywhere I've been in my life. So I had to watch the way I ate after the first couple of months there."

Football, Musselman said, also is far more intense in the SEC than the Pac-12.

"The football weekends, it's just a whole different world from being involved in the Pac-12," he said. "The school spirit.

"I've said it before, you walk around a Pac-12 campus and you might see nine different West Coast universities on people.

'At LSU, you're only going to see Tiger sweatshirts and same thing here. If you walk around our campus, there's 20,000-plus students that are wearing Hog stuff.

"That just doesn't happen on the West Coast, the school spirit and the pride -- especially in athletics -- that you see in places like LSU and places like here.

"Certainly from a school spirit standpoint and from a student section standpoint, this league is different in a positive way from other places I've been a part of or seen."

Musselman said he learned a lot more than SEC school spirit and the best places to eat in Baton Rouge during his time at LSU.

"I learned so much there," Musselman said. "Johnny recruited at such a high level. Although I never coached him, to be part of the Ben Simmons' recruiting process was really, really important for me to see and learn about in-home visits.

"That nine months at LSU was really important."

As it turned out, Musselman's decision to go to LSU also was really important for Arkansas.

Arkansas men vs LSU

WHEN 8 p.m. today

WHERE Maravich Assembly Center, Baton Rouge

RECORDS Arkansas 12-1, 1-0 SEC. LSU 9-4, 1-0.

SERIES Arkansas leads 36-31

RADIO Razorback Sports Network

TELEVISION ESPNU

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

LSU

POS., NAME, HT., YR.;PPG;RPG

G Skylar Mays, 6-4;Sr.;15.9;4.7

G Javonte Smart, 6-4;So.;11.0;3.4

F Darius Days, 6-6;So;12.7;8.0

F Trendon Watford, 6-9;Fr.;12.8;6.2

C Emmitt Williams, 6-9;So.;13.5;7.1

COACH Will Wade (52-24 in three seasons at LSU, 143-69 in seven seasons overall)

ARKANSAS

POS., NAME, HT., YR.;PPG;RPG

G Mason Jones, 6-5;Jr.;19.5;6.2

G Isaiah Joe, 6-5, Fr.;17.4;4.7

G Jimmy Whitt, 6-3;Sr.;13.4;5.5

G Desi Sills, 6-2;Fr.;10.0;3.1

F Adrio Bailey, 6-6;Sr.;6.5;4.6

COACH Eric Musselman (12-1 in first season at Arkansas, 122-35 in five seasons overall)

TEAM COMPARISON

LSU;Arkansas

80.8;Points for;74.3

67.5;Points against;59.8

+6.2;Rebound margin;-2.1

+0.4;Turnover margin;+5.1

49.9;FG pct.;44.4

32.7;3-PT pct.;31.0

75.7;FT pct.;74.4

CHALK TALK LSU is 7-1 at home this season. The loss was to East Tennessee State 74-63 on Dec. 18 ... Arkansas is 2-1 on the road with victories at Georgia Tech and Indiana and a loss at Western Kentucky ... Arkansas and LSU split their two-game series last season with each team winning on the road ... LSU is shooting 58.3% on two-point basket attempts (309 of 530) to rank second nationally behind Dayton's 62.4% (324 of 519) ... The Razorbacks are 12-17 in games at LSU ... Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman was an LSU assistant coach for Johnny Jones during the 2014-15 season when the Tigers made the NCAA Tournament ... Arkansas junior guard Mason Jones' 19.5 points per game is second in the SEC behind Vanderbilt sophomore Aaron Nesmith, who averaging 23.4 ... Arkansas is 7-21 in its first SEC road game since joining the conference for the 1991-92 season. ... LSU Coach Will Wade is 3-1 against Arkansas, including 2-0 in Walton Arena ... Razorbacks senior forward Adrio Bailey is averaging 1.8. blocked shots to rank seventh in the conference ... Hays Myers, Arkansas' special assistant to the head coach, is a 2016 LSU graduate and was a team manager for the Tigers ... LSU is averaging an announced attendance of 9,121 for its home games.

Sports on 01/08/2020