FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas knew the scouting report for No. 12 Missouri. The Tigers are going to foul around the rim.
The recipe for the Hogs was to man up, play tough and not be intimidated. Unfortunately, they let just the opposite take place, with perhaps a little intimidation from the way the game was officiated thrown in for bad measure, including an ejection for coach Eric Musselman.
The Razorbacks knew to be prepared for contact and to play through it when they made it through other assorted fouls that are so frequent few officials can’t call them all.
That was exactly the problem as the Tigers pulled away in the second half for an 81-68 SEC victory Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. The Hogs lacked a physical toughness to finish shots at the rim.
The game was officiated by Doug Shows, Terry Wymer and Gerald Williams, all solid on most days. Shows is a veteran of several Final Fours.
Musselman had more problems with the work of Wymer and Williams, but exploded when Shows failed to call a foul as JD Notae was bumped twice without a call at the 3:51 mark and the Tigers up 66-52.
Shows gave Musselman what he wanted probably for the first time, two technical fouls and his first ejection as a college coach. Missouri guard Xavier Pinson canned three free throws to expand the lead to 69-62.
The Tigers were whistled for 29 fouls. Some of them were head scratchers, too. There were drives in the open court where the whistles came to avoid a probable Arkansas layup. And, there was a charge foul whistled against Notae as he drove on a play near the end of the first half.
Musselman declined to comment when asked about the officiating, instead taking the blame for the way his not-so-tough team played with the lack of whistles.
“I didn’t think anyone played well and I didn’t coach well,” he said. “Our assistants didn’t coach well.”
It didn’t help that the Hogs found out they had lost their toughest player, forward Justin Smith, with ankle surgery the day before the game. Smith will miss three to six weeks. He’s been their lone force around the rim.
It was clear the Hogs wilted in the paint without Smith. The Tigers led in points in the paint, 34-22. Jeremiah Tillmon, 6-10 center, destroyed all comers with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Connor Vanover, the Hogs’ 7-3 center, had no answers for Tillmon on either end of the court. Vanover missed all 11 shots from the field.
That matchup fizzled for the Hogs early. On the game’s first play, Tillmon screened at the top of the key, rolled to the basket and took a pass for a dunk when the Hogs had no weakside help. On the other end, Vanover fired from the outside on two trips before going to the bench with the Hogs down 6-4 at the 16:35 mark.
Desi Sills scored 23 points in the victory at Auburn on Wednesday, but went 1 of 10 on the way to 6 points. He made his only basket at the 1:55 mark, a simple layup that had been spinning out for all of the Hogs throughout the game.
The frustration was obvious at the 7:46 mark when there was a media timeout ahead of free throws to be shot by Notae. Before heading to the bench, Sills grabbed the ball to shoot two layups.
The Hogs lost despite forcing 21 turnovers. They got 20 more shots from the field than the Tigers.
“We had only seven assists and when we turned them over, we didn’t look to run,” Musselman said. “You can’t make this stuff up. I don’t think I can ever remember a game as a college coach when we lose by double digits when we force 21 turnovers.”
Musselman didn’t mask the depression that losing Smith caused. He compared it to losing Isaiah Joe to a knee injury last season.
“We thought it was a bone bruise,” Musselman said of the Smith injury. “Then they do an MRI. When they do an MRI, they usually find something.
“We found out yesterday that we lost a player who is vital. We won’t have it figured out by (Wednesday’s trip to) Tennessee.
“We will have to be tinkering. What we did today didn’t work. I’m overly concerned. I don’t feel any different than when we lost Isaiah last year.”
Later, Musselman added, “My confidence is down. We couldn’t score, we couldn’t defend and we couldn’t get open. We shot (27 percent).”
There was praise for the play of the Tigers and a tip of the cap to their coach, Cuonzo Martin.
“We knew it was going to be hard to score against Missouri,” Musselman said. “But we have to cut harder. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
There were lots of easy shots missed.
“How many layups did we miss?” Musselman said. “I’ve never seen so many missed layups.”
It shouldn’t be a total surprise. That’s not the strength for the Hogs.
“Scoring around the rim has been a problem for us since the first game,” Musselman said. “We have to be more physical around the rim.”
The Hogs didn’t seem to want to work their way into the rim early. They seemed content to fire from long range while the Tigers found better shots in the lane. The Hogs finished with 25 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Moses Moody was the only true answer from long range. Moses hit four of eight on threes on the way 18 points. No one else made more than one 3-point shot.