FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman was ejected for the first time in his two-year tenure late in Saturday’s 81-68 loss to Missouri at Bud Walton Arena.
Musselman drew his first technical in the opening moments after a TV timeout with 3:51 remaining and Missouri leading 66-52.
Lead official Doug Shows was getting an earful from Musselman when he assessed the technical foul. As Shows was jogging over to the scorer’s table to document the technical foul, Musselman kept jawing.
Shows turned and assessed the second technical, which led to an automatic ejection. Musselman was livid and had to be restrained by Arkansas personnel at the team’s huddle on the court.
Asked to describe what led to the flare-up, Musselman declined.
“No,” he said. “Not gonna talk about it at all. So we’ll talk to the appropriate people, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Musselman drew his first ejection as a college head coach, but not his first ever.
He was ejected during the 1992-93 season as head coach of the Rapid City Thrillers of the Continental Basketball Association. As head coach of the Golden State Warriors, he was ejected during a game in 2003.
Tilmon’s big day
Missouri forward Jeremiah Tilmon exceeded his season-high scoring in the first half, and went on to post a career-high 25 points as the Razorbacks could not match his muscle in the paint.
Tilmon shot 9 of 13 from the field, including a lob dunk to open the game and another one that served as an exclamation point to give the Tigers a 64-49 lead with 4:54 remaining.
Tilmon had all six of Missouri’s dunks, made 7 of 10 free throws and had a game-high 11 rebounds.
“I thought he looked like a pro,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “He stepped up, made his free throws, which he’s struggled from the line. He dominated the glass.”
Said Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin, “Off the top of my head, I would say it’s his best game.”
Lame on layups
The Razorbacks shot poorly overall in the loss at just 26.8%, but they somehow went 8 of 30 — an even-lower 26.7% — on shots that were determined to be layups.
“If you look at how many layups we missed, I’ve never in my entire coaching career seen so many missed layups,” Coach Eric Musselman said.
Musselman added that he had to give Coach Cuonzo Martin and the Tigers credit for their defense, but “having said that, we missed a great number of point-blank layups. Scoring around the rim has been a problem for us since our very first game. So we have to be physical around the rim.”
Arkansas had no dunks to Missouri’s six. The Razorbacks also had trouble absorbing contact and putting shots in from down low.
Low efficiency
The Razorbacks posted an 84.6 offensive efficiency rating, their second-lowest in two seasons under Eric Musselman.
Arkansas’ lowest offensive efficiency rating under Musselman had been an 80.0 in a 62-61 overtime victory at Georgia Tech last season on Mason Jones’ banked three-pointer near the buzzer.
Vs. Top 25
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman is now 0-3 vs. teams in The Associated Press Top 25 with the Razorbacks.
Saturday’s 81-68 loss to No. 12 Missouri followed losses last season to No. 10 Kentucky and No. 11 Auburn. All of the games vs. Top 25 competition have come at Walton Arena.
Musselman is 1-5 all-time vs. Top 25 teams. The win came with Nevada in a 72-66 decision over Arizona State at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic.
Pinson passing
Missouri guard Xavier Pinson, who had no assists in the Tigers’ 73-53 loss to Tennessee on Wednesday, got one on the first possession with a feed to Jeremiah Tilmon for a lob dunk.
The combination worked throughout the game and led to another key lob dunk score late in the game as the Tigers pulled away. Pinson finished with 23 points, including 12 of 15 free-throw shooting, and 4 assists.
“We do [that action] when our guards attack downhill, but we hadn’t seen the lob pass,” Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin said. “We’ve just been adamant as a staff that we need to get that because it opens up other things. When you don’t do that it’s hard attacking downhill. When [Pinson] made that first lob, I think it opened it up.”
For starters
Coach Eric Musselman used his third different starting lineup, largely due to Justin Smith’s absence after his ankle surgery Friday.
Davonte Davis made his first career start, joining Moses Moody, Desi Sills, Jalen Tate and Connor Vanover. Moody, Sills and Tate have started all 10 games, while Vanover has started the last nine.