Arkansas coach Eric Musselman had frustration written all over him when sat down for his Zoom press conference Saturday after the Razorbacks’ 68-67 loss at Alabama.
His group came within one stop and one defensive rebound of pushing its winning streak to 10 games, but there was plenty to be irritated by in the narrow loss. Arkansas, which dropped to 19-6 overall and 8-4 in the SEC, came up on the wrong side on the scoreboard for the first time since Jan. 8.
In its second one-point loss in league play, Arkansas shot itself in the foot a few too many times. Perhaps the toughest pill to swallow was forward Au’Diese Toney’s technical foul late in the first half that led to two Crimson Tide free throws.
Toney grabbed a defensive rebound in traffic and was fouled after gaining possession. He then hurled the ball at Alabama’s Darius Miles, who was standing to his right.
More from WholeHogSports: Full coverage from Arkansas' loss at Alabama
Saturday marked the second time in conference play the Razorbacks lost by one point after gifting its opponent two free throws on a technical foul. Musselman was whistled for one against Vanderbilt on Jan. 4 and Arkansas lost 75-74.
In Musselman's first season, the Razorbacks lost a pair of two-point games in similar fashion. Reggie Chaney, who is now at Houston, received a technical in a 79-77 decision at LSU on Jan. 8, 2020, and a member of the support staff was assessed one in a home loss to South Carolina three weeks later.
Musselman did not directly comment on Toney’s technical, but said the moment itself was frustrating and grouped it in with a number of other parts of the game that were challenging to overcome. Toney also uncharacteristically finished 1 of 11 from the floor, all on two-point attempts.
He missed his last 10 shots, which included 5 layups and 2 dunks. It was one of those days around the rim for the Razorbacks, who, according to StatBroadcast, were 9 of 25 on layups and dunks.
“I didn’t think we went to the rim as aggressive as we normally do,” Musselman said. “We certainly didn’t finish offensive rebounds. Kamani (Johnson) missed three put-backs. Au’Diese missed several around the rim.
“We’re not a team that shoots floaters, and all of a sudden we had some guys take floaters in the first half. We don’t work on it, we don’t talk about doing it.”
The Razorbacks won the rebounding battle, which is typically an important box to check in order to compete on the road, 46-40 and grabbed 21 offensive rebounds. Five players grabbed at least two Arkansas misses.
Their work on the offensive glass resulted in 10 second-chance points. In the second half, the Razorbacks’ 12 offensive boards turned into seven points.
Alabama, which committed 24 turnovers, made Arkansas pay for its lapses in ball handling and decision making. The Crimson Tide scored 28 points — more than 41% of their points in the game — off of the Razorbacks’ 16 turnovers.
In five of the Arkansas' six losses, its opponent has scored at least 20 points off turnovers.
“We knew that was one of their things,” Jaylin Williams said. “They’re a really good fast-break team, and when they get the ball they run even if it’s not on a turnover. But we have to limit our turnovers. We had 16, and we definitely can’t let them turn it to points on the other end.
“We’ve just got to do better in that area.”
Musselman was also not pleased with JD Notae’s tough three-point attempt with Arkansas trailing 68-67 with four seconds remaining. No pass was made on the final full possession and his potential go-ahead jumper first hit the top of the backboard.
Notae, who sat 16-plus minutes in the first half with two fouls, finished with 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting and added 3 assists and 4 steals. Preferably, Musselman would have liked Notae to get into the teeth of the defense.
“I mean, he’s got great confidence and just took a shot that you really don’t want to finish the game on,” he said. “You want to try to put pressure on the defense. We’ve done such a great job all year of getting free throws attempted.
“So certainly would like a more aggressive to-the-rim play than that.”
Additionally, officials gave possession to the Crimson Tide with 1:45 remaining after a play in which it appeared Davonte Davis threw the ball off of an Alabama player in front of the home bench. Musselman stated he was not given an explanation on the ruling.
Noah Gurley gave the Crimson Tide a lead on a short jumper eight seconds later.
Arkansas also did not get great shooting nights from a number of players, including Toney, Williams (6 of 15), Chris Lykes (1 of 8) and Davis (2 of 8). Johnson was also 1 of 4 around the rim, and Trey Wade was 0 of 2.
But if there is a takeaway from the loss, it is that these Razorbacks have no quit in them. Although it is not ideal to fall behind by double digits, they battle back.
Their most recent loss before Saturday was similar when Arkansas stormed back from a 17-point deficit at Texas A&M to give itself a chance at the end.
At Alabama, Arkansas got within one point in the first half after trailing by 10. In the second half, the Razorbacks’ deficit hit 13 points on three occasions, but they later took the lead twice.
Williams was key in those surges, finishing with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Stanley Umude was critical, too, early on in picking up the scoring slack with Notae out.
Umude added 19 points and nine rebounds before fouling out with less than four minutes to play.
Arkansas was also able to slow Alabama’s perimeter attack after a 5-of-10 start. The Crimson Tide hit just 2 of their final 19 attempts.
The Crimson Tide earned their two biggest buckets. Gurley hit tough jumpers in the lane over Williams to give Alabama leads late. In the previous nine games, opponents were 16 of 63 against Williams inside the arc.
“We were a basket away from winning 10 in a row against a team that’s won a lot of really good games,” Musselman said. “We lost tonight. We played with great effort. We were down, but we fought, scrapped.
“As a coach, as a program, effort’s always the No. 1 thing and belief. They had great effort, they had great belief. We came up short.”