FAYETTEVILLE — In setting up a showcase home game against No. 16 Tennessee on Saturday, No. 23 Arkansas on Tuesday did what only one team had done against Missouri this season — beat the Tigers handily on their home floor.
Prior to this week, the University of Missouri-Kansas City owned the largest margin of victory by a visiting team in Mizzou Arena in 2021-22. The Roos defeated Missouri 80-66 on Nov. 15.
The Tigers’ next four home losses were to Wichita State, Texas A&M, Auburn and Florida by a combined 11 points. Missouri fell to the No. 1 Tigers and the Gators by a single point apiece.
The Razorbacks, back in The Associated Press Top 25 this week for the first time since Dec. 13, hammered Missouri by 19 points one week after knocking off No. 1 Auburn and just days after they saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end in a 68-67 loss at Alabama.
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman had a number of things he ultimately did praise after the team’s 20th win, but he first elected to speak on something that did not appear in the box score.
“Just the maturity level to have an emotional game like we did against Auburn, have a game on the road in a tough environment on Saturday at Alabama — a game we could have won where we had the ball to close the game and just didn’t win the game — we just continued to talk about how we couldn’t have a hangover loss, and had to put it aside,” Musselman said.
“We fought and scrapped and put ourselves in position to beat Alabama, but we were unable to, and we couldn’t let that linger. Our pregame approach in the locker room, they were fired up to play. They respected Missouri a great deal, and I think that’s why we came out and played so well.”
For good reason, much has been made of the Razorbacks’ bigger and more physical lineup jumpstarting their turnaround after an 0-3 start to SEC play.
But maybe just as important in their 10-1 stretch since Jan. 12 has been the shift in mental fortitude.
In that span, Arkansas has won at then-No. 12 LSU without Musselman as he recovered from shoulder surgery, beat South Carolina despite shooting 0 of 11 from three, defeated Texas A&M without leading scorer JD Notae for the overtime period and overcome a five-point deficit with less than three minutes left in regulation to knock off Auburn in overtime. Then the talk of the college basketball world, the Razorbacks competed well in back-to-back games on the road, winning one.
It is difficult to imagine the Arkansas team of mid-December to early January ever accomplishing such a run. The difference, sophomore forward Jaylin Williams said, is belief.
"The team has completely changed,” he added. “Everybody is happy for everyone's success. We're believing in each other. We're believing in shots we're taking as a team. We're believing that guy that's guarding the ball is going to get a stop. We believe in each other in everything.
“At the time we were 0-3 in the league, we were kind of down, but we knew we had to make a switch. Really from that point on our whole mindset switched. We wanted to be winners. Everybody wanted to be winners. We knew nobody was going to be successful if we weren't successful as a team.”
On Wednesday, Musselman took full blame for Arkansas’ period of five losses in six games, which included an eight-point defeat to Hofstra in North Little Rock on Dec. 18. The loss in Simmons Bank Arena was the first of seven consecutive games in which the Razorbacks’ starting lineup changed.
Once Musselman and his staff eventually settled on a core group and rotation, things began falling into place and Arkansas found a physical identity and developed a strong mental approach.
“You go back and watch our Vanderbilt game and some of the earlier games, I mean, we’re just a completely and utterly different team, and a lot of that is roles,” Musselman said. “We feel like right now the guys are in a great comfort zone both on the floor, leadership-wise.
“Our locker room is in a great mental state. After wins, guys are really enjoying it, and that’s really important, as well.”
Williams, Stanley Umude and Davonte Davis are prime individual examples of that resolve.
Williams, who allowed back-to-back go-ahead scores in the final two minutes to Alabama’s Noah Gurley last Saturday, bounced back and held Missouri players to 5 of 21 shooting as the Razorbacks’ primary defender. The 21 shots defended are a career high.
Since a scoreless game at Ole Miss in late January, Umude has hit 15 of 24 three-point attempts in the team’s last three road games.
And Davis scored 8 points in a combined 39 minutes against Georgia and Mississippi State, but added 10 points and a career-high 5 steals in 32 minutes in the next game against Auburn.
“Everybody is leaving it on the court,” Williams said. “Everybody is playing for the guy next to him. When we play like that, that is when we are the best team we can be.
“Going into every game, everybody is happy for each other.”