FAYETTEVILLE — The respect between Arkansas basketball coach Eric Musselman and Texas’ Chris Beard is mutual.
It is one of the reasons the Razorbacks and Longhorns will meet Saturday in a highly anticipated exhibition in Austin, Texas, at the new $375 million Moody Center. They also happen to be among the best coaches in the sport.
Musselman’s programs at Arkansas and Nevada, and Beard’s at Texas Tech and Texas have been — and are still being — built on foundations of toughness and defense. Both coaches have NCAA Tournament success on their resumes.
Musselman took the Wolf Pack to a Sweet 16 in 2018 and has guided the Razorbacks to back-to-back Elite Eights. Beard led Arkansas-Little Rock to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and Texas Tech to an Elite Eight and national championship game.
“We have a lot of respect for their program and how they’re building it,” Beard said this month. “We appreciate Arkansas. A lot of respect for Coach Muss, the program that he’s built at Arkansas in a short amount of time, the consistency that those guys are showing right now.
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“We wanted to get a high-quality opponent (for this exhibition).”
When the game was announced on Sept. 27, Musselman said in a release that the Razorbacks were all in when approached by Beard.
“His teams are really well-coached,” Musselman said Thursday. “They're really physical. They're really hard to score on. I think Coach Beard is as good of a coach as any coach in America. I love how physical they are.
“They make it really difficult to score the ball based on physicality.”
Musselman’s and Beard’s teams have met twice previously. Both games, as one might imagine, were nail biters.
The Red Raiders in December 2017 knocked off 22nd-ranked Nevada 82-76 in overtime in Lubbock, Texas. Musselman recalls the game well, and it may still be a bit of a sore subject for him.
For the Wolf Pack, it was their first game in the top 25 in 10 years.
“As good of a regular-season game as I've ever been a part of,” Musselman said Thursday. “Hopefully we don't encounter the same whistle that we did in overtime of that game. That was an experience on its own.
“That night, I still have vivid memories of the last couple of minutes of overtime. But it was a great atmosphere, great crowd. The student section was rocking.”
Texas Tech was 26 of 38 at the free throw line, including 6 of 8 in overtime, and Nevada finished 14 of 17 overall. According to accounts of the game, the Wolf Pack led for more than 36 minutes, and by as many as 11 points in the second half.
“We’re not an overly physical team, but I think Texas Tech is a really physical team that does a great job,” Musselman was quoted as saying after the game. “If you look at the differences on the stat sheets, it’s the foul shots.”
Their second meeting in 2021 provided Musselman with his signature win at Arkansas at the time.
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The Razorbacks defeated Texas Tech 68-66 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse, snapping Arkansas’ long drought without a Sweet 16 appearance. The Razorbacks trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half.
Technically, Saturday’s exhibition will not count. But it does have meaning to many on both sides given the history of the programs’ rivalry.
In the here and now, it pits a pair of teams ranked in the top 12 of the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll against one another. Ahead of the regular season, the matchup is about as good as it gets.
“Yes, this is an exhibition game, but, also, everybody’s got pride whenever you step out to compete,” Musselman said. “I think Coach Beard says it best: Both teams are going to get better after this game. That’s one thing. There is one guarantee. One team’s going to win and one team’s not going to win.
“But the one guarantee is that both teams will somehow figure out a way to get better after this 40 minutes of basketball.”