NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - ILLINOIS VS ARKANSAS

March 16, 2023

Eric Musselman

Ricky Council, IV

Davonte Davis

Wells Fargo Arena

Arkansas Razorbacks

Media Conference

Arkansas 73, Illinois 63

THE MODERATOR: At this time we would lake to welcome the Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman, guard Ricky Council, and guard Davonte Davis.

Coach, opening statement?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Really proud of our team for leading for 37 minutes. Obviously the first basket of the game was a post-up to Coleman Hawkins, and then after that I thought we played great basketball.

We were able to survive their run in the second half, and obviously 22 for 29 from the foul line, shooting 76% in big game, a win-or-go-home game. John Daly will be happy. He gives me texts after every game about our free throw shooting.

So I'm sure he will give me positive text tonight on our foul shooting. But our rebounding was big key. Felt like Illinois was so long, so tall, maybe the most athletic team in the Big Ten. I thought we did a phenomenal job on the glass.

Q. Maybe for everybody. Obviously we know away from home it's been an issue to hold a lead. Today you closed out the game.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I think I will speak first. We have learned a lot. This is a team that is still growing, and I said even before the tournament that I feel like this is a team that continues to improve.

I mean, we talk about improvement daily. We work on things daily to try to get better. There has been other teams that have plateaued. Maybe a couple of our teams at Nevada we were old veteran guys, and maybe at some point we were just trying to save legs. But this is a team that's of continuous improvement.

RICKY COUNCIL: It's been a common theme all year, losing games, and for me I was looking at the scoreboard, knowing how much time was up and how much time was left and emphasizing that to the teammates on the floor. We were just really smart tonight.

DAVONTE DAVIS: Like they said, and the third thing is there is wanting to win. We all wanted to win. We wanted it really bad, and me and Coach, the other guys that's been in this position before has been teaching and preaching, like this is going to feel good if we pull it off.

I'm glad the guys that haven't experienced it got this experience, and we're going to get ready for the next game for sure.

Q. Hog stats put out that in 6 of your 9 postseason games you have had double digit points. I know leading up to this you kind of transitioned to a veteran. What do you feel like clicked for you tonight?

DAVONTE DAVIS: Just playing within the flow. Our team as a whole we start, I guess you could say pushing the tempo, starting with defense, and I think our defense got us started.

The team, I think we held it strong and we did what we needed to do on the offensive end, which is executing and getting downhill and executing our free throws.

With that being said, just I think the entire team did really good emphasizing the game and managing the game.

Q. Maybe you guys could say what you thought about Devo's play. He's been good in the postseason. What do you think has been the key to that?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: He's got great mental toughness, and I think he knows that I really believe in him and really trust in him, whether he's on the ball, whether he's off the ball.

Certainly the defensive assignment that he gets assigned to on a nightly basis. So there is oftentimes where there is just a connection and a belief that he's going to come up in big moments, and certainly tonight was another one that he was able to do that for us with his scoring.

And let's face it, his defense as well. I mean, he was phenomenal defensively again.

RICKY COUNCIL: Just the experience of being in the NCAA Tournament, I'm pretty sure he's been in the tournament since he's been at Arkansas. I know he's played in tournaments and made big shots. Nothing new to him. I feel like experience in the NCAA Tournament, those experienced teams win if you look back at it, so he's been here before and he was on tonight, and we needed the point and the defense of course.

Q. What was working for the defense today?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: We just felt with their size that if we didn't put pressure and pick up three-quarters court that we were doing ourselves a disservice. Shannon is one of the hardest covers in college basketball because of his versatility. He's a great scorer, and we just felt like if we could somehow try to speed them up a little bit that it might be to our advantage.

I do think that the 17 turnovers that were caused and the 12 steals was maybe as crucial as any stat that you look at once the final buzzer happened.

Q. For anybody, but I suppose mainly for you, Eric. Coleman Hawkins I think took Devo down into the post to start the scoring; then didn't see it again. Were you surprised that -- was that something that you were -- you mentioned their size. He is their tallest guy who plays.

ERIC MUSSELMAN: He's certainly a really good player, Coleman is. That was I think maybe off the jump ball that we were -- Devo was assigned to No. 0, Terrence Shannon, and somehow we got in a crossmatch.

That's kind of on us.

I thought Illinois did a really good job of reading that, because obviously Devo is a point guard for us or an off guard. We went with a unique lineup. We have been changing lineups based on -- so we were really small. That was actually Ricky's assignment, but Devo somehow ended up on him, and they did a good job of reading it.

But I don't know if Devo was on Coleman Hawkins after that possession because that was a mess-up on our part and a really good read on their part.

Q. Eric, how do you feel you match-up against Kansas?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: I didn't come over early to scout the game. Our belief has always been I'm coming on the team bus with the players and just making sure that we were focused for this game and never look ahead.

I don't think you can in this tournament. We did have -- you know, our assistants were all here and watched the game, because we needed to prep. We're ready right now to go have a meeting. The guys will all -- they probably already have scouting reports texted to them on their phones.

So our staff is ready, but I'm not right now.

Q. Eric, I think Arkansas fans identify with Kamani Johnson and the effort that he plays with. How do you think he impacted the game from the jump, opening tip?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: Kamani played 12 minutes and led in the game in offensive rebounds. If you could sum it up, you're talking a player that played twelve minutes and had four offensive rebounds.

Illinois had three as a team. Defensive rebounding was really important, but Kamani's aggressiveness, and that's why he got the start tonight, is NCAA experience. This was our first game. Now all the guys that checked into the game, they now all have experience, so I don't know what we will do against Kansas until we dive in and look at matchups.

But I thought Kamani did a phenomenal job for us setting the tone early on the offensive glass. He gives us a physicality as well.

Q. Ricky and Devo, you had that lead and then it was whittled down. What was the vibe in the huddle before you came out and extended the lead and ran away with it?

RICKY COUNCIL: Pretty much just flashbacks, like he said earlier. We were in this position many times before. We would be up 10, up 12 at halftime, and starts dwindling down and the other team takes the lead.

So just keep that mindset we got to win the game. We all wanted to win, and just keeping our foot on the gas and not giving up. Coach gave us positive energy and we gave positive energy to each other, so we just didn't let up. We ended up extending the lead.

DAVONTE DAVIS: Same as Ricky said. I think we extended the lead, and basketball is all about runs, so they made a run and we just tried to stop it. They made quite a bit of a run, but I think we held on to our lead and we took care of business after that little run they had in the second half.

RICKY COUNCIL: And we hit free throws.

Q. Eric I don't think Jordan had eye-popping stats, whatever, but I think you guys were +21 or +22 --

ERIC MUSSELMAN: + 22.

Q. Okay, why were you +22 when Jordan was on the court?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: He did everything. He got loose balls, he altered shots, he ran the floor hard both offensively and defensively, gave great support defense to his teammates.

I thought he put great heat on the ball, great pressure on the ball. He rushed the quarterback. His plus/minus tonight was by far our highest while he was on the floor. You know, sometimes you wonder -- he's been a starter for most of the year. We brought him off the bench tonight.

I thought he was phenomenal. You know, we wanted Ricky to start tonight and I thought it helped him because we needed him attacking the offense early in the game.

Q. Eric, what was going through your mind given this team's history when I think they made a steal of the cross-court pass and then you had the missed dunk there that might have been the knock-out punch possible. You were rather animated. What was going through your mind at that point?

ERIC MUSSELMAN: There was a point where you want to make sure you get a shot on goal, and Ricky has made some spectacular dunks for us, and I think you're right, it probably would have put an end to it. I don't know, other than the fact that I kind of allow our team to do that stuff.

I've never told them not to throw lobs. I just thought maybe we could have milked the clock on that particular possession, but, hey, you gave a team offensive freedom and you're very demanding defensively. And that's the philosophy that we have always had, allow the guys to have more fun and freedom offensively, but do exactly as we talk about from a scouting standpoint defensively. So I guess I gotta kinda live with some of that stuff and, hey, we won.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Congratulations.