NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - ARKANSAS VS UCONN

March 23, 2023

Eric Musselman

Kamani Johnson

Anthony Black

Davonte Davis

T-Mobile Arena

Arkansas Razorbacks

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Connecticut - 88, Arkansas - 65

COACH MUSSELMAN: I just give UConn, I think our whole team -- I'm speaking for all the players and coaches, give UConn a ton of credit. I thought from the opening tip they came out with a great sense of urgency. They cut hard. They crashed the offensive boards, especially early in the game.

They did a great job rebounding the ball for the entire 40 minutes. And uncharacteristically we did not defend at the level that we have for most of the year.

Q. Devo and Anthony, they hit nine 3-pointers which isn't a ton, but I think they hit all nine of those in the first 29 minutes. They always seem to hit them at key points. What did you think of their 3-point shooting? How tough is it to defend that with their interior game?

ANTHONY BLACK: I think the 3s came in bunches. We just didn't do a good job of stopping the bleeding. They just got momentum and started feeling good and making shots.

DAVONTE DAVIS: When we went over how they make their 3s, we guarded it right in practice. We just didn't do it the correct way every time in the game. That's what happened -- we didn't execute on the defensive end, even though we tried.

Q. Kamani, you're obviously a great rebounder. I think they were plus-12. How tough were they on the boards?

KAMANI JOHNSON: They're pretty tough. They're a big team, physical team. Their guards, all five of them crashed the boards. They're a pretty tough team to rebound with.

But I think we just kind of beat ourselves today on the glass in just effort and defense overall. We're a much better team than the way we played today. Credit to UConn, they're a hell of a team it's kind of on us.

Q. I know this is raw and disappointing, but really to get to the Sweet 16 with the ups and downs and injuries, how would you put this season in perspective? Because to get to the Sweet 16 is pretty impressive.

ANTHONY BLACK: We did a good job fighting through adversity this year. We got some players back, lost some players. There were injuries and stuff like that. And then we had losing streaks, winning streaks. It was real up and down.

But for the most part, at the end of the season, we were playing decent ball. We just fought through a lot this year. And it didn't end how we wanted it to. But we fought. That's all I can say, we fought.

KAMANI JOHNSON: I mean, you never want to go out like that, you know what I mean? That's not what we do here. But I mean, looking back on it, I'm just proud of my young guys and how they fought.

And we went through a roller coaster this year, a tough season for us, and I'm just proud about how they fought. It's misery right now because we lost, but when you look back on it, this group, we made it to the Sweet 16 and we're doing something special in Arkansas and we're kind of building on that.

I'm just proud of this group. It hurts right now. But I'm really proud of this group.

DAVONTE DAVIS: Yeah, we had ups and downs, but we had an ultimate goal and weren't able to reach it. Like Kamani said, we're just proud for the guys that (indiscernible), didn't know what was coming ahead of them.

And we all came together and made it this far. And I'm proud of the guys for sure, continuing to push through the tough season that we did have.

Q. Coach, as you look down the line at these student-athletes that are sitting here with you right now, and you look in this locker room, I know it's tough to end this way. But you take down the reigning national champion, and there's a lot of great things that are being built upon at Arkansas. So what do you reflect upon in a positive way this season?

COACH MUSSELMAN: I think, first of all, it's really hard to make the NCAA Tournament. It's really difficult to be one of the teams that plays their way into the tournament and then it's really difficult to win a game. Really proud of the way that we positioned ourselves non-conference. It started then by playing really well non-conference.

And then obviously the way that we played the first two games in this tournament, we played phenomenal. And tonight we ran into a team that passed the ball really well and shared it. But there's a lot of great things going on at Arkansas, and proud of these three guys as well as everybody in our locker room. Because, again, there's not a lot of teams that have been to three straight Sweet 16s in the entire country, and we are one of them. So we're really proud of that. The culture is strong. And as a staff, we'll start working towards next year, tonight, as soon as we get back to the hotel.

Q. Anthony, being a freshman, do you feel you've learned a lot during this season and hope you could try to carry this over to next year? What are you going to learn from this year to help you improve for next year and years down the road?

ANTHONY BLACK: I think what I'm going to learn from this is just how hard it is because we win two games and we're playing well and we just -- we came out of this game, played against a really good team. They jumped on us early.

Definitely I'll tell anybody who is going to go through this how hard it is, just listen to people who have been there before, they know what they're talking about. But I mean, it was a good season for the most part. And I had fun this year.

Q. Eric, you talked the other day about how hard it was to guard their interior and their 3. I know they didn't hit a crazy amount of 3s. I think they hit all nine 3s in the first 29 minutes, and always seemed to hit them when they needed them. What did you think of their 3-point shooting? And just how is it hard to defend them? I think it was the lowest shooting percentage you all had all season. What did they do to you defensively?

COACH MUSSELMAN: We didn't get any clean looks, obviously. The shooting percentage, you can go down the line. 1-of-10, 1-of-5, 1-of-4, 0-for-2, 0-for-3. They're a really good defensive team. You have to tip your hat off to them. But not a good combination when you're not shooting the ball or converting from the field. And then the other team is shooting at a 60 percent clip and is making 3s.

We came into the game thinking that we had to hold them to five or less 3s and they made nine, like you said, in the first 28 minutes or whatever. And Hawkins is as good a shooter as we've played all year. He rises up over people.

He moves without the ball really well. To me, the most impressive thing is that they had 22 assists. We tried to cause turnovers and rush the quarterback, but 22 assists is a lot of assists.

I know we caused 17 turnovers, but they got inside game, two great centers. They have great perimeter shooting. Guys off the bench contributed for them. So again, it's a really good team.

Q. Anthony and Devo, it was the lowest shooting percentage of the season, how tough was that UConn defense and what did they do that made them so effective?

DAVONTE DAVIS: I'm not sure. I mean, I got the shots I usually make but they just wasn't going in. I think with Anthony, Anthony was getting downhill. He did a pretty good job getting downhill. I'm glad he was able to get downhill and try to keep us in the game.

But not just him, Ricky got to the line a few times as well. I was trying to get to my spots, but they just wasn't going in. But Anthony, for sure, got to his spots and converted when needed.

ANTHONY BLACK: They were pretty long and athletic, physical team. So you know, it's the tournament. And they're going to let you play. So when you play against teams that are super athletic and strong and physical, it's always a little bit harder to score. But they just -- I guess they just had a pretty good game plan for us on defense. And like Vo said, we took some looks that we usually take and we'll take again if we get the chance, and just some of it just didn't fall tonight. But they're a great defensive team.

Q. You guys have played physical teams all season long, whether it's Tennessee, Kentucky, where does UConn rank -- not rank -- but where do they compare to some of these uber physical teams that you've played within league?

COACH MUSSELMAN: I mean, I thought they were physical. I didn't think they were any more physical than Tennessee. But their pieces really fit well together. The two centers, as I've mentioned, along with perimeter shooting.

And then Newton gives them length. And then Jackson's ability to pass from the small forward position. There's not a lot of small forwards in college basketball that can have seven assists, and he's a point forward, not a standard small forward. And they cut really hard. So I think all those things -- I thought their offense was just as effective as their defense, which is what their metrics tell you is they're really good on both sides of the basketball.