All Hogs
  • 2 years ago
Arkansas Razorbacks Tramon Mark and Davonte Davis along with coach Eric Musselman in the Bahamas before playing in the Battle for Atlantis over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Transcript
00:00 Coach, we already asked the guys about this, but I know it was an interesting travel day for you guys yesterday.
00:05 Usually like to really kind of take in the sights when you when you come to places like this.
00:09 Have you been able to do that? And then what's maybe the balance between that and taking care of three games in three days?
00:14 Yeah, I think if we would have gotten here on time and and, you know, play better in our last game, you know, we you know,
00:21 because historically we've done a good job of getting out wherever we are.
00:27 We had a we had a we were going to go swim with the Pigs that got canceled when we lost the game.
00:34 And then you throw in the six and a half hour delay, really screwed up our prep yesterday because we you know,
00:42 if we would have known we were leaving at four o'clock, we could have had a real solid practice yesterday.
00:48 But, you know, from eight on, we thought we were leaving every 40 minutes.
00:51 So. It is what it is, you know, we're here, we're we're love being here and awesome tournament,
01:00 the field so strong for everybody to be in one hotel is really cool to be able to walk to practice and not have to drive or sit in the traffic.
01:10 It's it's it's one of the premier events in the in the country.
01:13 And, you know, we got a little bit later than we would have liked because we were so excited to get here.
01:19 But, you know, we've had a good day.
01:21 Got to go have a good practice, have a nice event tonight and then and then get ready to play the game tomorrow.
01:29 How often have you crossed paths with coach has it at Stanford in the past and just maybe,
01:34 you know, what have you seen with what he's done from the program from before?
01:38 Tremendous respect for what he's done. I think it was my first year at Nevada.
01:44 It might have been the first competition that I had as a division one coach.
01:48 You'll have to ask him, but they they they beat us pretty good in a closed door scrimmage.
01:54 And I've never done a closed door scrimmage since. So he made a big enough impression in the closed door scrimmage that I've said I'm done with these.
02:01 I didn't think it did much for us. It hurt our confidence, probably, to be quite honest.
02:07 I was first time college head coach and I brought Nevada over the over the hill to Palo Alto and took about a three and a half hour bus ride.
02:16 And the bus ride home seemed about 15 hours. And then we went to St.
02:20 Mary's in a regular season game and got pounded there, but then figured out a way to win 26 games or whatever we did.
02:27 And I thought that, you know, looking back, that game probably helped us because his teams are they really execute.
02:33 They do a great job of knowing when to slip screens.
02:37 You know, they do a great job and they're pinned down. DHO game now have a lot of shooters have experience on their roster,
02:45 have some all league guys that are either former all league guys or will be all league guys.
02:52 And then the improvement, you know, the player development that they do there.
02:55 I mean, you can see it. Number forty two, you know, with their center, how much he's improved.
03:01 And that only happens through a player's individual work ethic and then through coaching staffs being devoted to to work guys out.
03:08 And then their staff's pretty unique. Brandon Dunson, you know, work with us in Nevada and Sam Little worked at Arkansas with us.
03:16 And now the video guy and Robbie is one of us.
03:20 Probably Gus Argenal's best friend. So there's a lot of you know, there's a lot of connections.
03:25 And then obviously, Jared playing at South Lake Tahoe is the same place Chris Grant, former Cavs GM played at.
03:32 And so there's a lot of connections. Coach, I asked Devo about this earlier,
03:37 you guys now have traveled to four different countries together on various trips and stuff.
03:43 What what's what's Devo like to travel with and just what has it been like to just watch him grow over the years and travel with them and all that stuff?
03:53 I mean, you know, I think that, you know, as a coach, you know, you want to have a relationship that like you guys are kind of tell like you can read each other before stuff happens.
04:06 You know. So I think through all the experiences together, I mean, I, you know, know him like a son.
04:13 I mean, I said it last year in the tournament. You know, he's close with my wife, he's close with my you know, like there's just and there's a relationship.
04:21 Not it's not just Devo and I, it's Devo and Anthony Root and Devo and coach like there's a lot of really cool things that happen.
04:29 I mean, it's just you know, it's really unique for somebody to play at one place in today's college landscape and not, you know,
04:37 leave either early for pros or leave to transfer.
04:42 It just doesn't happen often. And he and I, quite frankly, I don't know if we've ever had a conversation about him leaving other than,
04:50 you know, discussions about, you know, testing the waters.
04:54 I mean, he's never come to me about transferring or looking somewhere else or I mean, he's just, you know, wants to be a Razorback.
05:03 And certainly, obviously, everybody wants to play at the next level.
05:05 But I've never felt one. We've never had one staff meeting for one second wondering, you know, is Devo committed to, you know, and I think that there's a lot of trust, you know, because.
05:17 For these guys, it's hard for them to trust a coach sometimes, you know, and where you really I don't mean just like playing hard for the guy, but really trust.
05:27 I guess the only other thing I had was maybe for the players, Jared Bynum and then Peja Stojakovic's son, which that sounds insane, but six, seven.
05:38 We're getting old, Scottie. What's that? We're getting old. Just thoughts on those guys is Bynum's assist to turnover ratio is crazy.
05:46 Thirty four to four, I think. And Stojakovic can obviously shoot it pretty well.
05:50 Six, seven guard. Devo's got a good assist to turnover ratio too. Is good. Pretty good. Can't beat that.
05:56 Has he turned the ball over yet? I don't think so. Has anybody got thoughts on Bynum and Stojakovic?
06:06 Stojakovic, you know, he's a good, good player, good shooter. Really wants to try to get his shot off.
06:12 You know, we just got to come out, make sure we're ready to play, make sure we're ready to play hard on defense.
06:17 I feel like that's where it all starts for us on the defensive end side of the ball.
06:21 So as long as we come out ready to play, I think we'll be doing a good job on.
06:27 And Masa, I'm sure that you had, you know, different run ins and preparations for Paja in the past.
06:35 Do you see any similarities between the games between him and his son?
06:39 And then as a follow up, you mentioned their big man and his player development.
06:42 What makes him such a challenge? Yeah, I think 42.
06:45 Now, just the fact that he can you know, he's got a face up game.
06:49 He can make threes really good on their pin down. DHO is a role man.
06:54 He's got a quick release on his jump hook. He can shoot a jump hook over left shoulder, right shoulder.
07:00 You know, I think so those they you know, they'll they'll go high, low with him as well.
07:06 So I think there's a lot of things that he does really good. He's got soft hands.
07:09 He runs the floor offensively very hard. So there's a lot of things that make him special.
07:15 I think with Stoyakovich, you know, I think it's really unfair to compare, you know, father, son,
07:21 just because it's it's a natural thing to do for sure.
07:24 You know, but I hope no one compares me to my dad. I hope nobody compares my sons to me.
07:29 I think that each you know, these guys, they all work so hard to to be great players.
07:35 And and, you know, Paisa was incredible.
07:39 And his and his son is an incredible offensive player.
07:42 When you look at, you know, he can basket cut, he can dribble drive, he can shoot the three,
07:46 playing with a lot of confidence in a really short sample size.
07:50 I mean, it's one thing for a freshman to have a great, great numbers in games 13 through 18 or whatever.
07:57 But he's he's come out, you know, first four games and and Ruben score.
08:02 And he's you know, he's he's seized the opportunity when other guys have been out.
08:07 Obviously, they're powerful. And Angel's been out a little bit.
08:09 Obviously, S. Jones has been out and Stoyakovich, they haven't missed a beat.
08:14 He's done a great job, although he plays a little bit different position and a little bit different style than those two guys.
08:19 But he's filled minutes in given the opportunity.
08:25 Bob, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you guys.
08:30 Question for Tremont or Devo. Yeah, I mean, for both players, I apologize.
08:35 This is a little repetitive because really couldn't hear you guys at first, but obviously a tough loss.
08:39 And then you come here. What's the mindset going into this game and maybe one to wash out that bad loss?
08:48 Maybe Devo could take that first on T-Mart. These guys got to go.
08:53 Yeah, we got to win some games. We come here to win.
08:56 I think that's the main goal. And that's what we're focused on.
09:00 Like we said earlier, it's a Curtis fight. We lost, but we got to put it behind us.
09:06 We know it's a bad loss, but we got to, like I said, put us put it behind us and focus on the next game.
09:14 So, yeah, we got to wash out that taste. Just by coming out, playing hard in these next three games,
09:20 we're going to play, come down, win these games.
09:23 And I feel like that'll do us justice going forward in the season.
09:28 I got some questions for Eric, but. Hold on, Bob.
09:32 Excuse the players because they got to go to film. Jackson, you got a question for Coach Muss?
09:38 Yeah, for Muss. Is it good to go now?
09:46 Yes. Eric, yeah, I think I have the stat right.
09:50 I think of the last nine national champions, they've combined to lose just one Thanksgiving week game.
09:57 What is it about these kind of like these Feast Week tournaments that they're a good kind of indicator of what can happen in March and April?
10:05 Wow. Nothing like putting some pressure on somebody to do well in a in a in a Christmas tournament Thanksgiving.
10:12 I didn't know that stat. I mean, I think every season, I mean, that's a heck of a stat for sure.
10:19 But look, we have a you know, I look at we have a four game segment right now, these three games.
10:26 Then we go home and and play Duke. And I would say that this four game segment,
10:31 regardless of who we play in game two and game three here, is probably the toughest four game segment anybody in the country.
10:38 I haven't looked at everybody's schedule, but I can pretty much guarantee that nobody has more difficult four game schedule than we have that we're staring at right now.
10:50 Our whole thing is like, yeah, do we want to play well here? Absolutely.
10:54 You know, do we want to string together a winning streak?
10:58 Certainly we would like to, but I'm never going to lose the philosophy of every single day trying to figure out a how to just put ourselves in a position to make an NCAA tournament.
11:08 And then B, how are we the right mindset physically, mentally going into March?
11:15 But first, you got to get there. And the only way to get into the tournament is to win games.
11:21 So, you know, high priority to have to play well these three games, because we do know that, you know, there's a national television audience that's going to watch these games as well and evaluate teams performances.
11:33 Thank you, coach. Appreciate you. I got one other thing I want to get this in.
11:36 OK, my mom wanted me to get it in. So so the Bahamas.
11:41 All right, is kind of special to to our family because Pete Gilcutt was recruited out of the Bahamas to play at Minnesota, then Michael Thompson and Osborne Lockhart.
11:54 And so to me, it's a it's kind of a special thing to be here, knowing that, you know, three of the first players that my dad ever recruited in college all came from Bahamas.
12:06 So I'll leave it at that. There are all three really good to.