Fan events important, coach says

Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman

Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman came to North Little Rock on Friday to speak to a banquet hall packed with hungry Razorback basketball fans and program supporters about 27 hours before his team was scheduled to play the Hofstra Pride at Simmons Bank Arena.

The University of Arkansas will host Hofstra with the tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. today.

Musselman spoke before the Downtown Tip-Off Club and the North Little Rock Parks and Recreation's first of nine luncheons for the college basketball season. He said he knows how important events like the Tip-Off luncheon are for fans. He said they are meaningful to he and his team, too.

"We have a unique state, and these become really important, because obviously the Razorbacks are the entire state's team, and so it's important for us to play games like this, and to be at events like this representing the university, as well," Musselman said.

Perhaps foremost, Musselman said he wanted fans to know the test he expects from Hofstra. In the hope his players understand, he reminded them of Hofstra's 83-75 overtime loss to Houston, which currently ranked No. 15 by The Associated Press, on Nov. 9, and its 69-67 loss on No. 19 at Maryland, which was ranked No. 20 at the time.

"What we've done all week is we've shown our team video clips, and then we'll stop it, and tell them, 'Look at the score,' " Musselman said. " 'Do you understand the respect you have to have for Hofstra?' "

Musselman said luncheons and other similar gatherings around the state, rather than games, give all of Arkansas' coaches an opportunity to establish relationships with fans.

"Obviously, people who come to a game don't really get to know the coach, whether it's Coach [Dave] Van Horn or Coach [Sam] Pittman or Coach [Mike] Neighbors, and I certainly think events like this maybe sheds a different light on them," Musselman said. "And we get to know other people, as well. Relationships become really important throughout the state."

Musselman said his wife Danyelle asked Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek to keep him from flying to Tampa, Fla., for the Arkansas football team's Outback Bowl game with Penn State scheduled for Jan. 1.

"She wanted our athletic director to make sure that I stayed focused on basketball and not get too caught up in Coach Pittman football," Musselman said.

He said he and his wife were negotiating the possibility of a trip to Arkansas' first bowl game since the 2016 Belk Bowl.

"I guess it depends on how we play," Musselman said.

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