FAYETTEVILLE -- When the University of Arkansas men's basketball players do push-ups for missed free throws in practice, they're joined by the coaches, support staff and graduate assistants.
That includes Coach Eric Musselman, who appears to be fully recovered from surgery he underwent on Feb. 13 -- the day after the Razorbacks began turning last season around with an 87-43 victory over Missouri -- on his left shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff.
Musselman suffered the injury in practice when Trey Wade, a senior last season, accidentally landed on him during a close-out drill defending three-point shots.
A reporter watching Wednesday's practice, which was open to members of the media, estimated the Razorbacks did 100 push-ups.
Not all at once, but 10 at a time in a span of about 20 minutes after the players missed back-to-back free throws as they rotated shooting at six baskets in the Eddie Sutton Practice Gym.
Musselman, 57, said it was 90 push-ups that he did along with his players and staff.
"My dad would do it, so I guess I took it from him," Musselman said of his father, the late Bill Musselman, a long-time NBA and college coach. "It was either planks or push-ups or sit-ups.
"My dad's thing was, the minute you can't demonstrate, get out of coaching. I'm not sure everyone buys into that, but that's the roof that I grew up under.
"So if our players are going to do push-ups, I should probably be able to."
Senior forward Jalen Graham, a transfer from Arizona State, is among 11 newcomers for the Razorbacks and arrived on campus in June.
"I think we started doing that [free throw] drill like the same week we got here," Graham said. "I was doing the push-ups, and I looked and saw the coaches doing them and I was like, 'Oh wow, that's different.' "
"It's just another way to get everybody involved, everybody bonding. Everybody's a part of the team, from the coaches to the GAs and everybody.
"It's just another way to show everybody that our connection is going to be strong this year."
The Razorbacks had 10 on-campus practices over the last two weeks before leaving today for a foreign tour of Spain and Italy that will include four exhibition games.
"I feel simple things like [doing push-ups together] show the unity of not just the players, but the program as a whole," Arkansas freshman forward Jordan Walsh said.
The Razorbacks advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight the previous two seasons for their first back-to-back appearances since the 1994 national championship team beat Duke in the final and the 1995 team that finished runner-up to UCLA.
"Everybody doing one thing as a moving unit is something that's going to help us have a little bit of an advantage over a great team in March," Walsh said. "Because Elite Eights are cool, but we're trying to get to that Final Four and championship.
"That's the goal here and Coach Muss knows that. He's going to do whatever it takes to get there."
After Musselman underwent shoulder surgery when he missed one game -- Arkansas' 66-58 victory at LSU -- as the Razorbacks rallied to finish 28-9 overall and 13-5 in the SEC after starting 10-5 and 0-3.
Musselman wore a sling for several weeks while continuing to coach. He stopped wearing the sling late in the season, but still regularly had an ice pack on his shoulder -- like a pitcher who had just gone nine innings -- after games.
That made it all the more surprising when he kept doing push-up after push-up at Wednesday's practice.
"That was a few extra push-ups than normal, and I was worried about my workman's comp in my left shoulder," Musselman said with a smile. "Whether that rotator cuff was going to pop back out or not."
Musselman said that a few days earlier he worked with strength and conditioning coach Dave Richardson to see how his body would respond to push-ups.
"I had Dave Rich strap my body with the bungee cord type things -- the bigger rubber bands -- and I tried to do one push-up," Musselman said. "So I've made incredible strides in the last week."
Arkansas freshman forward Jordan Walsh said that the team doing the same things — such as push-ups — in practice “shows the unity of not just the players, but the program as a whole.” Walsh said it helps the team achieve its overall goal to do better than it did last season. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)