Nashville, Tenn. – Arkansas coach Eric Musselman made it clear that he was not happy about losing to No. 18 Texas A&M and making an early exit in the Southeastern Conference tournament.
The Razorbacks’ assistants had to intercept Musselman twice during Friday night’s 67–61 loss in the quarterfinals, in which the Aggies rallied from a 13-point deficit.
After the game, a student reporter tweeted that his phone was snatched and thrown to the ground by an Arkansas staffer as Musselman left the court.
The Kentucky Kernel, the independent student newspaper of the University of Kentucky, released a statement following the incident involving its journalists.
The statement read, “Kentucky Karnal is horrified by the actions of the Arkansas men’s basketball program. … No journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence just for doing their job.”
The Kentucky kernel is baffled by the actions of the Arkansas men’s basketball program. @Jack_weaver_ There is always professionalism at work and no journalist, especially a student journalist, should be subjected to violence just for doing their job. https://t.co/JpKTaP9MaK
— Kernel Sports (@KYKernelSports) March 11, 2023
Musselman did not mention any displeasure when he met with reporters after the match.
“If you go down 7-0 in foul count at any level, whether it’s CYO, college, NBA, it affects your aggressiveness defensively, especially on a team that foul shots percentage— WAR as well as Texas A&M shoots throughout the season,” Musselman said.
Wade Taylor scored 18 points to help Texas A&M (24-8) advance to the semifinals for the second straight year, where it would play Vanderbilt, which defeated Kentucky.
Arkansas (20-13) will now have to wait until Sunday’s NCAA Tournament bracket announcement to learn its post-season fate.
Musselman said it’s going to take some time to recover from this stinging loss.
Musselman said, “We had the lead for most of the game. I mean we had the lead for 27 minutes or whatever.” “Obviously we played great in the first half and bad in the second half. I give Texas A&M credit for their play in the second half.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
