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SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty years ago, Eric Musselman was introduced as the new head coach of the Golden State Warriors. And two years later, he was fired after missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Thursday night, however, Musselman found success in the Bay Area when he led his Arkansas squad to a 74-68 upset of Gonzaga, the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament and last year’s national runner-up.
Arkansas is headed to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row but just the third time since 1995. Musselman praised his team for grinding out a tough, physical game plan for all 40 minutes.
“We just wanted to be physical, plain and simple,” Musselman said. “We wanted them to feel bodies. Obviously they played a really tough schedule early in the season, but it’s been a long time in conference play since they faced a team like us.”
Musselman added: “Can’t compliment these guys and the entire team enough for the way that they buy in to game preparation. It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of that they just kind of do what we ask.”
Razorbacks sophomore forward Jaylin Williams said his team played with a chip on its shoulder against the tournament’s No. 1 seed.
“We’ve been disrespected the whole year, so it’s just another thing for us,” said the . “We saw everything they were saying, we felt like they were dancing before the game. That was disrespect for us. We just came into the game playing hard and we had a chip on our shoulder. Every game we do.”
Gonzaga made things interesting late, getting within three when Andrew Nembhard hit a 3-pointer with 16.5 seconds to play. But Chris Lykes, an 87% free-throw shooter, made a pair to extend the Razorbacks’ lead back to five. Au’Diese Toney’s block on Nembhard’s layup at the other end ended any hopes of a Bulldogs comeback. Toney’s dunk with a second to play punctuated the moment.
For the second straight season, the Bulldogs were favored to win the national title but were eliminated by a more…
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Source : espn
