Razorback freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. (#3) from Jacksonville, AR drives into the paint against Florida Saturday afternoon
 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. Photo by Craven Whitlow.
By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas will try to keep its momentum going when hosting Georgia Tuesday night in Bud Walton Arena before entering a brutal final stretch to the regular season.
Arkansas (18-9, 7-7) is coming off an impressive 85-64 win over Florida Saturday afternoon in Bud Walton Arena. Georgia (16-11, 6-8) was soundly beaten by No. 1 Alabama 108-59 Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.
After the Georgia game, Arkansas will finish up going to Alabama on Saturday, then Tennessee on Tuesday, Feb. 28, and hosting Kentucky Saturday, March 4. Eric Musselman knows his team played outstanding defense against the Gators, but also is aware they need to carry that over to the Georgia game.
"Yeah, I mean, I've always been under the belief that each game has its own identity," Musselman said. "The magic dust from tonight's not going to be sprinkled into our bloodlines come Tuesday. I mean, every game has got its own flow. Every game has got, you know, three runs. Can we control two of the three runs?
"We're one of the- I mean, every time we do a prep, we talk about how good another team's defense is. And I told our team earlier, like, 'Everyone's talking about our defense too.' I mean, our defensive numbers are phenomenal, and I thought we did another great job defensively. We're gonna have to guard Georgia, a team that'll get out in transition. Like I said, they have guard play. They've got guys like (Jabri) Abdur-Rahim that can make threes coming off the bench, so we have our work cut out for us."
Mike White moved over to Georgia from Florida and Musselman likes the job he's done with the Bulldogs.
"Mike's done a great job," Musselman said. "Phenomenal job. Their players look like they're having fun. (Justin) Hill's given them a lift at the guard position. They went out and got six transfers. Those guys have all contributed. (Matthew-Alexander) Moncrieffe's an athletic player that gets off the floor extremely quick. I mentioned (Braelen) Bridges with his back to the basket with using his left hand once in a while using the right hand on that right block. He's really good going middle. And then (Terry) Roberts is a guy that can really, really score the basketball.
"And then (Kario) Oquendo, probably the biggest recruit that Coach White had was getting Oquendo back after he was in the portal. So Bridges and Oquendo, two of the guys that obviously played for Coach (Tom) Crean, and then you add in the fact that they did a good job in the portal of getting guys that play extremely hard. They've done a great job. I mean, you look at the total wins. They've won some big, big SEC games. I think he's done as good a coaching job as anybody in the league, quite frankly."
One seemingly bit of good news for Musselman entering the final four regular season games was the play of freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. on Saturday. After only logging four first-half minutes in a loss to Texas A&M, Musselman inserted Smith into the starting lineup on Saturday. Smith has been limited to eight games so far this season. He responded by scoring 10 points, one rebound, an assist and two steals in 31 minutes.
"I think that this game was important to him to get 30-plus minutes," Musselman said. "We have a big game coming up on Tuesday and two big games on the road then a big one at home. Every game right now for the Razorbacks is important. Him getting a little bit of rhythm and flow, it’s a lot different than 3-on-3."
Arkansas and Georgia will tip at 8 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network.