John Pelphrey Press Conference - Missouri State

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas plays host to Missouri State on Monday at 7:05 p.m. in a game televised by Fox Sport Net. The Razorbacks are 6-1 following Saturday’s 62-51 victory over Oral Roberts, but will be playing their fourth game in 10 days. Missouri State is 4-1. Following is a partial transcript of head coach John Pelphrey’s press conference.

“We need to see more progress. The progress we’ve made isn’t enough. I personally feel like our attitude (Saturday) was bad. I am certainly not trying to take away anything away from Oral Roberts at all. They had a good game plan and executed it, and they came over here to win. We need to have better focus and ability to get to the next play. We need more improvement. That’s just me being honest.”

Missouri State:

“We need to play better than we’ve played this year. They get after it. There is a talent level and an experience level there. They have had a tremendous amount of success. They are coming here for one reason and one reason only, and that is to beat us. This will be our biggest challenge.

“This team (other opponents) may do some things better and that team may do some things better, but this will be our biggest challenge to date. The organization and experience they have will take our greatest effort. Their defense is tenacious. How hard they play is impressive.

“They’ve had time (since their last game) to put some different stuff in and study us, but we can’t change that.”

Point guard play:

“As a staff, we’re looking for consistency, communication from the bench to the rest of the team, leadership, someone to get us huddled up, pressure defense, and someone to get the ball up the floor and take care of it.”

Sonny Weems (suspended for the ORU game):

“He’s back at practice and he should play. Lucky for him there was no school today. He will play.”

Nate Rakestraw (broken little finger):

“He’s getting close. There’s a chance after this game that he could be back at practice.”

Levan Patsatsia:

“He’s got to get better. There’s a lot of first-year stuff out there – not knowing where to be all the time, careless with the ball; he’s not ready. He’s working hard in practice. He’s got to be comfortable and he’s not comfortable.”