Eric Musselman and the Arkansas Razorbacks saw their incredible 2021-22 season come to an end on Saturday night in San Francisco with a 78-69 loss to the Duke Blue Devils.

In back-to-back years, Musselman has guided the Hogs to the Elite Eight. Last year, they lost to eventual-champion Baylor. This year? Duke certainly played like a champion on Saturday night at the Chase Center.

After the game, Musselman had plenty of praise for the Blue Devils. Here’s some of what he had to say in his postgame press conference:

On Duke being a better team:

“We got beat by a better team today. Thought Duke was phenomenal. Would be surprised if they’re not playing to win a National Championship.”

On Jaylin Williams’ big game and great season: 

“I thought Jaylin played really well all season long. Obviously, Mark Williams is tough to score over. We left some baskets at the rim. Not just one guy, the whole team. We left baskets at the rim, but Jaylin has been incredible all year both offensively, defensively. He took some really difficult charges tonight when I thought we were playing really well early in the game. And then obviously, just if you want to speak about his importance when he is out of the game, you can see the importance. When he was in, we were +3, and when Au’Diese (Toney) was in, we were +1. Tonight foul trouble hurt us in the first half.”

On JD Notae’s 2 years with the Hogs: 

“JD has had incredible two seasons. His growth in his game has been remarkable on both sides of the basketball. He and I are connected on — I don’t have to say words sometimes to him. He kind of reads my mind, but he has had two really phenomenal years, and he had a phenomenal sit-out year too. He has a personality where everybody on the team likes him, and when you have a leading scorer and everybody likes you, it talks about his personality and how connected he is to the guys.”

On how this year’s team compares to last year’s: 

“Both years have been phenomenal. Obviously, this year not being in a bubble I think that the players got to experience much more. I think that — I mean, obviously, Duke had a phenomenal crowd. It was close to a home game for them with the amount of people that were here, but having said that, we would much rather perform and play in front of the crowds that we’ve had, sellouts throughout the Tournament.

“The spotlight felt a lot bigger for these guys this year, and we’ll see. Only time will tell. Last year we lost to Baylor, and they were national champions, and like I said, I’ll be shocked if Duke is not national champions in a week or week and a half, whatever.”

On raising the bar for success at Arkansas: 

“Everybody works so hard. The players buy into everything, and we’ve had two really good years, and I thought even in year one the guys played so hard, incredibly hard, and we internally have high expectations, meaning in that locker room, and we will have high expectations all summer. As soon as we get out of here I’m going to start working on next year. That’s a definite.

Yeah, I guess the bar has been raised or whatever.”

Arkansas brings in an elite recruiting class next year. The future is bright in Fayetteville.