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FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks (11-4, 0-2 SEC) dropped their second game of conference play and first SEC home game to the No. 23 Ole Miss Rebels (13-2, 2-0 SEC), 73-66, on Wednesday night at Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas fought better than they did against No. 1 Tennessee last weekend, but long stretches without points and several defensive miscommunications allowed Ole Miss to climb out of an early nine-point deficit and lead for almost the entire second half.
"We’re the type of team, we’ve got a good team, but everybody’s got to play well," head coach John Calipari said postgame. "All nine got to give us something. They don’t have to play out of their minds, but they can’t play poorly. You can’t have three play poorly, or four, or one not give you anything and another. We’re going to have to play better as a group."
Forward Adou Thiero was the Hogs' leading scorer, as he finished with 17 points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. He had several emphatic dunks that got the crowd at Bud Walton Arena going, but the Hogs couldn't sustain any kind of elongated run to keep that momentum.
As a team, the Razorbacks shot a poor 37.3% from the field and 21.7% from beyond the arc. Turnovers were minimal, with just six committed in the game, but Arkansas was also out-rebounded, 36-35.
Here are some of HawgBeat's takeaways from Wednesday's loss...
Better effort on boards not enough
The effort was better, but Arkansas found itself on the losing end of the battle of the boards to Ole Miss. It wasn't as bad as it was against Tennessee, as the Hogs were out-rebounded by Ole Miss 36-35 and the Rebels only had six offensive rebounds.
Thiero was the team's leading rebounder with nine, and forward Trevon Brazile — whose effort in that category was noticeable to the eye — had seven.
Where the Razorbacks made a noticeable improvement was on the offensive glass. They had one less offensive rebound against Ole Miss (eight) than they did against Tennessee (nine), but they made the most of those opportunities with 15 second-chance points.
What's with the streaks?
Arkansas' offense looked like a toddler trying to walk for the first time. Every time they took a step forward and cut into the Rebels' deficit, they tripped up and either missed an easy shot, attempted an ill-advised one or turned the ball over.
Throughout the game, there was one constant — Arkansas consistently went through droughts where it simply could not buy a bucket. Streaks of two, three and even four and a half minutes with either no points or field goals kept Ole Miss in the lead for most of the second half.
"Two minutes of bad play, two minutes of bad play flips from up 10 to they’ve got a two-point lead," Calipari said. "Two minutes. And that’s what I’ve got to convince these players of. You’ve got to go in and every moment matters. Every play down the court is us playing against them, not you playing against your guy.”
One part of those scoreless streaks was the terrible shot selection and a lack of offense run by the Razorbacks. Too many times, one of Arkansas' guards — Calipari specifically spoke about freshman Boogie Fland — took several dribbles, made a move and pulled up for a shot that clanged off the rim.
"He took some shots he didn't need to take," Calipari said, "He just did. Like, why? Why would you take that when you haven't made a shot? Why are you doing that? Create a shot for a teammate that they can make, and I couldn't get them in that mode."
Props to Johnell Davis
Arkansas guard Johnell Davis heard the discourse about his play after the Tennessee loss, and decided to show out Wednesday night. He hit three times from deep and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to finish with 15 points. He added seven rebounds, had two assists and logged one steal as well.
"He’s getting better and he’s getting more comfortable," Calipari said. "I like the fact that he got to the foul line. He’s a really good foul shooter... Nelly, he did what it took to get us up 9. So he did some good stuff."
Davis has battled a wrist injury since the offseason that has hampered his scoring ability and his rhythm within the Razorbacks' offense, but he said after the game that his wrist is fine and he's ready to move on.
