Tonight's game played out the same way as it did against Tennessee. Arkansas started out great, pulling away from the Ole Miss 10-1 in the opening minutes of the first half. However, the Rebel slowly started their climb back, tying the game by halftime.
The trend for Arkansas has been starting slow and picking up the pace in the second half. Once SEC play started, the Hogs seemed to put everything they had in the beginning, but they always ran out of steam before halftime.
Tonight, Arkansas looked like it didn't have an identity on either end of the floor. The shot selection was poor, the defensive effort looked worse than it did against Tennessee, and they lacked energy overall. The one thing the Razorbacks couldn't do was let the Vols beat them twice in a week, but that's exactly what they did.
Beyond the box score: Arkansas basketball vs Ole Miss
FG% percentage
Arkansas entered the game as the ninth-best team in the country in team field goal percentage, averaging 50.6 percent through 14 games. Tonight, it fell to 37.3 percent from the floor. After the first few minutes, most Razorbacks went cold as ice.
Oddly, Johnell Davis was the key contributor in the first half. He went 4-6, knocking down three from beyond the arc. Davis was the only one to head into the locker in double figures. He and Boogie Fland helped keep Arkansas above water in the first half, with the Hogs shooting 43.3 percent because of their efforts.
The second half was awful, to put it bluntly. Arkansas's field goal percentage dropped to 31 percent, going 9-29.. Over a third of their shots (11) came from downtown, with Karter Knox being the only one to hit a trey. Fland and Davis combined 0-7 from deep.
Without Adou Thiero driving the paint and drawing fouls for 12 second-half points, Arkansas would've been obliterated. Nearly every set the offense ran was blown up, hence the amount of missed three-point shots. With the shot clock dwindling down to the final seconds, someone would have to throw up a prayer, missing most.
Fast Breakpoints
Fast breaks are where Arkansas makes its money. The Hogs are incredibly athletic and have shown the ability to be aggressive on the defensive, turning it into points on the offensive side of the ball. But it was all but missing from tonight's game.
The Razorbacks scored four fast break points, giving up eight to the Rebels. One reason was because of Ole Miss' ball security. It's one of the best teams in the country at controlling the rock, ranking seventh with 9.3 turnovers a game. Arkansas averaged nearly that many steals a game heading into the match with 8.4.
The Rebels won the battle tonight, giving up only five turnovers, two of which were steals. On the other hand, much of Arkansas's inability to force turnovers had to do with the players' stamina.
Fland, Wagner, Davis, and Thiero all had 28-plus minutes, with the former two playing 37 or more. The decision to bring in only nine rotation players has been criticized since the preseason, but watching them struggle to keep up for 40 minutes only adds fuel to the fire.
Arkansas’s offense has no identity. Stagnant and confused.
— Jake “JBOY” Crain (@JakeCrain_) January 9, 2025
Game of runs
It's often said that basketball is a game of runs. Eric Musselman said often that most games have three, and Arkansas's goal was to control two.
Just how Musselman preached, tonight's game had three major runs. Arkansas won the first, with a 3:41, 10-1 run to begin the game. It was the start John Calipari had been trying to have since the beginning of the season, but the energy wore off quickly tonight.
The other two runs happened nearly back-to-back on the stat sheet but were separated by halftime. The first ensued with seven minutes left in the first. The Rebels went on a 5:10, 12-3 run, putting them within striking distance before halftime. With 31 seconds left, Sean Pedulla knocked down a three to tie the game.
The second happened only a few minutes after the second period started. Ole Miss produced a 7-0 run between the 16:45 and 11:39 marks, putting the Rebels in front for the remained or the night. Arkansas and Ole traded shots until the buzzer sounded, with the final margin of defeat being those seven points.