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FAYETTEVILLE — On a night it struggled to make shots, Arkansas got key buckets when it mattered most and won its eighth straight game Saturday night.
Jaylin Williams and Chris Lykes knocked down 3-pointers sandwiched around a critical jumper by Davonte Davis inside the final two minutes of the Razorbacks’ 63-55 win over Mississippi State at Bud Walton Arena.
The shots by Williams and Davis each pushed Arkansas’ lead to four immediately after the Bulldogs pulled within one possession, while the 3 by Lykes was the final dagger. That bucket - which came early in the shot clock - put the Razorbacks up seven with just 25 seconds left.
“I thought as far as clutch shooting — Devo’s pull-up at the top of the key, J-Will’s three ball, then Chris’ — we needed baskets,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “Just huge shots. J-Will’s was incredibly clutch. … All three of those shots were really, really clutch for us for sure.”
It was a remarkable finish considering how cold the Razorbacks were most of the night.
They were just 2 of 17 from beyond the arc before Williams and Lykes made their 3s. On top of that, Arkansas made only four of its first 31 attempts not considered layups or dunks, according to the UA’s official stats, but then made three straight including Davis’ long 2 late in the shot clock.
“If a guy is open, we have confidence that he’s going to make it,” Williams said. “We just stay confident through the end. We saw some good looks and we took the looks.”
The clutch shots were part of a 10-2 run that sealed the victory for Arkansas, which improved to 18-5 overall and 7-3 in SEC play.
Earlier in the second half, the Razorbacks used an 11-2 run to break a tie and build their biggest lead of the game. However, Mississippi State fought back in it by holding Arkansas scoreless for more than 4 minutes. A dunk by Garrison Brooks actually pulled the Bulldogs within 1 before the aforementioned 3-pointer by Williams.
Here are several other key takeaways from Saturday’s win…
Revenge Game
Including his time at Nevada, Musselman is now 11-2 against teams that beat him earlier in the season — so-called “revenge games.” On Saturday, the Razorbacks avenged their 81-68 loss in Starkville, Miss., to open conference play.
One reason Arkansas managed to pull off a 21-point swing from one matchup to the next was its ball security. It had 17 turnovers in its loss to the Bulldogs, but just six in the win. In fact, the Razorbacks didn’t commit their first turnover until there was just 2:36 left in the first half.
“I told them I’d rather have a bad shot or a shot on goal — just did not want to turn the ball over,” Musselman said. “We had a goal going into the game of nine or less. I thought we did a phenomenal job getting a shot on goal.”
Perhaps the most drastic improvement in that category was by Lykes, who committed a team-high four turnovers in 24 minutes in the first matchup. He played 20 minutes the second go around and didn’t turn it over a single time.
“I think their size was something eye-opening for me the first time we played,” Lykes said. “I was getting too deep, and they have great length, so they were able to get their fingers on a couple passes. Tonight, I just tried to focus on if I'm coming at two, kicking it out.”
