Even though it trailed most of the night, Ole Miss hung around until Arkansas’ defense squeeze the life out of it Wednesday night.
It was a one-possession game midway through the second half before the Razorbacks held the Rebels scoreless for nearly six minutes and cruised to a 64-55 win in Oxford, Miss.
During the 5-minute, 48-second stretch it failed to score, Ole Miss missed six shots and saw its three-point deficit balloon to 16, effectively ending the game.
“Just taking away three-balls, doing a really good job of when they brought shooters off screens, doing a good job of chasing and carrying a high hand,” head coach Eric Musselman said about the key stretch. “Trying to make them floor it and not give any open looks whatsoever.”
The defense was solid all night, as Arkansas limited the Rebels to just 55 points on 34.5 percent shooting. Throw in a 58-point performance by LSU a week and a half ago and the Razorbacks have held back-to-back SEC road foes under 60 - something it had never done before.
Arkansas - which led for all but about two minutes Wednesday - has now won five straight games to improve to 15-5 overall and 5-3 in SEC play, plus it has won eight of its last nine matchups with Ole Miss (10-10, 2-7).
Here are a few other key takeaways from the game…
Shutdown Defense Continues
While Ole Miss may not be known for its offense, the Razorbacks’ defensive effort Wednesday night has become the norm.
For the first time since at least 1981-82, Arkansas has held five straight opponents under 40 percent shooting. Beginning with the Missouri game, its foes have shot just 34.8 percent from the floor while averaging only 57.6 points.
The only team to eclipse 60 over that stretch was Texas A&M, and it didn’t hit that mark until the final minute of regulation.
