Arkansas’ road woes continued Wednesday, as it suffered a double-digit loss at Mississippi State.
Despite leading for more than six minutes in the first half, the Razorbacks weren't very competitive after halftime en route to an 81-68 loss to the Bulldogs in both teams' SEC opener.
They are now 10-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while dropping their 16th loss in 18 tries inside Humphrey Coliseum. All three of their losses this season have been away from Bud Walton Arena.
Down three players, Arkansas struggled to find a rotation that worked for most of the game. Leading scorer JD Notae - who also leads the SEC at 18.0 points per game - and true freshman Chance Moore were out with an illness, while Kamani Johnson has been suspended indefinitely.
Head coach Eric Musselman said they knew about Notae’s absence right after Christmas break. The third-year coach was open and honest about what he was missing without his leading scorer and the SEC’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year, but he wasn’t making excuses.
“(Notae's) plus-144 for the season," Musselman said. "He was the leading scorer in the league. But we got on the plane to compete and win the game. We were down bodies, but we’re not excuse-makers and...if we have enough bodies to go play, I’m going to play.
"That’s how I was raised. We’re not going to figure out a way to not get on the plane. We’re going to get on the plane and play as long as we’ve got enough bodies and they’ll let us go. That’s our obligation and that’s what we did. We lost the game and we got outplayed.”
Despite being outplayed for most of the game, Arkansas had the advantage from deep and defensively for the opening minutes of the game. Sophomore Jaxson Robinson was inserted into the starting lineup, along with forward Trey Wade and guard Chris Lykes.
Robinson and Wade each knocked down a three early in the game to get the Razorbacks going offensively.
After a few threes and some stops, Arkansas held a 15-10 lead over the Bulldogs with 12:12 remaining in the first half. The teams went back and forth for a while before Mississippi State took the lead with 3:50 left in the half on a Shakeel Moore three-pointer. Arkansas would tie the game just before half, but would not take the lead again.
The second half was extremely lopsided and the Bulldogs led by as many as 16 points before winning by 13. Here are a few other key takeaways from the Razorbacks' loss...
Umude’s Big Night
South Dakota transfer Stanley Umude stepped into the role of leading scorer in Notae’s absence. The senior came off the bench and scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 2 of 4 from deep.
“I thought he was really good offensively and really has to improve at the other end as well," Musselman said. "Baseline out-of-bounds defense, he has to become much better, but certainly his 7 for 12 and knocking down 2 fo 4 from the 3-point line (was good)."
Umude started the first half 2 of 6 from the field, but was 5 of 6 in the second half.
