Macon goes for 30 as Hogs rout Rebels, 98-80
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Daryl Macon went off with 30 points, and the Razorbacks used a 19-0 run in the second half to separate from Ole miss before winning 98-80 in front of 15,214 in attendance Saturday night in Bud Walton Arena.
After Ole Miss (16-11, 7-7 SEC) trimmed Arkansas' lead to 5 points, 56-51 with 16:25 to play, the Razorbacks (20-7, 9-5 SEC) went the big 19-0 run over a span of 4 minutes and 20 seconds to blow the game wide open with a 24 point lead, 75-51.
"Has anyone ever beaten Arkansas that's scored 98 points in Bud Walton Arena? -I say no, and we certainly weren't going to be the first ones," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "We've struggled defensively, but honestly we don't have a rim protector, and in our last few games we've had to mount furious comebacks."
Macon said he was not aware he was close to 30 points until teammate Manuale Watkins told him he had 27 points and said 'I bet you won't get 30.' Macon shot a deep 3-pointer 1:56 remaining to get 30 and then went to the bench.
"Playing into the system now, being patient, not rushing it," Macon said. "Just buy into the coaching, and I feel that's what I did tonight, and that's what it took."
Thanks to Macon, who did not start, the Hogs outscored Ole Miss 51-12 on the bench. Another impressive stat for Arkansas was a 20-12 advantage on assists. Moses Kingsley added 14 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the Hogs.
"I thought Ole Miss wore down, and we did it with numbers," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "Defensively, I thought they were connected...We just grabbed the momentum, and we always talk about our game - it's a game of runs."
As a team, the Hogs were 31 of 66 from the floor (47 percent), 12 of 29 from 3-point range (41.4 percent) and 24 of 27 from the free throw line (88.9 percent). Deandre Burnett led the Rebels with 27 points, including 24 in the second half. Ole Miss was 26 of 70 shooting (37.1 percent), 8 of 29 from beyond the arc (29.6 percent) and 20 of 27 from the line (74.1 percent).
Second Half Rundown
The Hogs led by 12 when Jaylen Barford opened the second half with a 3-pointer, but Ole Miss slowly chipped away at the Arkansas lead and got it down to 5 points, 56-51, with 16:25 to go. But then Macon delivered a sweet no-look pass to Trey Thompson for a dunk and then Macon buried a 3-pointer to put the Hogs up by 10, 61-51 with 15:06 remaining.
A pair of Kingsley free throws and then a deep 3-pointer by Macon made it a 10-0 Razorback run, which made it the first true scoring run of the game for either team. Another 3-pointer by Anton Beard made it 13-0, forced an Ole Miss timeout with 12:37 left and gave the Hogs a commanding 18-point lead, 69-51.
It got to 15-0 on a baseline jumper by Thompson to give him 6 points on 3 of 3 shooting at the time. He finished with 8 point son 4 of 4 shooting. And with 11:30 to play at the second media timeout of the half, Arkansas made it to the bonus. Kingsley pushed the lead out to 73-51, a 17-0 run. And a pair of Beard free throws made it 19-0 with 11:17 left.
Ole Miss' scoring drought finally ended with an and-1 driving layup by Burnett with 10:58 to play. Their last bucket before that came on a free throw by Burnett with 16:25 left (span of 5 minutes and 27 seconds). Their last field goal came on a Burnett 3-pointer with 17:06 left (span of 6 minutes and 8 seconds). Burnett was responsible for Ole Miss' last 10 points at that stage, when it was 77-57 with 10:04 to go.
Kingsley put the exclamation on the win with a one-handed put-back dunk off a missed 3-pointer by Beard with 2:16 remaining. Then Macon added one with his deep 3-pointer to give him 30. Then Adrio Bailey added a third on a driving dunk off a dish from Brachen Hazen to make it 98-75. The final was 98-80.
First Half Rundown
The game was free of any notable runs and was really back-and-forth all the way to the 11:48 mark when Arkansas took a 5 point lead, 20-14, off a pair of Dusty Hannahs free throws out of the second media timeout. At that time, Arkansas was on a 11-4 spurt.
With 10:08 to play, Arkansas was in the bonus and the Hogs only had one foul called against them. From the 8:30 mark to the 4:38 mark, a span of 3 minutes and 52 seconds, Arkansas would outscore Ole Miss 11-3 to take a 39-28 lead.
With 3:24 left off a Macon layup, the Hogs took a 12 point lead, their largest lead of the first half, 41-29. Macon also ended the half with a driving layup through traffic with 2 seconds left to give Arkansas a 9-point edge at halftime, 46-37.
Led By Macon's 15 points, Arkansas was 15 of 36 from the floor (41.7 percent). The Hogs were 6 of 16 from the 3-point line (37.5 percent) and 10 of 11 from the free throw line (90.9 percent), having made 10-straight after missing the first one. Terence Davis led Ole Miss with 13 points, and the Rebels were 15 of 34 shooting (44.1 percent), 3 of 11 from downtown (27.3 percent) and 4 of 6 from the line (66.7 percent).
Up Next...
Up next, Arkansas hosts Texas A&M (14-12, 6-8 SEC) Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. (CST) in Bud Walton Arena. That game will be televised by the SEC Network.