Despite a second half barrage from Ole Miss, Arkansas was clutch at the free throw line down the stretch and held on for a 97-93 win over the Rebels Saturday in Bud Walton Arena.
Aside from a 13-second stretch early in the first half, Arkansas (13-6, 3-4 SEC) led the whole game - from a Daniel Gafford layup at the 19:43 mark of the first half through a pair of Daryl Macon free throws with 8.8 seconds left to seal the win at 97-93. The Hogs led by as many as 16 points in the first half and went into the break with a 50-38 lead. Ole Miss (10-9, 3-4 SEC) kept the margin to single digits the final 9:36 after a put-back by Bruce Stevens made it 73-65.
“Had a nice little cushion early, but the game is 40 minutes, not 20 minutes,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said afterwards. “We kept leaving those windows of opportunity for them, and they cashed in on them. But they’re a veteran team if you look at the guys making plays for them.”
The final minute was entertaining for the 18,030 in attendance. After a pair of free throws from Darious Hall made it a 7-point Arkansas lead, 90-83 with 50 seconds left, the Rebels knocked down 3 shots from 3-point range with a free throw over a span of 26 seconds. But interspersed between those big baskets, Arkansas drained 9 of their final 10 free throw attempts. Down 4 points with 2 seconds left, Terence Davis’ leaning desperation 3-pointer missed its mark, and the Razorbacks held on for the win.
“That’s a credit to them, man. That’s just kids being locked in,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “Our guys hung around and hung around. At the end, our numbers don’t look so bad because we made a lot of shots at the end, but we missed a lot of open looks.”
This was Arkansas’ best free throw shooting performance in some time as they went 28 of 35 (80 percent), including 18 of 22 in the second half (81.8 percent). Arkansas was one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the nation coming into this one, ranking 318th nationally at 65.5 percent.
“We work on free throws pretty much every day, after practice and before practice,” Gafford said. “Those were pretty big free throws we knocked down tonight.”
And for a team that ranked 272 nationally at 32.8 percent from 3-point range, the Rebels hit some big shots late and finished 11 of 29 (37.9 percent) from downtown. Arkansas was 29 of 53 from the floor on the day (54.7 percent), including 11 of 22 from 3-point range (50.0 percent)
“You can’t allow Arkansas to shoot 55 percent in their own building and expect to win,” Kennedy said. “Has anybody beaten the Hogs when they shoot 55 percent in this building? It just doesn’t happen.”
For the first time since the Tennessee game on Dec. 30, a span of six games, both Macon and Jaylen Barford had solid performances on the same day. Barford finished with 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Macon had 20 points and was 11 of 12 from the free throw line. In the final 36 seconds, Macon was 6 of 6 from the stripe.
Davis led the Rebels with 30 points on 10 of 15 shooting, including 5 of 8 from 33-point range. He also pulled down 5 rebounds. Ole Miss was 29 of 60 on field goals for the afternoon (48.3 percent), 11 of 29 from beyond the arc (37.9 percent) and 24 of 29 from the free throw line (82.8 percent).
SECOND HALF RUNDOWN
Combined with a 4-0 finish to the first half, Ole Miss came out in the second half and added 6 more points to make it a 10-0 run and close what was once a 16-point Arkansas lead down to 7 points, 40-43. It eventually turned into a 14-4 stretch to close the lead to 6 points, 54-48 with 17 minutes left on a pair of free throws by Davis.
The Hogs and Rebels traded punches from the 16:21 mark, starting with a thunderous put-back dunk by Daniel Gafford in transition, until Arkansas started to regain some separation after a 3-pointer by Barford with 14:11 to play sparked a 10-3 spurt to put the Hogs up by 12, 71-59 with 11:59 to play.
Ole Miss answered with a 13-5 stretch from the 10:09 mark on a dunk by Markel Crawford until a 3-pointer by Breein Tyree with 6:27 left cut Arkansas’ lead all the way down to 4 points, 78-74. The Ole Miss run lasted 3 minutes and 42 seconds.
Coming out of the final media timeout of the game after a pair of free throws by Anton Beard, Arkansas took an 8-point lead, 86-78, with 3:15 remaining. Arkansas was 16 of 20 from the foul line at that point, including 7 of 8 in the second half.
Davis' 27th point came on a 3-pointer to cut the lead back down to 5, 86-81, and with 2:05 left Bruce Stevens fouled Barford and sent him to the free throw line. It was Stevens’ fifth and final foul.
With 50 seconds left, Hall knocked down a pair of free throws to make him 8 of 8 on the afternoon and more importantly give the Hogs a 90-83 advantage.
Ole Miss’ Deandre Burnett hit two clutch 3-pointers in the span of 10 seconds for Ole Miss, but Macon and Barford combined to hit 3 of 4 free throws just before and after those buckets to keep a 4-point lead, 93-89, with 26 seconds left.
Gafford fouled Tyree on the other end with 19.6 seconds left, and he went 1 of 2 from the line to make it a 93-90 Hog lead. After another quick foul, Macon drained both free throws to make it 95-90.
But Ole Miss would not quit as Davis drained another 3-pointer to make it a 2-point game, 95-93, with 12 seconds left. Macon knocked down both his free throws to make it 97-93 and keep the lead at 4 points with 8.8 seconds remaining.
Then with 2 seconds left, Davis shot a long and leaning desperation 3-pointer that missed its mark and ended the game, 97-93 for Arkansas.
FIRST HALF RUNDOWN
The first media timeout didn’t come until the 13:55 mark of the first half, with Arkansas holding a narrow 14-13 lead. Hall got off to a good start with 7 points and a 4 of 4 showing at the stripe. He also hit what was only his sixth 3-pointer of the season.
Macon came in with 16:30 to play in the first half and added a nice spark with a quick 3 of 3 showing from 3-point range over a span of 1 minute and 58 seconds, from the 13:03 mark to the 11:05 mark. With his 2 free throws during that span, it gave Macon 11 points in under 2 minutes.
By the time Macon hit the bench with 8:20 to go, he’d scored 13 points in 8 minutes and 10 seconds, with all of those coming over a span of 3 minutes and 57 from his first to his last basket. He played 5 more minutes but did not score again the rest of the half.
The Hogs went on to put up 50 first half points to take a 12-point lead into halftime, 50-38. Led by Macon, the Razorbacks were a blistering 59.3 percent from the floor on 16 of 27 shooting, including 8 of 13 from downtown. They were 10 of 13 in the first half from the foul line (76.9 percent).
The Rebels were 13 of 28 from the floor (46.4 percent), 4 of 12 from 3-point range (33.3 percent) and 8 of 10 from the line. Davis led the Rebels with 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting.
ODDS & ENDS
Beard, who came out of Wednesday's game at Florida with an ankle injury, started along with Barford, Hall, Gafford and Adrio Bailey. Arkansas came out with that same lineup in the second half. Trey Thompson, who also came out of the Florida game with an injury, was back in action. Anderson said neither player was 100 percent.
Senior forward Dustin Thomas, a starter most of the season, did not play due to what Anderson called a "coach’s decision" and was not suspended. But later he said the team had to fight through not having Beard and Thompson at 100 percent and also suggested that Thomas was not available.
UP NEXT
Arkansas plays at Georgia (12-5 3-3 SEC) Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. (CST).
