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FAYETTEVILLE — Riding its first two-game winning streak in SEC play, Arkansas will return home to face one of the best defenses in the country.

The Razorbacks welcome Ole Miss and its 17th-ranked scoring defense to Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday night. The Rebels are allowing just 61.6 points per game, which is behind only Tennessee in the SEC, and are also 16th nationally in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rating.

Despite its 8-6 overall record and 3-4 mark in conference play, Ole Miss has played better of late, also winning its last two games. Defense has led to that recent success, as the Rebels held Mississippi State and Texas A&M to 46 and 50 points, respectively, in those two victories.

Ole Miss likes to play at a slower pace, but also forces teams into a lot of turnovers. In fact, their opponents average 17.3 turnovers per game, which is 19th nationally and second behind Georgia in the SEC.

“They seem to be a little more aggressive in their 1-3-1 this year, which also morphs back into a 2-3 zone,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “So I think just for us, same thing it is most nights - really, really take care of the basketball (and) understand what their themes are in the game.”

Musselman said during Monday’s Zoom videoconference that the Razorbacks watched film of the 1-3-1 the Rebels ran late in last year’s game, when they got a couple of good looks from three-point range in a 76-72 win in Oxford, Miss., but Ole Miss also does a good job of mixing up its defenses this year.

“Certainly we have a 1-3-1 attack that we used last year, but we did spend most of the morning with some alterations or some slight variations to that offense as well,” Musselman said. “I think that we know they run that anywhere from 2 to 15 to 17 times a game. When the ball gets in certain spots on the floor, they fall back into a 2-3 or potentially in man, and they do that after some made baskets.”

To counter that, Arkansas has really emphasized stepping through traps, meeting the ball on passes and throwing strong passes, Musselman said.

Defensively, the Razorbacks will have to worry about a couple of familiar faces, as well as a couple of new ones.

Senior Devontae Shuler is Ole Miss’ leading scorer at 14.9 points per game, plus leads the team in assists (4.1 apg) and steals (1.9 spg). He’s also the Rebels’ top three-point shooter, making 36.9 percent of his six attempts per game.

That doesn’t even quite tell the story on how well Shuler is playing lately. Over the last four games, he’s averaged 20.5 points while shooting 46.2 percent from beyond the arc.

Shuler was one of two Rebels who notched a double-double against Arkansas last year, with the other being K.J. Buffen. Now a junior, the 6-foot-7 forward is averaging 9.4 points.

The two new faces for Ole Miss came to Oxford via the transfer portal.

Romello White is the headliner, as he was a three-year starter at Arizona State before deciding to become a graduate transfer. With the Rebels, the 6-foot-8 forward is averaging 10.4 points on 67.9 percent shooting and 5.4 rebounds with a team-high 17 blocked shots.

Known for heavily recruiting transfers, Musselman said Arkansas reached out to him, but it “went nowhere” and White “wasn’t interested.”

“He was a really good player at Arizona State – a really good player,” Musselman said. “Talking to Pac 12 coaches, they thought his scoring around the rim, his offensive rebounding, his ability to block shots - he's a really, really, really good player with a lot of experience coming from another Power 5 conference.”

The other transfer is a guard, as Jarkell Joiner returned home to Oxford - where he played high school ball - from Cal State-Bakersfield last year and is eligible to play this season.

Although he’s shooting just 25 percent from three-point range, Joiner is a great mid-range shooter who is making nearly half of his attempts inside the arc. That has made him the team’s second-leading scorer at 10.9 points per game.

“Joiner could really score the ball at Bakersfield,” Musselman said. “I think he's improved. He's got a pull-up game where he can stop on a dime off the dribble and make shots.”

As mentioned above, Ole Miss likes to control the tempo of games and their preference is a slow pace. In fact, the Rebels rank 278th in KenPom’s adjusted tempo ratings - a stark contrast to Arkansas ranking 21st.

The Razorbacks could press some to try to speed up the game, but Musselman said not to expect anything crazy because he doesn’t want to get over-extended and give up easy looks to guys like Shuler and Joiner.

“Shuler is really effective in transition,” Musselman said. “We don’t want to give up numbers to them. Certainly pace of play is a factor for us, but we’re not going to all of a sudden implement a new press.”

Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.