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Published Feb 15, 2020
Takeaways from Arkansas's 78-77 loss at home to Mississippi State
Nikki Chavanelle, Andrew Hutchinson
HawgBeat.com

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Arkansas leading scorer Mason Jones called the team's one-point loss to Mississippi State the Hogs' most painful loss yet. The Razorbacks have now lost five of their nine losses by a single possession.

After coming back from a 17-point deficit in the second half, Jalen Harris turned the ball over with a minute to play, resulting in two points for the Bulldogs off the fast break. Jones scored two free throws to get the lead back by one but couldn't knock down a three-pointer with 11 seconds on the clock.

Arkansas only gave up four offensive boards to Mississippi State but the fourth proved the most important. The rebound resulted in two second-chance points and the win with just .6 remaining on the clock.

Mississippi State had an eight-point lead heading into the locker room after shooting 62% from the field in the first half and they finished with four players scoring double-digits.

Arkansas will now travel to face the 15-9 Florida Gators on Tuesday night at 6 p.m., the game will be televised on ESPNU.

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Jones Turns it Back on

Coming off two games going 4 of 24 from the field and 1 of 11 from three-point range against Missouri and Tennessee, Mason Jones went off and put the team on his back Saturday afternoon.

Jones scored eight quick points, but picked up second foul four minutes in. Despite the early foul trouble, the former JUCO player finished the half with 19 points, going 6 of 10 and perfect from the free throw line 5-5.

With the team down coming out of the half, Jones kept it going and found several different ways to score and attack. His aggression earned him 21 free throw attempts, resulting in 18 made free throws, good for third-most in UA history for a single game.

Jones finished with 38 points, his sixth game with 30+, six rebounds, two assists and two turnovers. His average on the season is now 20.8, ranking seventh in Arkansas's single-season record book.

The junior came in with 924 points and is now just a really good game away from reaching 1,000 points as a Razorback.

Sills Heats up the Second Half

After going 0-3 in 16 minutes of play in the first half, Desi Sills found his groove and provided Jones with some much-needed support in the second half. He's been struggling from deep this season (26%) but hit two key threes and finished 5 of 10 for 15 points.

"He started finding his spots, going to his left hand, they couldn't stop him," Jones said of Sills' performance after the game. "He is an All-SEC player, he can play better than he has. He can average 15."

Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland was also very complimentary of Sills, noting that his aggression in the paint and under the rim reminds him of a football player.

Layup Problems

A huge issue for Arkansas against Mississippi State was missed layups. The Razorbacks missed at least 16 points-worth of layups and dunks throughout the game and Eric Musselman said after the game they will be working on finishing under the rim a lot.

Arkansas's "big men" combined to go 6 of 15 (four buckets were made by Adrio Bailey who finished with 10 points). While in the game, Arkansas was -8 with Reggie Chaney on the floor and -11 while Ethan Henderson was on the floor.

Razorbacks Box Out

Rebounds, specifically defensive boards, were a big area of focus for Arkansas heading into their second matchup against Mississippi State and the Hogs greatly improved over game one.

Mississippi State only had a +2 rebound margin (they average +8 on opponents this season) and just four offensive boards. Arkansas lost by seven in the first matchup after giving up 11 offensive rebounds.

Rebounding was a team effort but Jones and Jimmy Whitt Jr. led with six a piece.

Hogs Limit Perry, Give up 26 to Carter

Eric Musselman knew Reggie Perry was going to come in and score points but their goal of limiting him came to fruition. After a 26-point, 13-rebound performance in game one, Perry had 17 points and eight rebounds on Saturday afternoon. The Hogs had previously send Perry to the line 7+ times and managed to keep their distance from the big man in game two. He went 5-7 from the free-throw line.

Extra tough defense on Perry opened the game up for Tyson Carter, who came off the bench and scored 26 points in 29 minutes of play. Carter shot exceedingly well, going 8-14, 57% as opposed to his season average of 36.4%.

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