Offense goes cold as Arkansas basketball falls to Ole Miss in SEC home opener

Posted by author January 9, 2025 Basketball

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FAYETTEVILLE — After a dud in the SEC opener, Arkansas basketball put forth a much-improved performance against Ole Miss on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, there’s no reward for a better margin of defeat.

The No. 22 Rebels (13-2, 2-0) came into Bud Walton Arena and escaped with a 73-66 victory over Arkansas (11-4, 0-2). The Hogs led by as many as nine points in the first half, but Ole Miss erased that deficit and turned a tie-game at halftime into a comfortable finish.

The Razorbacks corralled Ole Miss’ trio of talented guards fairly well, but Malik Dia killed Arkansas. The 6-foot-9 stretch-five scored 21 points and drilled a dagger 3-pointer inside the final minutes. Adou Thiero led the Hogs with 17 points.

The SEC gauntlet doesn’t get any easier. Florida comes to town on Saturday fresh off a 30-point victory over No. 1 Tennessee on Tuesday night.

Here are three observations from Arkansas’ loss to Ole Miss.

Arkansas basketball goes cold in the second half

The Razorbacks made 12 of their first 21 shots, but they finished the night 22 for 59 and shot 31% after halftime. They struggled to create good looks in their half-court offense, and the transition game was nearly nonexistent as Ole Miss took care of the basketball and only committed five turnovers.

This was the second straight game shooting woes played a defining role in the Arkansas loss. The Hogs were tepid with nobody guarding them, going 17 of 24 from the free-throw line.

Razorbacks need more scoring from big men

Jonas Aidoo and Trevon Brazile combined for three points. Zvonimir Ivisic was scoreless and did not play until there was 12:32 remaining with Arkansas trailing by 10 and desperately needing some offensive firepower.

That kind of minimal production from Arkansas’ three bigs won’t translate to many wins this season. This is a guard-heavy team, but they need some sort of scoring punch from the bigs. The guards also need to do a better job of creating easy looks inside.

Johnell Davis looks good in first half

Davis missed two games with a wrist injury and then scored zero points against Tennessee, but he had one of his halves in an Arkansas uniform against Ole Miss.

Davis was the Razorbacks’ best player in the first 20 minutes with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting. He looked confident from outside and in transition, making quick decisions to either pull-up or attack off the dribble. However, he didn’t carry that form into the second half, scoring four points.

Davis is more than just a spot-up shooter, which has been his primarily role under John Calipari. The head coach needs to find other ways to maximize Davis’ game.