OXFORD — On Monday night, Ole Miss saw what its offense can look like when shots are falling.
Some 48 hours later, the Rebels were reminded how the same offense looks when they aren’t.
Arkansas used a 13-0 second-half run to break open a sloppy game en route to a 64-55 win over Ole Miss Wednesday night. At the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at Ole Miss.
While the Razorbacks surged to a road win, Ole Miss simply struggled to score. The Rebels shot just 34.5 percent from the floor and just 22.2 percent from the 3-point line and couldn’t keep up.
“I know it sounds generic and I don’t say it much but it kind of came down to our inability to complete plays and make shots tonight,” Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis said.
Ole Miss fell to 10-10 overall and 2-6 in the Southeastern Conference. Arkansas improved to 15-5 overall and 5-3 in the league.
Guard JD Notae had a game-high 29 points for Arkansas. He was 10-for-23 from the floor and 4-for-10 from the 3-point line. Forward Jaylin Williams added 18 points and eight rebounds. Forward Trey Wade played all but 20 seconds, adding 10 points and five rebounds.
“Notae just kind of dominated the game, thew whole game,” Davis said. “Williams is good and he shot the ball tonight. I thought we had some runs. We just could never get over the hump. I thought we got shot after shot after shot and we just couldn’t make some shots when the game was in balance.”
Matthew Murrell led Ole Miss with 14 points. Nysier Brooks, Daeshun Ruffin and Tye Fagan had 10 each. It was Ole Miss’ third game in five days, and the Rebels’ thin rotation was in play again, but Davis said fatigue wasn’t an issue. Arkansas, Davis noted, is thin as well. Four Razorbacks played 35 minutes or more. Not counting Chris Lyles’ 1:01 of action, the Hogs played just seven players.
Ole Miss out-rebounded Arkansas, 33-31. Both teams committed 14 turnovers. Ole Miss made five more free throws than the Hogs, out-scored the Razorbacks in the paint and off the bench. It just came down, Davis said, to play-making.
“Tonight I thought we tried and competed, but one of their guys got 29 and the other one got 18,” Davis said. “They’re both really good players and they played like it tonight. I thought there were a lot of wide-open shots. Daeshun Ruffin was wide open all night. They did a good job on Matt. (Brooks) had some good looks.
“I thought we sure had good enough looks to be right there at the end,” Davis said.
For the second time this week, Ole Miss struggled to score in the first half. The Rebels were just 10-for-28 from the floor in the first half, including 1-for-8 from the 3-point line. Arkansas was beaten on second-chance points, 6-0, in the opening 20 minutes and led by just seven points, 30-23.
Davis was still bothered after the game by the final sequence of the first half. After a Brooks dunk cut Arkansas’ lead to 27-23, Notae was left unguarded. He made Ole Miss pay, hitting a 30-footer at the buzzer.
Davis said two players celebrated Brooks’ dunk “like high school kids” instead of running back and getting ready to defend.
“That’s happened to us three or four times this year,” Davis said.
Ole Miss returns to action Saturday against Kansas State.
