Men’s hoops can’t build off early week win, falls to Arkansas at home

The Ole Miss Men’s Basketball team failed to build off its strong shooting performance earlier in the week against Florida, losing 64-55 to Arkansas at home.

In a game where they only shot 35% from the field, with four successful three-pointers on 18 attempts, Ole Miss failed to take advantage of what was a very winnable game.

The game was a slow-paced, defensive battle that both teams were never really able to take control of. Ole Miss failed to make big, energy-inducing baskets that it needed while Arkansas failed to take full advantage of the Rebels’ poor outing from the floor.

Arkansas clung to a small lead, ranging 3 to 8 points, for most of the game, until the midway point of the second half when a 13-0 run would give them enough comfort to cruise to victory. Despite a solid night defensively, the Rebels were unable to contain Razorback guard JD Notae, as he scored 25 points and knocked down four three-pointers.

Matthew Murrell led the way in scoring for the Rebels. The sophomore guard scored 14 points despite shooting just 5 for 13 from the floor. Nysier Brooks gave the team much-needed life at times with his 10 point, six rebound performance, but was unable to produce when the Rebels’ backs were against the wall.

For the Rebels, back-to-back conference wins would have been a big momentum booster that could’ve potentially sparked the team to go on a winning streak that it desperately needs. However, they weren’t able to turn one strong win into two, and fall to 10-10 overall and 2-6 in conference play.

“We just could never get over the hump,” Rebel Head Coach Kermit Davis said. “We got eight kills tonight. That’s eight times where we got three stops in a row, but we shot 35%. We out-rebounded a good rebounding team, but it was kind of the inability to complete plays and make shots tonight.”

Ole Miss looks to bounce back as it continues its home stretch and competes in the SEC/Big 12 challenge on Saturday, Jan. 29 against Kansas State. 

“You have off nights that are going to frustrate you but you can’t let that keep you down. We got to get ready for the next game, we’ve got a tough Kansas State team coming in town on Saturday,” Murrell said.