FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas had managed to keep rebounding from becoming a major concern this season until Wednesday night’s 71-63 loss in Oxford, Miss.
The Razorbacks were out rebounded 48-26 by an Ole Miss team that entered the game tied for sixth in the SEC with a plus-2.5 rebound margin but left in fourth place at plus-3.8.
Ole Miss not only dominated its defensive boards, but it also held an 18-13 advantage on its offensive end.
“That’s unacceptable,” said Arkansas forward Marvell Waithe, whose four rebounds in 29 minutes trailed guard Rickey Scott by one for the team lead.
“I just thought it was one of those eye-opening games for guys playing in their first SEC road game,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “You’ve got athletes in this league.
“With that being said, you’ve got to neutralize. We don’t have the Phi Slamma Jamma kind of guys, so you’ve got to be able to neutralize those guys.”
The Razorbacks, whose full-court, up-tempo style can lend itself to rebounding problems, also lack a deep roster of tall, physical inside players. Still, Arkansas had a plus-1.0 rebounding margin until Wednesday’s struggles dropped the Hogs to 11th in the SEC with a minus-0.4 margin.
“We lacked that [physicalness] for most of the game,” Waithe said.
“The game was really won in the paint,” Arkansas guard Julysses Nobles added. “You can see now you don’t need to hit a three to win a game. We’ve got to rebound better.”
Anderson said neutralizing physical opponents in rebounding comes down to “fundamental things.
“You’ve got to hit people,”he said. “We’re not a big team, so we’ve got to - we’ve done it. ... We’ve played one of the better rebounding teams in the country in Connecticut. I thought we did the things that we had to in terms of hitting people and getting to the ball, being quick to the line.
“We did not do that last night.”
With an LSU team boasting front line players such as 7-foot Justin Hamilton, 6-9 Malcolm White and Eddie Ludwig, 6-8 Jalen Courtney and 6-7 Storm Warren coming in Saturday, the Razorbacks’ rebounding prowess will again be tested.
Despite the rebounding problems against Ole Miss, Anderson said his team only took a “half-step back. It wasn’t a full step back.”
The Razorbacks imposed their tempo for solid stretches, forced 23 turnovers and battled through adversity and a deficit of 10-plus points to pull within five points late in the game, all heartening signs to the first-year coach.
“I’m disappointed,” Anderson said, “but I still was encouraged because I thought the effort was there.”
Sports, Pages 21 on 01/13/2012