FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas' next game isn't until Thursday night against Alabama, and with the extra practice time, there's no doubt what the Razorbacks must focus on this week.
"It's going to be getting back to the fundamentals of playing defense," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "Try to make it difficult for people to score.
Too easy
• Through four SEC games, Arkansas ranks 14th in the conference in field goal defense (51.2 percent), three-point defense (46.8 percent) and scoring defense (78.8 points). Here is a rundown:
OPPONENT;FG-FGA; (%);3-PT (%);RESULT
Georgia;25-55 (45.5);9-20 (45.0);Arkansas won 79-75
Vanderbilt;26-50 (52.0);6-14 (42.9) :Arkansas won 82-70
Tennessee;27-53 (50.9);6-13 (42.6);Tennessee won 74-69
Ole Miss;31-55 (56.4);8-15 (53.3);Ole Miss won 96-82
"It's been too easy at the rim. Our defense has got to build that wall up and make people take tough shots and rebound the basketball."
Arkansas ranks last among the SEC's 14 teams in field goal defense (51.2 percent), three-point defense (46.8 percent) and scoring defense (78.8) through four conference games.
"Those are things that are fixable," Anderson said. "And we'll get them fixed."
Mississippi shot 56.4 percent from the field (31 of 55) in beating Arkansas 96-82 last Saturday night in Walton Arena. The Razorbacks never pulled closer than nine points in the second half after the Rebels took control in the first half by hitting 20 of 27 shots, including 5 of 6 three-pointers.
"It can't happen," Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls said. "You just can't win that way.
"There were a lot of possessions I felt like we almost had a steal, almost had a rebound. Just 33 seconds of great defense, then just bail out the last two."
Mississippi Coach Andy Kennedy said the key to shooting well against Arkansas is not turning the ball over against the defensive pressure and finding open shooters.
"Common sense says if you've got two guys trapping the ball and you can get out of that trap, then you've got an advantage on the other end," Kennedy said. "I think that's what we did."
The Rebels had 11 turnovers, and most didn't lead to fast breaks for the Razorbacks. While Mississippi senior point guard Jarvis Summers had 5 turnovers, he also had 7 assists and 17 points.
"I thought Jarvis did a very good job of getting the ball to the right people at the right time," Kennedy said. "As a result, we had relatively clean looks."
Mississippi forwards Saiz Sebastian, Dwight Coleby and M.J. Rhett combined to hit 12 of 17 shots and help the Rebels outscore the Razorbacks 28-16 on points in the lane.
"Of course everybody wants to hammer down and be like, 'All right, that's enough. Enough is enough. It's time to get a stop,' " Qualls said. "It just seemed like the stop never came.
"I feel like everybody on our team feels like we could have done more. We're going to battle through it. In practice, we're just going to focus on the stuff we did wrong. It'll be better."
Georgia is the only SEC opponent to shoot less than 50 percent against the Razorbacks. The Bulldogs shot 45.5 percent as the Razorbacks opened SEC play with a 79-75 victory at Georgia.
Vanderbilt shot 52.0 percent at Arkansas, but the Razorbacks won 82-70 by forcing 22 turnovers. Tennessee shot 50.9 percent and had 14 turnovers compared to 18 by Arkansas in beating the Razorbacks 74-69 in Knoxville.
"Four games in, it's really tough to get a measure," Alabama Coach Anthony Grant said of Arkansas' defensive struggles in SEC play. "I think any coach will tell you that you're really concerned about Arkansas' defense.
"Forget what the numbers say. We know what they're capable of, the type of havoc they can create with the way they play."
Anderson said the Razorbacks need to do a better job of guarding a man-and-a-half -- shading their help defense -- to cut down on dribble penetration. The Razorbacks also need to have faster rotations, he said, stay in front of their opponents, box out for rebounds.
"I think that's where pride has got to come in," Anderson said. "It's got to be a collective effort."
Sports on 01/20/2015