FAYETTEVILLE — Missouri sophomore guard Terrence Phillips was asked about his advice to younger teammates playing in in Walton Arena for the first time Saturday when the Tigers take on Arkansas.
"Don’t get weirded out by the Hog call," said Phillips, who is from Orange County, Calif. "Last year before running out, Coach told us they were going to do that.
"I was like, 'What in the world is that?' I’d never heard it before, so it threw me off."
Arkansas has won four in a row over Missouri, including 84-72 in Walton Arena last season.
The Razorbacks (12-4, 1-3 SEC) are 9-2 in Walton Arena this season, but 0-2 in conference play with losses to Florida and Mississippi State.
"It’s been a tough place to play," Missouri Coach Kim Anderson said. "They’ve lost three of their last four, so I’m sure they’re going to be fired up and ready to play, especially against us.
"I’m always concerned about their style of play, their pressure, the way they like to get the ball up and down the floor. For us it’ll be important to take care of the basketball.
"You know they’ll have a great crowd. It’s a great venue and they’ve got passionate fans. You have to understand they’re going to make runs."
Missouri (5-10, 0-3) has lost seven consecutive games since beating Miami of Ohio 81-55 on Dec. 6.
The Tigers have lost their three SEC games to LSU, Georgia and Auburn by a combined 20 points. They led at halftime in all three games.
"Our attitude’s been good," Anderson said. "You just hope we continue to put the effort out there.
"Every one of the three conference games we’ve had opportunities to win. It would have taken some work,
but we were in the game."
The Tigers were bolstered at the end of the fall semester by the addition of 6-7 junior forward Jordan Barnett, a transfer from Texas who starred at Christian Brothers College High School in St. Louis.
Barnett is averaging 12.5 points and 7.3 rebounds is six games since becoming eligible to play and in the last four games his averages are 17.0 and 9.3.
"I'm starting to be more aggressive," Barnett said. "It’s a matter of me being comfortable out there. I feel like I’m getting there.
"I guess they need me to step up. I’m ready to do that. If I can start hitting shots and taking good shots and play faster, we’ll be fine."
Barnett said holding onto leads in the second half has to be a mindset for the Tigers.
"We’ve been winning at halftime in all three conference games," he said. "It’s got to be a conscious effort to not let it slip up in the second half.
"It’s easier said than done, but it’s something we’ve got to figure out. We’ve just got to play that second half like the first. We can string together some wins if we can do that."
Anderson said the Tigers need Barnett to play more selfishly at times.
"He’s such a good guy," Anderson said. "The other night late in the game we ran a play for him. He got a shot and passed it up, got it back and I think he traveled.
"You have to take that step from being a role player, which he was in the last year and a half at Texas. He certainly wasn’t a role player in high school. I think he has to step up and make some plays and be a little selfish."
Missouri is the only SEC team without a conference victory, but Anderson said he's stressed to his players there are 14 regular-season games left along with the SEC Tournament.
"I know we’re at the bottom, but there’s a lot of teams down close to us," Anderson said. "I’ve told our guys, ‘Hey, there’s still a lot of basketball to play. There’s a lot that can be done.’
"Obviously we haven’t done very well. But I think our guys have worked hard in practice. Their attitude’s been good. I just hope something good happens because that’ll help us even more."
Some information for this article was contributed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch