FAYETTEVILLE — For at least one day this season and with members of the program’s 1994 national championship looking on, Arkansas players and the Bud Walton Arena magic came alive.
Mason Jones scored 22 points, Daniel Gafford added 17 and Jalen Harris 10 points, including the game-winning basket on a driving layup with 5.9 seconds remaining in a 74-73 win over Ole Miss on Saturday.
The Rebels (19-10, 9-7 SEC) committed a turnover in the backcourt and the loose ball found itself in the hands of Razorback sophomore Gabe Osabuohien to end the Razorbacks' six-game losing streak.
“It was special,” said Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, an assistant on the 1994 national championship team. “Obviously I was a part of it so to have them in the audience and to witness it and think about the games that we have had. A lot of our games have gone down to the wire and so for our guys to overcome some adversity says a lot.”
Arkansas cut an eight-point, first-half deficit down to 35-34 by halftime. During the intermission, former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson and several members of his team were introduced.
He urged the fans to make a difference and help Arkansas rally in the second half.
“Our guys fought and left it on the floor and it was great to have the national championship team here,” Anderson said. “There were a lot of memories with Coach Richardson, a hall of fame coach, here in attendance and so what better way…They saw a great game that went back and forth and we had one more stop in us and we were fortunate to win the game.”
Anderson noted he had former team members Clint McDaniel and Elmer Martin speak to the team Friday.
“I like for those guys to come in and share their experiences and observations,” Anderson said, “and one of the things, I think it was Clint that made the statement that, 'We played here 25 years ago and obviously we did some great things, but now we live through you guys now.’
“I thought it kind of resonated with our guys and they also talked about how one thing about Razorbacks is that, 'Nobody outworks us. They can’t outwork us.’ So we talked about the finish to the game and our guys worked to win this game.
“From that standpoint of getting the win and having them here and having guys that understand what it takes to win a national championship, I think that is special.”
Gafford said the Razorbacks (15-14, 6-10) would likely not have pulled out the win if the energy of the former players and fans had not been in the building on Saturday.
There were 17,320 tickets sold and 9,942 tickets scanned. The actual attendance was likely somewhere in between.
“It was pretty big to have them here,” Gafford said. “They kind of fueled some of our energy, so they were here and had energy for us, the crowd had energy for us. If it wasn't for the crowd we probably wouldn't have pulled this out because we had to feed off them. They got loud at the end and helped us out, and you couldn't ask for nothing else.”
Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis knew his team was coming in to an emotional setting.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Davis said. “The last time I’ve been at Bud Walton I was an assistant at LSU and Nolan had some good teams. It’s a great atmosphere. It’s always been such a great venue and Arkansas fans are unbelievable to come out like they did and the team had lost six in a row. It’s a tribute to Arkansas basketball.
“I told our guys, ‘The building is going to have a lot of juice honoring the ’94 team and the second half Bud Walton came alive during their run. The greatest thing about the SEC coming back in it is the crowds everywhere. It’s amazing. Arkansas has always drawn here but the home-court advantages are picking up at all the places in the SEC.”
Arkansas will finish up its regular season with a game at Vanderbilt (9-19, 0-15) on Wednesday and have a home game with Alabama on Saturday before heading to the SEC Tournament the following week in Nashville, Tenn.