FAYETTEVILLE -- The longest losing streak in Mike Anderson's 17 seasons as a college basketball head coach is over.
The University of Arkansas, where Anderson is in his eighth season as coach, beat Ole Miss 74-73 on Saturday in Walton Arena to end a six-game skid.
Anderson's teams at Alabama-Birmingham, Missouri and Arkansas hadn't endured losing streaks longer than four games before the Razorbacks suffered consecutive defeats at South Carolina and Missouri, against Mississippi State at home, at Auburn, against Texas A&M at home and at Kentucky.
Before the Razorbacks (15-14, 6-10 SEC) edged Ole Miss on Jalen Harris' driving basket with 5.9 seconds left and secured the victory with a steal by Gabe Osabuohien, it had been nearly a month since Arkansas won -- 69-66 over Vanderbilt on Feb. 5 in Walton Arena.
"I told our guys it's March, and this is when some of our teams play some of our better basketball," Anderson said of breaking the losing streak against an Ole Miss team projected to make the NCAA Tournament.
"So maybe it could be one of those defining moments. We'll see. It's not like we're playing bad basketball."
The Razorbacks improved to 6-10 in games decided by seven or fewer points, including 3-2 in one-point games.
"After this type of win, it can't get no better than that," Arkansas sophomore forward Daniel Gafford said. "It's a feeling of relief, because we basically thought we let the program down.
"We weren't getting the wins that we needed, so we just had to come out and play basketball and find a way to break that losing streak. Nobody likes losing, especially not us."
Arkansas and Ole Miss had 21 lead changes -- 19 in the second half -- and were tied four times.
"It was like lead change after lead change after lead change," Gafford said. "In that situation, you just have to keep your cool.
"It always comes down to the person that can finish in the end. We wanted it more today and we wanted the game a lot, and we just learned how to finish today."
Arkansas scored baskets on its final two possessions -- including Gafford's dunk on a lob pass from Harris -- and Osabuohien made steals on Ole Miss' last two possessions.
"The thing I like about it is that we didn't panic," Anderson said. "We stayed the course, and when you stay the course, eventually it should come out hopefully the way you want it to come."
Adding to the satisfaction for the Razorbacks was winning with Arkansas' 1994 team in Walton Arena to be honored on the 25th anniversary of winning the national championship.
"I was a part of that team," said Anderson, an Arkansas assistant coach in 1994. "So to have them in the audience and to witness it was special."
Arkansas, which is tied for 10th with Texas A&M in the SEC standings, has a chance to go on a winning streak to close the regular season with games at Vanderbilt (9-20, 0-16) on Wednesday night and against Alabama (17-12, 8-8) in Walton Arena on Saturday.
"A lot of our games have gone down to the wire," Anderson said. "So for our guys to overcome some adversity says a lot."
Sports on 03/04/2019