FAYETTEVILLE -- After Ole Miss beat the University of Arkansas basketball team 84-67 on Jan. 19, Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said his players' confidence had been "kind of shattered" by a four-game losing streak.
It was the longest losing streak Arkansas had suffered in Anderson's eight seasons as coach.
Three games later, the Razorbacks (12-8, 3-4 SEC) are feeling better about themselves.
Arkansas has won back-to-back SEC games for the first time this season after beating Georgia 70-60 on Tuesday night in Walton Arena.
"We needed that win," said Razorbacks freshman forward Reggie Chaney, who had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in 25 minutes off the bench. "From here on out, we're really just focused on the little things that we were getting away from that was costing us games."
The Razorbacks broke their losing streak with a 72-60 victory over Missouri at home Jan. 23. Then they pushed No. 16 Texas Tech to the limit on the road before the Red Raiders held on 67-64 on Saturday.
"I'm just going to say we're going to keep working hard and keep getting better every day and keep building the confidence we're building as a team -- because we're getting a lot of confidence in that locker room," sophomore guard Mason Jones said after leading Arkansas with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists against Georgia. "As long as we're building that, it's going to be real good."
The Bulldogs (10-10, 1-6) have struggled to win SEC games, but they have victories over Georgia Tech and Texas -- two teams that beat Arkansas.
Georgia Coach Tom Crean, asked whether he views the Razorbacks as a team capable of getting on a run, said he wouldn't know why not.
"They have all the ingredients," Crean said. "They have inside play, they have shooting, they have a point guard. Extremely well coached, good depth and they play incredibly aggressive."
The Razorbacks also are young and inexperienced. They are among nine NCAA Division I teams without a senior and are one of two teams along with Duquesne to have just one scholarship junior.
"They're starting to figure some things out," Anderson said of the improvement he's seen from his players the past three games. "I think that's what it is. They're starting to figure it out and starting to trust each other.
"I think the communication on defense is so much better than it was early on. When you do that and your defense is good, then that will help trigger some offensive things. We're a work in progress. We just have to continue to get better."
The Razorbacks held Georgia to a season-low 29.2 percent shooting and forced 16 turnovers while having just 4 turnovers themselves.
Arkansas forced Missouri into 24 turnovers and Texas Tech into 21.
The Razorbacks also had 14 blocked shots against Georgia -- their most ever in an SEC game -- led by Chaney and sophomore forward Daniel Gafford, who combined for nine. Gafford had four blocked shots to match his season high. He also had four blocked shots against California-Davis, Florida International and Austin Peay.
Arkansas 6-2 sophomore point guard Jalen Harris had a career-high two blocked shots.
The previous high for blocked shots by the Razorbacks in an SEC game was 12 against Georgia in 2011 and Texas A&M in 2015.
"It was good to get a win at the crib," Jones said. "It was good to see us keep developing as a team, knowing that at Texas Tech it wasn't a fluke that we played good defense.
"We brought it again [Tuesday night]. As long as we keep fixing our errors, then we're growing and that's a good thing to see. I know that Coach emphasized that, that we should keep growing as a team and keep working hard and that's what we're doing."
Sports on 01/31/2019