FAYETTEVILLE — When Arkansas-Ole Miss turned into an offensive game instead of a defensive one Wednesday, second-year Rebels coach Kermit Davis knew bad things were in store for his team.
Because while the Razorbacks lead the SEC in scoring at 85 points per game, the Rebels are offensively challenged and rank 12th at 70 points per game.
Arkansas (13-4, 5-4 SEC) would end up racing to a 20-point lead early the second half and won its third straight game by downing Ole Miss 74-59 at Bud Walton Arena.
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“Right now with our inability to generate points and having some guys that we thought were going to be able to score not doing so, we are struggling and I take full responsibility for that,” Davis said. “We have got to continue to work, but we have got to improve defensively because that is all we can hang our hats on.”
Arkansas led 37-27 at halftime, getting out of the gate slow due to several turnovers that resulted in easy baskets for the visitors.
“We were able to take care of the ball in the first half and get some points off their turnovers,” Davis said. “We had a chance in the second half, but in order for our team to win games, we have to try and make it a game in the high 50s, low 60s. It’s just tough for us offensively right now so we have to great in other areas.”
Ole Miss (8-7, 3-5) had won its last two games over Mississippi State and Texas A&M by holding both teams to 50 points or less.
“We just have to keep working at it,” Davis said. “We needed to hang our hats defensively tonight and 75 (points) was just too many for us right now.”
Ole Miss missed its first 14 3-point attempts and went 1 of 16 overall from beyond the arc. The Razorbacks ran two defenders at the Rebels' point guard near half court.
It is a strategy Arkansas coach Eric Musselman has used at times this season to neutralize an opponent’s best player. It seemed to take all five players out of rhythm for the Rebels, who shot 43.9% overall.
“All they do is just take two guys and run at the ball at half court,” Davis said. “We worked on it all week. All you have to do is to get it across and play 4-on-3. But we didn’t make any plays....Somebody just has to make a play. We missed some open shots and had nobody making others better.”
Davis also gave credit to Arkansas 7-3 forward Connor Vanover, who was credited with five blocked shots.
“I thought the big kid, he had four blocks and he intimidated us around the block a few times,” Davis said. “We couldn't score on the post. We just have to get some more guys that can score and just go right at them. We couldn’t get them out of it.”
The Rebels look different in the third year under Davis, who was the SEC's coach of the year in 2019.
“Our first year here we could win games 80-76 or 81-76 or whatever,” Davis said. “That’s just college basketball. The other night two great defensive teams — West Virginia and Texas Tech — and it was 89-87.”
Davis was blunt with his assessment of the game to his team.
“We are 15 games in and it’s a pretty good sculpture of who you are as a team,” Davis said. “We are struggling scoring. We can try to play in transition. Tonight we didn’t get a lot of stops to get into transition.”
Davis was worried during the preseason that Ole Miss — the last Power 5 team in the nation to start its season this year, on Dec. 11 — would be challenged offensively.
“It has just kind of hit us all at once,” Davis said. “I saw it about the end of October, but I didn’t know it was going to be this kind of struggle. I thought we could get out of it, but it is just kind of who we are right now.
“So we have to just force ourselves to guard, rebound and be the toughest team in the gym. That is the only way we are going to have a chance to win.”