Arkansas led this game at halftime.
Things looked solid in the beginning. Moses Kingsley came out strong with 15 and 7 at the break. Jimmy Whitt scored 9 points in 5 minutes. Anthlon Bell and Anton Beard each hit a three. Ole Miss kept the game close via a three-point barrage in the middle of the half, but Stefan Moody was held to just 1 point on 0-8 shooting, so it was easy to be optimistic.
After halftime things went differently.
The Razorbacks reverted back to Mississippi State mode in the second half. The Hogs only made 5 field goals in the entire half. They shot 17.9%. Bell managed to scrape together 11 second-half points, but half of that was from the free throw line. In fact, 11 of Arkansas' 23 second half points all came from the stripe. Dusty Hannahs didn't score a single point the entire game (one of his two attempted threes was from a few feet beyond NBA range). Meanwhile, Ole Miss finished with five players in double figures, including Moody, who finished with 17 points.
The second half was absolutely terrible.
It's fair to start wondering at this point if the team is just out of gas. It's well-established that none of the starters are accustomed to playing this many minutes. This season is starting to feel much like Mike Anderson's first at Arkansas, in which the Hogs came out better than expected and even became a fringe bubble team by the end of January, only to effectively hit the wall and collapse in February.
More signs that the team is tired are guards getting in foul trouble. Hannahs had three in the first half and picked up his fourth quickly after halftime. Also, shots hitting the front of the rim. Also, rebounding problems. Ole Miss killed the Hogs in 2nd-chance points 15-4, and until late, dominated the Hogs in offensive rebounds.
After this disastrous week of games in Mississippi, the Hogs do get to host SEC cellar-dwellers Missouri and Auburn this week. If the Razorbacks have anything left they'll have to show it this week, as both games should be wins. Talk of an at-large berth to a postseason tournament is on the shelf for now since the team has fallen back below .500. The question for the team now is whether they can finish with a winning season. Four of the last six regular season games are in Bud Walton. If the team can pull it out, it has to start this week.