Coming off their hard-fought 76-73 overtime win against a good Texas A&M team on Saturday the Razorbacks looked to pick up their fifth straight conference victory on Wednesday night against Ole Miss. The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams. Ole Miss employed a one-three one zone defense that gave Arkansas fits, but the Razorbacks were able to play great defense themselves and take a 30-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. Arkansas, the team that has made more free throws than anyone in the country didn’t attempt a single one in the first half. With 17:27 to go in the 2nd half Au’Diese Toney for Arkansas finally got to the line to extend their lead to 32-29 and halt the Rebels 6-0 run. The rebels continued to implement the one-three-one defense in the second half, but Arkansas attacked it much better than they did in the first half. JD Notae, the SEC’s leading scorer made plays all game and impacted the game not only with his scoring but his passing, finding the openings in the Rebels defense when they were there. Arkansas never trailed in the game and was completely in control from start to finish, even though the Rebels were in the game for the majority of it. Not surprisingly, JD Notae led all scorers with 25 big points to go along with five assists. Jaylin Williams, another key contributor to this Arkansas team had 18 points to go with eight rebounds and Trey Wade shot four of four from the field giving him 10 points on the night. With the 64-55 win, Arkansas improved to 15-5 overall and 5-3 in the SEC staying red hot. The Rebels fell to 10-10 overall and 2-6 in the SEC. Arkansas will face a tough test on Saturday at 1:00 central standard time as they host the West Virginia Mountaineers coached by legendary head coach Bob Huggins in the Big 12/SEC challenge. This will be a great opportunity for Arkansas to get an impressive win and continue to strengthen their NCAA tournament resume. Arkansas head coach Eric Mussellman emphatically said in a postgame interview with SEC Network “One thing I know for sure though, Bud Walton will be rocking on Saturday. That I know.”
