Struggling Hogs have just enough
FAYETTEVILLE — It probably wasn’t good enough to win on a neutral court in mid-March, but Arkansas’ level of play Saturday was enough to trump a struggling Ole Miss team.
The Razorbacks shot poorly from the perimeter and stunk it up from the free-throw line but outmuscled Mississippi for a 75-69 victory at Walton Arena.
“It was going to come down to a dogfight,” said Arkansas big man Darian Townes, who made 5 of 8 shots but missed 5 of 9 free throws.
“We knew they were going to make some tough shots, and that’s what they did. But we played tough defense, and we kept the lead.”
The Razorbacks won the rebounding battle 47-39 against the Rebels, the SEC leader in rebound margin.
But Arkansas shot 19 of 32 (59. 4 percent ) from the freethrow line and allowed 9 of 19 (47. 4 percent ) three-point shooting.
“We had some fundamental things we didn’t do, things you can’t do in league play, missing free throws, not guarding the three-point line,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “We didn’t have it all for 40 minutes tonight, but we got the win.” Warren impresses
Arkansas cleaned up on football prospects from Warren earlier in the week, then Warren came into Fayetteville and cleaned up from three-point range against the Razorbacks.
Ole Miss freshman Chris Warren hit 6 of 8 three-point shots, scored 26 points and kept his Rebels in contention all afternoon.
“He’s great player,” Arkansas senior Sonny Weems said. “He’s going to be the SEC Freshman of the Year.... He can shoot the hell out of it.”
Warren’s three-point production matched the entire output by the Razorbacks, who made 6 of 25 shots from beyond the arc.
“One of the best freshmen in the league and in the nation,” Arkansas sophomore Patrick Beverley said of Warren. “Some people say he’s small. He doesn’t weigh a lot. From what he did out there tonight, you’ve got to give him a lot of credit and a lot of respect. He came out there and played like an upperclassman today.” Warren scored 15 of Ole Miss’ 16 points, including 3 three-pointers, during a stretch in which the Rebels sliced a 59-51 lead down to 70-67 entering the final 49 seconds of the game. Drought central Both teams suffered severe scoring droughts in the first half. Ole Miss hit the first bucket of the game on an Eniel Polynice putback at the 19: 10 mark, then didn’t score again until another Polynice secondchance score at 11: 26. The scoreless streak lasted 7: 44. Arkansas led 16-4 at that point, but the Razorbacks endured a shooting slump of their own, missing five consecutive shots and going four minutes between baskets before Patrick Beverley drove the left baseline on a feed from Charles Thomas for a lay-in and an 18-7 Arkansas lead.
Back home Ole Miss forward Jermey Parnell saw his first action in four games. The Gosnell product suffered a high ankle sprain in the conference opener at Tennessee on Jan. 9, played 13 minutes against Florida the following week, then needed four games to recover. Parnell did not score in 13 minutes on 0-for-1 shooting, but he had two rebounds.
Around the rim With his 22 points against Ole Miss, Arkansas’ Sonny Weems now has six 20-point games on the season. Weems has reached the 20-point mark in three of the past four games and in four of the Razorbacks’ eight SEC games.... The Razorbacks’ 39. 1 percent shooting marked their third performance of less than 40 percent on the season. All of those games have come at home, and Arkansas has won each of the three games. The Hogs shot a season-low 36. 1 percent in a 78-58 victory against Mississippi State and hit at a 37. 3 percent clip in a 71-67 overtime victory against Alabama. v
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