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Arkansas beats Ole Miss at less than best Sunday, Feb 10, 2008 By Harry King FAYETTEVILLE - The quote about beauty being in the eye of the beholder kicked in during the second half of Arkansas over Mississippi. To me, 75-69 was the most impressive victory of the current four-game winning streak because the Razorbacks won at less than their best against an opponent that refused to surrender. Critiques spring from criteria and I can understand why some will argue for Arkansas 78, Mississippi State 58 and-or Arkansas 80, Florida 61 ahead of Saturday's final. The margins were large against an MSU that was on the cusp of the national rankings and a Florida that was No. 20. On the other hand, the Rebels were third by default in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference and desperately seeking .500. Neither MSU nor Florida did much to help themselves against the Razorbacks. MSU suffered turnovers galore; Florida shot atrociously. Trailing by 15 at the half, the Bulldogs never got closer than seven points. Down 25 at the break, the Gators played the second half to fulfill an obligation. Ole Miss was different. This one was in doubt until Sonny Weems got into the lane for a shot that crawled over the rim for 72-67 with 20 seconds to play. Instead of wondering how Arkansas could get out to 16-2 and be tied at 36, appreciate the way the Razorbacks responded to that predicament. Much of the second half, the Razorbacks were asked to fend off the Rebels and never did they permit Ole Miss to get the lead. "We had some fundamental things we didn't do," said Arkansas coach John Pelphrey. "The good part about ... is we just kept playing." It was encouraging that the contributions came from a mixed bag of players. ? Chris Warren's quickness produced a Kenny Williams dunk and 36-36 with 17:33 left and Pelphrey didn't wait on the media timeout to stop the clock. Out of the timeout, Charles Thomas' pass to Darian Townes was worth a dunk for the lead and Dwayne Curtis shot a give-up hook when he couldn't come up with anything else. Shooting right-handed from the left side, David Huertas missed in close and Arkansas zipped to the other end where Sonny Weems delivered a pass to Patrick Beverley in the corner. His 3 made it 42-36. ? At 42-40, Townes contributed a rebound basket at one end and a rebound at the other. Weems' free throw upped the lead to five. ? At 45-43, Weems answered Huertas' 3 with one of his own, his second make in nine attempts from outside. It was Weems again, unperturbed by a blocked shot, who went to the corner and was good for 52-43. ? A foul on Gary Ervin bailed out Arkansas on a waste-of-time possession and Pelphrey explained things to Weems on his left and Beverley on his right. Ervin made both ends of a one-and-one and then whipped a pass to Beverley for another 3 and 64-55. ? Warren went nuts late, making two long 3s and taking the ball away from Weems for a layup, as the Rebels closed to 70-67 with 51 seconds left. The Rebels opted to drop back on defense and that's when Weems worked inside. Arkansas was in front by 14 at the 12:38 mark because the Rebels had a half-dozen turnovers and had missed nine shots. The poor shooting was infectious. During the first 15 minutes, Arkansas averaged a 3-point attempt per minute and made two. Weems missed his first six from long range. Despite the winning streak and the 6-2 SEC record, I am not ready to board the bandwagon. I thought Arkansas would be up against it down the stretch against Mississippi State or Florida. Instead, it was that way against the Rebels. The next step is to prevail in a similar situation when the crowd is hostile and the opponent is talented. Right on cue, the Razorbacks will be in Knoxville on Wednesday night against 21-2 Tennessee. After that comes Mississippi State at Starkville. A 1-1 week would go a long way toward a division title. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
