How Arkansas basketball used improving defense to beat Ole Miss 64-55

Arkansas men's basketball won its fifth straight game Wednesday, besting Ole Miss 64-55.

The low-scoring contest saw both Arkansas (15-5, 5-3 SEC) and Ole Miss (10-10, 2-6) struggle to make shots early, but Arkansas' defense and productive nights from Trey Wade, JD Notae and Jaylin Williams lifted the Razorbacks on the road.

"To go on the road in this league and lead for 38 minutes and have the home team only lead for a 1:12 is a testament to how hard we played," Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said.

Wade was perfect from the field, going 4-for-4 including a pair of 3-pointers and finishing with 12 points and four assists.

Notae led Arkansas in scoring for the second straight game, finishing with 25 points on 10-for-23 shooting with five assists and five turnovers. Williams led the Razorbacks in rebounding with eight boards and scored 18 points.

"I think sometimes losing can grasp the attention of your players, and I think that happened," Musselman said of the five straight wins. "As a staff, we kept tinkering and tinkering. I don’t think at any point in the offseason we thought that (Notae, Williams, Wade, Au'Diese Toney and Stanley Umude) would be our starting lineup, but it is the best lineup for us and how we want to play."

Improved defense continues

Arkansas' defense has been much-improved in conference play, and before Wednesday's game Musselman credited that improvement with the win streak. Defense against Ole Miss helped stretch that streak to five.

For the first time, Arkansas has held SEC opponents in back-to-back road games to fewer than 60 points.

"Defensively right now, at least through this stretch, we’re playing at an elite level," Musselman said. "I think we’ve been much more defensively disciplined than we were earlier."

Three-point defense had been a struggle for Arkansas this season, but since starting SEC play the Razorbacks are doing better against the 3.

Before conference play, opponents were shooting 36.4% from 3-point range, which put Arkansas' defense at 13th in the SEC. In SEC games, Arkansas' opponents are shooting 31%, putting the Razorbacks ninth in the league.

Arkansas held Ole Miss, which ranks fifth in the SEC in 3-point percentage, to 4-of-18 from 3-point range.

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Far fewer free throws

Free-throw shooting has been a staple of Arkansas' win streak. The Razorbacks rank first in the country in free throws made and second in attempts. Their 74.3% free-throw percentage leads the SEC.

Arkansas did not go to the foul line in the first half against Ole Miss. The Razorbacks average about 23 free-throw attempts per game, making Wednesday's game a major outlier.

The Razorbacks' first attempt came two-and-a-half minutes into the second half, when Au'Diese Toney went to the line and made both.

By the end of the game, Arkansas had attempted 12, its lowest mark of the season, and it only reached that because of intentional fouls by Ole Miss. The Razorbacks made 7 of 12.

"The name of the game is just to try to win," Musselman said. "We’re not trying to just draw free throws because we lead the country in that category. Tonight, you have to credit the opposition for understanding that FTAs is a big part of our game from an offensive standpoint."

Up next

Arkansas hosts West Virginia on Saturday (1 p.m. CT, ESPN2) at Bud Walton Arena. The matchup is one of 10 games in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and Arkansas' eighth consecutive year participating in the event.

Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks. You can email her at clong@swtimes.com or follow her on Twitter @christinalong00.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas men's basketball wins fifth straight, beats Ole Miss 64-55