Arkansas backed up a 19-point loss to Tennessee on Tuesday night with, well, another double-digit loss, this time to Ole Miss on the road Saturday, 84-67.
They never led in the game, which drops the record to 10-7 overall and an eye-opening 1-4 in SEC play.
With a schedule that’s going to get a little easier because Missouri on Wednesday in a late game, then back on the road to Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Many fans starting to mumble about the direction of the program this past week and that’s going to increase in volume and intensity. Mike Anderson won’t really notice because he doesn’t pay much attention to the noise out there.
Maybe the most disturbing thing Saturday was the way the Rebels simply out-hustled the Razorbacks. It was Ole Miss that played the fastest 40 minutes Saturday.
For a team with a reputation as a fast-paced, aggressive offense, the Hogs got zero fast-break points against the Rebels. Zero.
While they improved in some areas. They hit 81 percent from the free-throw line and out-scored Ole Miss there, 17-15, but Ole Miss put up 11 more shots in the game and made 48 percent of them.
Once again, Arkansas was out-rebounded, out-shot and out-rebounded. They finally hit free throws, but couldn’t do anything else.
But what I kept coming back to was the way Ole Miss simply seemed to want it more. They were going after every loose ball, contesting nearly every shot.
Add to that Daniel Gafford’s struggles to score when the an opponent makes it a point to take him out of the game. The Hogs’ center scored just 9 points Saturday, breaking a double-digit scoring.
In the last two games against the Vols and Ole Miss, Gafford has scored a combined total of 19 points and 17 rebounds.
The Hogs aren’t going to win many games with their best player averaging 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.
A couple of games ago, Arkansas’ bench didn’t produce a point. Against Ole Miss they put up 35. Keyshawn Embery-Simpson led the Hogs with 16 points off the bench.
Reggie Chaney, who had been making progress lately, scored just 4 points and got one rebound in the game Saturday. Isaiah Joe’s struggles continued, getting 11 points, but going 4-of-11 from the field.
Everybody who had been performing well disappeared.
Mason Jones had 5 points, Jalen Harris just 3. Worse, Jones played 31 minutes and got two rebounds.
None of it looked good, which is now the second straight game Arkansas has really not looked good.
It’s not pretty. Anderson knows this.
He also knows it may get worse before it gets better.
