Arkansas, Ole Miss having a tough go in SEC play

Arkansas and Ole Miss are both struggling in the early stages of the Southeastern Conference season as they prepare to meet Wednesday night in Oxford, Miss.

The Razorbacks (10-8, 1-4 SEC) have had some of their toughest times at home and hope to do better away from Fayetteville, Ark.

The Rebels (15-3, 2-3) lost two road games last week, but they haven’t lost in 11 home games this season.

Ole Miss has entered the AP Top 25 twice in coach Chris Beard’s first season, but they fell out of it for a second time Monday after an 82-59 loss at then-No. 13 Auburn on Saturday.

“A lot of good is going on in our program as we build this thing year one,” Beard said. “I’ve still got a lot of belief in our guys.”

The Rebels fell behind the Tigers by 19 points at halftime and couldn’t sustain a run in the second half. They finished with a season-worst 17 turnovers.

“We’ve got to stay the course,” Beard said. “We’ve been a good offensive team in a lot of our games this year. It starts with taking care of the ball.”

The Razorbacks recently had a difficult game of their own against Auburn, losing at home to the Tigers 83-51 on Jan. 6. Last Saturday, they never led and trailed by as many as 19 points in a 77-64 home loss to South Carolina.

“We’ve had two home games where we’re not exhibiting the energy that we need to,” coach Eric Musselman said.

He described his team’s shortcomings as “a whole bunch of stuff.” Arkansas’ SEC losses have come by an average of 19.3 points.

“The team has got to play harder and tougher,” Musselman said. “We all see it. Ultimately it falls on coaches, so we have to do our part as well.

“I’m used to having really competitive groups that are super connected, so we’ve got to try to help this group as much as we can moving forward.”

–Field Level Media