Ole Miss falls 73-72 to Arkansas in SEC Tournament

The Daily Mississippian It would be hard to fault Ole Miss’ effort against Arkansas on Friday night, but that didn’t necessarily equate to the adequate amount of plays that it needed to make in order to advance to the semifinals of the SEC tournament and keep its slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The Rebels fell to Arkansas 73-72 in a physical, hard-fought contest that was played at the pace of a foot race.
“Arkansas made the plays down the stretch. We had opportunities, and I was proud our effort. I thought our guys played extremely hard and battled,” Kennedy said. “We put ourselves in position and just couldn’t quite make the plays.”
Ole Miss – tired legs and all – let the three ball fly in this one, and it benefitted them early. The Rebels made seven three pointers in the first half and took command of the glass. Sebastian Saiz had eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes and the team held a 23-19 rebounding advantage over a big Arkansas team. But the Razorbacks’ length did its damage on the defensive end of the floor, and bothered Saiz with it. He had just five shot attempts in the first half and missed all them. He finished 4-16 from the field which was good for 9 points, along with 17 rebounds.
“I don’t think they were doing anything special. I just couldn’t put the ball inside the basket,” Saiz said. “I don’t know if I was just trying to rush it and trying to make all the plays. I just couldn’t get the ball in.”
Moses Kingsley imposed his 6-foot-1o frame on Saiz and didn’t let him establish anything on the block, and for a team that needed baskets down the stretch, Ole Miss could certainly have used the offense.
The game was tied at 40 at halftime,  following an opening ...


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