Hogs Blow Halftime Lead, Opportunity They Can’t Get Back

Mike Neighbors puts all options on table after fourth straight loss falling to Ole Miss

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's gut-check time for Arkansas and Mike Neighbors probably knows it better than anybody.

"Some of our behavior probably needs to start lining up with our expectations," he said after the Razorbacks blew a 19-point halftime lead against Ole Miss before a rowdy Bud Walton crowd in a 76-73 loss.

Some may call it an upset, but that would be mostly folks that hadn't looked at the Rebels' 6-2 record coming into the game and figured the Hogs' three straight losses were against three of the best teams in the SEC (LSU, South Carolina and Alabama).

Then again, you got the idea from Neighbors later he might have had an idea they were headed for something like this.

"It's not an upset to me," he said. "I will make sure they know that. It's nothing more than an opportunity that we won't get back. If you keep letting opportunities go, later in life you'll have regrets.

"I don't want them to have regrets. As long as we're doing everything we can do in losing, fine."

That leads back to the whole behavior and expectations thing. The bottom-line translate to that is they need to practice better to be as good as they think they are.

Neighbors didn't say that. It's taking a stab at reading between the lines.

"If we want to handle the ball, we need to work on our ball-handling," he said. "If we want to shoot the ball, we probably need to be shooting extra. If we want to be the lockdown defensive player, you probably need to be watching more than 11 minutes of film that week."

The coaches know, as they should. If the players didn't know this, they are probably aware by now.

"We've got these little devices that tell us how much film they're watching," Neighbors said.

This loss may have left him with questions about what he's been doing. With just seven games left on the schedule and shrinking chances to impove their post-season possibilities they can't slip up any more.

"Maybe I over-estimated our ability to attack," he said, obviously second and third-guessing just about everything right now. "Our decision-making may be at fault. It could be the plays we're calling.

"Maybe we're not able to function as fast as we have been in the past. I'm going to be open to all options."

Arkansas Razorbacks Erynn Barnum against the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

Arkansas (17-7, 4-5 SEC) couldn't finish the job against Ole Miss (18-4, 7-2 SEC) on Sunday, falling to the Rebels in overtime, 76-73.

In the first half, Arkansas led 39-20 going into halftime, holding the Rebels to 26.5 percent from the field.

"We set basketball back 15 years in the first half," Ole Miss coach Yollett McPhee-McCuin said later.

The story was different in the second half, as Ole Miss outscored Arkansas 44-25, while outrebounding the Razorbacks 25-8.

In overtime, Ole Miss outscored the Razorbacks 12-9 to clinch the 76-73 win.

Erynn Barnum went on a tear in the loss, scoring a career-high 37 points, which goes down as the seventh most points scored by a Razorback in a game in school history.

Arkansas got rolling early thanks to aggressive play from Barnum under the basket to give the Razorbacks seven of their first nine points of the game, leading 9-2 under three minutes into the game. At the media timeout, Arkansas led 12-4.

The Razorbacks were held scoreless from the field for nearly four minutes, which allowed the Rebels to get on an 8-0 run out of the timeout to tie the game at 12-12.

Barnum dug the Razorbacks out of their scoring drought with a second-chance layup and a few minutes later, Ole Miss took their first lead of the game off a jumper. With less than a minute left in the quarter, Barnum knocked down a triple, as the Razorbacks led 18-16 after one quarter.

After an Ole Miss basket, Samara Spencer earned her first points of the game off a 3-pointer, as the Razorbacks retook the lead, 21-18. Barnum kept her hot shooting going with another triple and after a Spencer layup, Arkansas went up 26-18 with 6:22 left in the second, forcing Ole Miss to take a timeout.

Arkansas Razorbacks Samara Spencer against the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

The Rebels scored out of the timeout, but that would be their last basket of the quarter with 6:06 to go in the second frame. Arkansas kept pouring it on, closing out the quarter on a 13-0 run, as Spencer knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game.

Barnum came up with another layup and following a bad pass by Ole Miss, Makayla Daniels capitalized with a layup to help Arkansas tally four points in four seconds. The Razorbacks held Ole Miss to just four points in the second quarter, a season low for opponents in a quarter. Arkansas went into the locker room up 39-20.

Ole Miss scored its first points in over six minutes with two free throws and followed that up with layups on back-to-back possessions.

Barnum got the Razorbacks their first points of the second half with a layup to bring her point total up to 20.

At the media timeout with 4:58 left in the third, Arkansas led 45-33. Ole Miss cut the lead to 10, but with a Spencer floater, Arkansas led 47-35 with three minutes left in the third.

Barnum hit her third 3-pointer of the game to elevate the Razorbacks ahead by 15, but Ole Miss scored two baskets to cut the lead, as Arkansas led 50-39 going into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Rebels capitalized on their first two possessions with layups to make it a seven points game, 50-43, with 8:55 remaining in the contest.

Ole Miss came up with another layup out of the timeout, but Spencer delivered a layup for the Razorbacks’ first points of the fourth quarter. Barnum tied her career-high with 27 points off a wide-open layup. Ole Miss made it a three-point game, 54-51 with a little more than five minutes left in the game.

Barnum then made two free throws and another layup to extend her point total to 31. Ole Miss went on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 58 and then led with 2:31 left in the game.

A Chrissy Carr free throw and two from Daniels helped Arkansas retake the lead, 61-60, with less than two minutes left in the game.

Arkansas didn’t score a field goal for four minutes, and found themselves down, 62-61, with 1:14 left in the game. Barnum got fouled in the process of getting a layup to put the Razorbacks back ahead, 63-62 with seven seconds left.

After a defensive stop by the Razorbacks, Barnum was fouled and made one of two free throws to lead by two. With seven seconds left, Ole Miss made a layup as time expired, forcing overtime with the game tied at 64.

After Ole Miss got a bucket to start overtime, Barnum answered on the other end with an and-1. A Daniels floater helped the Razorbacks retake the lead, 71-70 with 2:11 left in overtime.

That was the only lead Arkansas would have for the remainder of the game, as Ole Miss retook the lead with a layup, which started a 6-2 run to end the game. Arkansas fell in a heartbreaker, 76-73.

Hogs Highlights

• Barnum scored a career-high 37 points, which is the seventh most in a game in school history. She also added six rebounds and three assists, as well as tied a career-high three 3-pointers

• Spencer logged 16 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals

• Daniels recorded 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals

• Arkansas held Ole Miss to 1-for-11, 9.1 percent, from beyond the arc

• Arkansas held Ole Miss to four points in the second quarter, which is a season best for Arkansas in a quarter

Next Game

Next on the docket is at Auburn on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network from Neville Arena.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

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