Razorback senior forward Jalen Graham (#11) from Phoenix, AZ slam dunks for two against Mississippi State Saturday night at 

Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. Photo by Craven Whitlow.

By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- All the feel good after a big road win at Kentucky turned into disappointment on Saturday evening at home with Arkansas falling to Mississippi State 70-64.

The game pitted two of the hottest teams in the SEC with the Razorbacks having won five SEC games in a row. Mississippi State came into the game with a four-game winning streak. It wasn't a fluke either with the Bulldogs leading for 35 minutes, five seconds of the game including a 16-point advantage, 43-27, with 15:45 remaining in the action. Arkansas did fight back to get as close as three points, but just couldn't get over the hump. Eric Musselman talked about being unable to dig out of the hole they dug earlier in the game.

"Obviously, give Mississippi State a ton of credit," Musselman said. "I thought they were really physical. Proud of the second half effort, scoring 41 points. Defensively, first half, not who we are at all. First half offensively not who we are. Their guards, I thought (Shakeel) Moore and Dashawn Davis did an excellent job. Those two guys, their shot selection from three going four of five. Tough to overcome when their guards are so efficient from three, and then their team went six of 10 from three."

Arkansas was 4 of 18 from behind the 3-point line. Nick Smith Jr. returned to action and scored five points in 17 minutes. Smith didn't start and entered the game at the 12:46 mark in first half. It was just his sixth game of the season and the missed time showed on Saturday. Musselman was asked if Smith was on a minute's restriction?

"There was no minutes restriction," Musselman said.

Musselman then went on to talk about how he felt Smith played and also the task of integrating him into the rotation.

"That's a dilemma that we have to try to figure out and solve trying to integrate him in," Musselman said. "I thought he played fine. But we have to play better as a team for sure."

But Smith wasn't the issue on Saturday. Arkansas' top two scorers, Devo Davis and Ricky Council IV, combined to go 3 of 17 from the field including 1 of 7 from deep. Davis hit a 3-pointer for his first field goal with 10:40 remaining in the game. Council put down his first field goal with just 2:15 left in the contest.

Council was 11 of 13 from the free throw line and finished with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists. Davis added seven points, six rebounds, two assists, a pair of steals and blocked one shot. Musselman was asked what led to the bad day for the pair?

"Well, they’re one of the best defensive teams in college basketball and they’re physical," Musselman said. "And obviously, especially in the first half, and for some guys the entire game, their defense bothered guys. They do a good job when you put it on the floor of kind of swarming. We were unable to convert."

Anthony Black did his best to keep the Razorbacks in the game. The freshman guard finished with 23 points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals and a blocked shot. A frustrated Black talked about the loss afterward.

"It’s not a good feeling," Black said. "I mean, we just lost. We lost a game that we shouldn’t have lost. We got outplayed and we lost, so it’s a bad feeling."

Mississippi State (17-8, 5-7) was led by Davis with 17 points. Moore followed with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists. Tolu Smith added 11 points while Cameron Matthews contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

Arkansas (17-8, 6-6) will be at Texas A&M on Wednesday night with an 8 p.m. tip on ESPN2. Texas A&M (18-7, 10-2) is in second place in the SEC behind only Alabama. One of the two SEC losses for A&M was on Jan. 31 when they fought a snow storm to get to Fayetteville the day of the game. Arkansas won that one 81-70.