By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 25 Arkansas dropped its fourth game in a row on Wednesday night falling on the road to Missouri 79-76.
Arkansas appeared set to get its second win of the season over Missouri as they held a 67-57 lead with 5:07 remaining in the game. However, the Tigers then went on a 22-9 run to end the game. Eric Musselman talked about the Hogs losing the double-digit lead.
"I thought our competitive nature tonight was at a high level," Musselman said. "We’re just a basketball team that has not figured out how to win down the stretch. But from a competitive standpoint and playing hard — some of the things we’ve worked on the last few days — our fouling shooting was much improved at 89.
"I just have never coached in a game where four players fouled out. And the opposition shoots 40 free throws. That’s 36 free throws, 36 free throws and 40. We haven’t caught any breaks. Every team’s got to try to create the breaks for themselves."
Kamani Johnson, Jordan Walsh, Makhi Mitchell and Devo Davis all fouled out for the Hogs. The Tigers made 30 of 40 free throws. Arkansas was 23 of 26 at the charity stripe. Another area where the Hogs came up short was turnovers. Missouri scored 31 points off 21 Arkansas turnovers.
"Composure down the stretch, a young team, a lot of new faces," Musselman said. "Critical turnovers around the rim. A critical turnover on the baseline. The 21 turnovers in a basketball game is way too many. Again, we didn’t walk into the building tonight thinking that we’d have four players four out, but that’s what happened. Great job on backboards. Basically doubling them up on the glass. But the turnovers were too much. All you can do is gain experience through this."
As Musselman pointed out, Arkansas won the rebounding battle 42-23. As far as the turnovers, 14 of the 21 came in the first half. The Hogs cut them in half the final 20 minutes.
"Just meeting the ball, being a little bit stronger with the basketball," Musselman said. "I thought in the first half, we were just way too careless with the ball. Didn’t jump-stop enough when we did get a head of steam, had some charges."
The Razorbacks held a narrow 35-34 lead at intermission. The Hogs shot 59 percent in the first half to only 37 for the Tigers, but the turnovers made it a much closer game than it would have been otherwise.
Davis led Arkansas with 18 points and had nine rebounds, three assists and one steal. Anthony Black added 15 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, one block and a pair of steals. Ricky Council IV had 13 points, three rebounds, one assist and three steals. Jordan Walsh bounced back with a better game though once again he was hampered by foul trouble. Walsh finished with 12 points and two rebounds. Musselman talked about Walsh's performance and battle with foul issues.
"Based on his productivity tonight he would have played a lot more, but he played 13 minutes and fouled out," Musselman said. "We’re trying to continue to build his confidence, continue to tell him to take open shots. Him fouling out tonight was extremely crucial. We were plus-13 when he was in the game for his 13 minutes. This is what happens when you have freshmen. Jordan is still figuring his way.
"Again, in a big game, 13 minutes and five fouls is a lot, but this is the roster that we’ve put together and we’re still trying to learn things with a young group and a new group. Winning is new to many, so we’ve just got to continue to get back to the drawing board and get ready for Ole Miss."
Arkansas' two big men Johnson and Mitchell both had good games on the boards before fouling out. Mitchell had seven points, nine rebounds, one block and one assist. Johnson added seven points and seven rebounds.
Missouri (14-4, 3-3) was led by Kobe Brown with 17 points while DeAndre Gholston added 16 and Sean East II 12. Brown limped off the court late in the game with an apparent ankle injury.
Arkansas (12-6, 1-5) will return to Bud Walton on Saturday morning hoping to snap the four-game skid. They host Ole Miss (9-9, 1-5) at 11 a.m. and the game televised on ESPN2. Ole Miss is coming off a 70-58 win at South Carolina on Tuesday night.