No. 15 Arkansas went in to Oxford and took a 94-87 win over Ole Miss.

Arkansas (12-3, 2-0) appeared to be ready to coast to the win, but Ole Miss refused to go away. The Rebels cut Arkansas' lead to 91-87 with 1:01 remaining in the game. However, Darius Acuff Jr. hit a basket with 35 seconds remaining and Trevon Brazile added a free throw to finish the scoring. Meleek Thomas had 13 points as did Billy Richmond, who also had six boards. Karter Knox added 10 points. John Calipari chalked up the finish to play on the road in the SEC.

“Typical road SEC game,” Calipari said. “We had a chance to be up 20 and all of the sudden you look up and it’s [91-87], but that’s the league….We did what we do, and we scored a lot of points. But we’ve just got to be better defensively.”

. The Razorbacks finished with 19 assists on 31 baskets. Acuff led the team with both 26 points and nine assists.

“We’re normally a low-turnover team because we’ve got really good passers who are pretty strong with the ball,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “You get 30 buckets on 20 assists, that’s pretty good. But, when you’re opening up the court like we are, you’re not getting assists. We scored 94 because we opened up the court and said, ‘Forget the pick-and-roll.’”

Malik Dia had 16 points and six rebounds for Ole Miss. IIias Kamardine added 16 points, four boards and four assists. Eduardo Klafke chipped in 11 points and Patton Pinkins 10. A J Storr came off the bench to score 12 points. Ole Miss (8-7, 0-2) is still looking for its first win in the SEC play. Chris Beard was glad he will never have to face Acuff again in Oxford.

“This will be the last time [Acuff] will play in Oxford,” said Ole Miss coach Chris Beard. “He’s got a poise about him and a demeanor….His poise, his demand of the game is very, very impressive to me.” 

The Razorbacks led 42-32 at halftime. Ole Miss outscored the Razorbacks 55-52 in the second half.

The Razorbacks will be at Auburn (9-6, 0-2) on Saturday at 5 p.m. and televised on ESPN.