Ole Miss Takes on the Razorbacks on the Road

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss men’s basketball travels to Fayetteville, Arkansas to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday. The tipoff is set for 11 a.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.

Ole Miss (9-9, 1-5 SEC) is coming off of its first SEC win of the season over South Carolina 70-58 on Tuesday.  The Rebels were led in scoring by Matthew Murrell with 23 points, nine rebounds,

Against South Carolina, Ole Miss cleaned up the boards with 43 rebounds to 26 boards for the Gamecocks. This season the Rebels average 12.1 offensive boards per game which is among the best in the country in earning second chances on the glass, currently ranking 53rd in the nation.

Arkansas opened up their 2022-23 regular season schedule with four-straight victories before falling to No. 10 Creighton 90-87 at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. After bouncing back with a 78-74 win in overtime against No. 17 San Diego State, the Razorbacks won six consecutive games before dropping their conference opener at LSU 60-57. Their SEC schedule has consisted of one win over No. 20 Missouri, with losses at No. 22 Auburn, against No. 4 Alabama, and on the road against Vanderbilt and Missouri. They enter today’s game with an identical SEC record to Ole Miss at 1-5.

The team has been led by junior transfer Ricky Council IV, who averages a team-best 18.3 points per game since joining the program from Wichita State. He is one of four current members of the team averaging 10 or more points per game; joined by Nick Smith Jr. (12.8 – hasn’t played since Dec. 17), Anthony Black (12.4), and Trevon Brazile (11.8 – hasn’t played since Dec. 6). They are led on the glass by senior transfer Makhi Mitchell at 5.8 per game, who joined the program from Rhode Island.

Saturday, the 85th game in the all-time series between Ole Miss and Arkansas, and the 57th since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1991. Arkansas leads the all-time series overall at 51-33, as well as the matchups in Fayatteville at 19-11. The Rebels hold the lead in Oxford however, 20-9.

The first 16 games in the series, which began in December of 1950, were played at neutral sites (Arkansas leads series in neutral games 23-2), with the first on-campus matchup happening in on Dec. 9, 1967 in Fayetteville when the Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 64-62.

Recently, Arkansas has taken control of the series with Ole Miss, winning eight of the last 10. However, the two have been much closer over the last 20, as the Razorbacks lead 11-9 and 16-14 over the previous 30 matchups. During a 33-game stretch from January 2, 1997 to January 19, 2013, Ole Miss took over the series 24-9 over the 16-year period.