Razorbacks hoping to have wild atmosphere for game with Rebels

OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss coach Chris Beard is seeing a lot of what Arkansas coach John Calipari did when he was at Kentucky for 15 years. He’ll see it again Wednesday night in Fayetteville, Ark.

“The team and the roster has his DNA all over it,” Beard said Monday before the team left. “They’ve got some talented players, some guys that’ll play in the NBA.”

It’s varying degrees of experience with one player from last year’s team (Trevon Brazile) returning, mixed with some portal players and talented freshmen. When Callipari was surprisingly hired in April to replace Eric Musselman, the entire team left.

“You watch the team play, it looks like a Coach Cal team even though it’s his first year,” Beard said. “You’ve definitely got to have a strategy with their length and size. They’ve got legitimate size and athleticism around the basket so that’s a focal part of the game plan.”

On the flip side, the Razorbacks are having their home opener after getting demolished at Tennessee on Saturday, 76-52. At times, the game didn’t even look that close. Hogs assistant Chin Coleman, who was with Calipari at Kentucky, is wanting to see the atmosphere at Bud Walton Arena like the ones they faced coming in with the Wildcats.

“I’ve always said this whether I was somewhere else or here, now, this to me has always been the loudest building in the league,” he said Tuesday. “I truly believe that. I need for that vibe. We need for that feel. We need for it to live up to what I’ve always thought. I’m expecting it for it to be the loudest building in the league.”

About 20,000 is expected for the game. After the disappointing SEC opener against the Vols, the Hogs are looking for something to get excited about. Oh, and they know what they’ll be facing from Ole Miss.

“Ole Miss is another good defensive team,” Beard said. “We’re a good defensive team, but we’re used to playing against those kinds of teams or playing against ourselves. when we get our shots again, I know that guys are waiting in line to get the opportunity to have those same shots. This time we have confidence in our guys that they’ll make them.”

Turnovers haven’t been a problem for the Razorbacks from the coach, averaging 12.8 per game. The Rebels are forcing 16.3 per game.

“One of our big things is fighting against live ball turnovers,” Coleman said. “If we can turn the ball over trying to create to get a shot for one of our teammates, that’s a different kind of turnover. We can accept some of them. We’re not a high turnover team, so we don’t worry about it.”

But they are going to try to avoid playing into what Ole Miss has been doing well defensively this year.

“They don’t necessarily press, what they do is they pretty much switch a lot, and they rely on their personnel,” Coleman said. “We can’t allow for their switching to allow for us to be tentative and to second guess. We want to stay on the attack and make plays for one another and not have a lot of live-ball turnovers. Those are the ones that we can’t defend against.”

Tipoff time for the game is set for 6 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2. Fans can also listen on the Ole Miss Radio network statewide.