OXFORD, Miss. -- Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy didn't sound interested in watching video of the Arkansas Razorbacks' 75-64 victory over his Rebels on Tuesday night at The Pavilion.
Seeing the game once from the bench was more than enough for him.
"It was like a bad sports B-movie," Kennedy said. "That's what I saw. Embarrassing. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson didn't feel the need to apologize after the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville claimed its second road victory in eight tries.
Anderson took exception when asked about it being an ugly game.
"Well, I don't think it was ugly to tell you the truth," he said. "I think any win you can get this time of year is big. This is the time of year you want to start picking up momentum."
As poorly as the Rebels played -- they started 5 of 31 from the field and finished at a season-low 29 percent (18 of 62) -- the Razorbacks were clinging to a 53-52 lead with 7:57 left after Ole Miss guard Devontae Shuler hit a three-pointer.
What was left of an announced crowd of 6,023 started making noise. The pressure was on Arkansas not to blow what had been a 13-point lead a minute into the second half to a team wth five consecutive losses.
But the Razorbacks kept their poise and outscored the Rebels 18-1 over a 4:39 span to push their lead to 71-53 with three minutes left to take away whatever fight Ole Miss had left.
During the decisive run, the Razorbacks hit 6 of 9 shots and the Rebels were 0 of 5 with 2 turnovers.
"Just locking down on defense and rebounding. Playing our game," Arkansas senior guard Jaylen Barford said. "We know the last 10 minutes are our game. If we play defense and make shots like that, we're going to be a scary sight for anybody."
Freshman forward Darious Hall -- who had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists in 22 minutes off the bench -- started the run by hitting a three-pointer. Hall then had an assist on a three-pointer by senior guard Anton Beard, hit another three-pointer himself, and grabbed a defensive rebound and got an assist on a basket by Barford.
"We just needed to slow down and execute," Hall said. "Get something good."
Anderson said switching to a matchup zone right before Shuler's basket helped the Razorbacks stop the Rebels from driving to the basket.
"They were attacking us to get to the free-throw line, so let's get our defense where we have some built-in help," Anderson said. "They did hit a shot right off the bat because we didn't get out there and pressure, but then I thought we settled in it and it kind of took them off rhythm and we didn't put them on the free-throw line as much."
The Razorbacks (18-8, 7-6 SEC) won their third consecutive game and have their next two at home against No. 21 Texas A&M on Saturday and Kentucky on Tuesday.
"Arkansas is right in the thick of it," Kennedy said. "I know they needed a breakthrough on the road.
"They're sitting in a great position to try to get to the [NCAA] Tournament. And all credit to them, man. I like Mike Anderson. He's done a good job at Arkansas. I respect Arkansas' program."
Nine Razorbacks scored, led by 6-11 freshman Daniel Gafford's 19 points in 20 minutes.
Barford and Beard each scored 13 points. Senior forward Dustin Thomas had six points and four rebounds. Senior guard Daryl Macon, who came into the game averaging 17.4 points, was held to a season-low four, but the senior had a team-high six assists and four rebounds.
Freshman forward Gabe Osabuohien scored 3 points -- 2 more than he had previously in all SEC games -- and had 3 rebounds in 8 minutes.
Gafford picked up two fouls in the first two minutes, but never got a third.
"If you were to script it as an opposing coach, you'd say, 'Hey, let's get Gafford out of the game early with foul trouble,' " Kennedy said. " 'Let's stay attached to their all-league players in Macon and Barford and make other people beat us.'
"They got great contributions from some of their role guys, and typically that doesn't happen so much on the road."
The freshmen Gafford, Hall and Osabuohien combined for 36 points on 12-of-17 shooting and had 20 rebounds.
"We're getting young energy," Anderson said. "Energy this time of year is so important."
Arkansas outscored Ole Miss 20-9 in bench points.
"Whoever I brought in, they lifted our team up," Anderson said. "As a matter of fact, I thought their defense was probably a little bit better than the guys that started out."
Gafford said it felt good for the freshmen to be heavy contributors.
"We're just doing pretty much what we're supposed to come up here to do, and that's play basketball," Gafford said. "For us to do that just gives us a good idea what we need to do when we're in the game from now on."
Barford and Macon were averaging a combined 39.1 points in SEC play.
"When some of our guys aren't scoring, we've got other guys capable of doing it," Anderson said. "We may do it different ways. But we're the ultimate team."
Up next
ARKANSAS
VS. NO. 21 TEXAS A&M
WHEN 3 p.m. Saturday WHERE Walton Arena, Fayetteville RECORDS Arkansas 18-8, 7-6 SEC; Texas A&M 17-9, 6-7 SERIES Arkansas leads 101-55 TV ESPN RADIO Razorback Sports Network
Sports on 02/15/2018