FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas guard Mason Jones came into the Walton Arena interview room after Saturday's game against Mississippi State with an ice pack on his left shoulder.
"My shoulder is in pain right now, but I'm going to be all right and get ready for Florida," Jones said while looking ahead to the Razorbacks' opponent Tuesday night. "Just got to get treatment on it and be a soldier and get ready for the next game."
As much as Jones' shoulder was hurting him, it likely was more painful to have to talk about another close loss in which he almost carried the Razorbacks to victory.
Mississippi State beat Arkansas 78-77 on Abdul Ado's last-second tip-in basket after Jones scored a game-high 38 points.
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Jones hit 9 of 17 shots and 18 of 21 free throws in 35 minutes. He likely would have scored more points, but he was on the bench for five minutes in the first half after drawing his second foul.
"If we don't have Mason play at this level, this game's not close," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said.
It was the eighth game in which Jones has scored 30 or more points in two seasons at Arkansas, with a high of 41 in a 98-79 victory over Tulsa this season. He opened the season by scoring 32 points in a 91-43 victory over Rice.
In the six SEC games in which Jones has scored 30 or more points, the Razorbacks are 1-5, including losses to Mississippi State and Florida last season when he scored 30 in each. This season, he scored 40 points in a 79-76 overtime loss to Auburn and 34 in a 79-77 loss to South Carolina prior to Saturday's game.
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The Razorbacks' only victory in an SEC game in which Jones scored 30 or more points came two weeks ago when they won 82-78 at Alabama and he scored 30.
"He's a great competitor," Mississippi State forward Reggie Perry said of Jones. "He knows how to play the game."
Jones bounced back from two subpar games -- by the lofty standards he's set -- at Missouri and Tennessee. He scored 17 points against the Tigers and nine against the Vols, but he shot a combined 4 of 24 from the field and had 7 turnovers with 3 assists.
Musselman said that on Thursday -- the Razorbacks' first practice after their 82-61 loss at Tennessee -- Jones had his best practice of the season.
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"I thought he was really focused," Musselman said of Saturday's game. "He's put together some really great basketball games, and then he had two games where maybe he didn't play as well. But teams are focused on him.
"To have a player play like he did [against Mississippi State] and come up short is tough to swallow."
Home not sweet
Arkansas has its longest home-court losing streak in conference play -- four games -- since joining the SEC.
The Razorbacks have lost their last four conference home games to No. 12 Kentucky 73-66, South Carolina 79-77, No. 11 Auburn 79-76 in overtime and Mississippi State 78-77. Their previous longest SEC home losing streak was three games during the 2008-09 and 2011-12 seasons.
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Arkansas' longest home conference losing streak prior to Saturday's loss, according to Hogstats.com, was a seven-game losing streak to Southwest Conference opponents during the 1970-71 season.
Sills comes alive
Arkansas sophomore guard Desi Sills scored all 15 of his points in the final 13:16, starting with two free throws. He capped his scoring by hitting a three-pointer that gave the Razorbacks a 75-72 lead with 1:47 left.
"They put Reggie Perry on him," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said of the 6-10 Mississippi State forward guarding the 6-1 Sills. "I thought Desi did a great job of recognizing that and taking the ball to the basket. Then he got a couple open three balls as well."
Sills hit 5 of 7 shots in the second half -- including 2 of 3 three-pointers -- and 3 of 3 free throws.
On the line
Mason Jones hit 18 of 21 free throws to tie for the third most made by a Razorback and tie for fifth most attempted.
"Hell of a player," Mississippi State guard Tyson Carter said. "He's one of the toughest players that I've played against at getting to the free-throw line. He knows how to make you foul him.
"I don't think I've ever played against somebody that took 21 free throws in a game. So that's pretty tough."
Jones hit the most free throws by a Razorback in an SEC game, surpassing the 17 by Corliss Williamson against Ole Miss in 1995.
Martin Terry holds the Arkansas record for free throws attempted and made when he hit 22 of 24 against Texas A&M in 1972.
Six in row
Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland improved to 6-2 as a head coach against Arkansas, including six consecutive victories with the Bulldogs.
"That's just incredibly fortunate, because I could never imagine that in a million years," Howland said.
Howland lost his first game as a coach against Arkansas when he was at Northern Arizona and the Razorbacks beat the Lumberjacks 101-75 in a 1997 NIT game in Walton Arena.
After Howland was hired at Mississippi State for the 2015-16 season, the Bulldogs lost their first game against the Razorbacks 82-68 in Walton Arena. The Bulldogs have not lost to the Razorbacks since.
"I mean, this is a special place and a special program with unbelievable fans," Howland said of winning six in a row over Arkansas. "So to imagine that could ever happen is incredibly unlikely."
Welcome back
Former Razorbacks Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon, who are from Little Rock and now play in the NBA G-League, attended the game and were introduced during a timeout in the first half and led the fans in a Hog call.
Hannahs is averaging 21.3 points, 2.2 assists and 2.1 rebounds for the Memphis Hustle. Macon is averaging 17.7 points, 5.1 assists and 4.4 rebounds for the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce.
The Hustle are affiliated with the Memphis Grizzles, and the Skyforce with the Miami Heat.
Sports on 02/16/2020