An unhappy new year continued for the Arkansas basketball team Wednesday night.
The Razorbacks never led for the second consecutive game and lost 77-51 to Ole Miss at SJB Pavilion in Oxford, Miss.
It was the fifth double-digit loss for Arkansas (10-9, 1-5 SEC) since conference play began Jan. 6. The Razorbacks’ average margin of loss in the SEC is 20.6 points.
“I actually thought we played fairly hard tonight," Arkansas coach Eric Musselman told Razorback Sports Network after the game. "We just got outplayed, outmanned 1 through 5. I think the effort was better than it has been, but Ole Miss took it to us in a lot of areas.”
Ole Miss (16-3, 3-3) remained undefeated at home in its first season under coach Chris Beard. The Rebels snapped a two-game losing streak after falling at LSU and Auburn last week while ranked 22nd by The Associated Press.
"This team has shown the ability to respond and bounce back," Beard told the Ole Miss postgame radio show. "The last game wasn’t our best effort, but we had some good practices and I thought the guys were dialed in."
Like most of its other SEC losses, Arkansas was never competitive. The Razorbacks trailed 12-2 after 3:15 of game time and trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half.
The Rebels led 38-26 at halftime and ballooned their lead to as many as 29 points in the second half.
“The only thing I know is just to keep working," Musselman said. "[This was] not a good performance.”
Arkansas played the game without leading scorer Tramon Mark, who suffered from migraine headaches. Multiple Razorbacks, including Trevon Brazile who did not play in the second half, left the game with apparent injuries, and starting guard Davonte Davis did not play after the 6:50 mark of the first half. Musselman said Davis' benching was a coach's decision.
Musselman said Brazile was affected by a knee injury in the days leading up to the game.
"His knee has been bothering him for about three days of practice. He couldn’t go in the second half," Musselman said. "T Mark has not practiced since our last game. Guys got an opportunity tonight. Those opportunities were out there for people to grab more minutes."
It was another terrible offensive performance for Arkansas, which shot 17 of 51 overall and 5 of 22 from three-point range.
The Razorbacks committed 14 turnovers that Ole Miss converted into 22 points. The Rebels had 17 points off of turnovers in the first half.
"I thought Ole Miss came out super aggressive," Musselman said. "They jumped passing lanes. They pre-rotated when they soft blitzed the pick-and-roll, and we just didn’t do a very good job of being strong with the basketball.
"I thought we made some adjustments and we ended up taking care of the ball and it allowed us to get more shots on goal, but then shots weren’t falling."
Like many of Arkansas’ recent opponents, the Rebels got several easy looks at the rim. Ole Miss shot 31 of 66 and scored 32 points on dunks and layups as part of a 38-20 advantage in the paint.
"We’re not defending well," Musselman said.
Jaylen Murray scored 21 points to lead Ole Miss. Matthew Murrell added 18 and Little Rock native Allen Flanigan had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Khalif Battle, who started and played 27 minutes, scored 11 points to lead Arkansas in his most extensive playing time in several games. Joseph Pinion added 10 points in 21 minutes.
It was Ole Miss’ most lopsided win in the series since a 117-66 victory in Oxford on Dec. 10, 1973. Arkansas leads the all-time series 52-34 and had won 10 of 12 over Ole Miss coming into the game.
The Rebels snapped a five-game losing streak in the series and defeated the Razorbacks for the first time in Musselman's five seasons.
Why Ole Miss Won
The Rebels dominated in nearly every statistical category and never gave the Razorbacks a chance to make the game intriguing.
Why Arkansas Lost
It was more of the same for the Razorbacks. A lack of anything spectacular on either end led to another blowout loss. It was the third time in SEC play Arkansas never led.
Player of the Game
Jaylen Murray scored 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting to lead the Rebels.
Murray made 3 of 6 three-point attempts and both of his foul shots in 32 minutes. He had 7 points in the first 10 minutes as Ole Miss raced to a 24-9 lead.
Streaks End
Ole Miss became the fourth SEC team to break a long losing streak to Arkansas this month.
The Rebels had not beaten the Razorbacks since January 2019 in Mike Anderson's final season as Arkansas' head coach. The Razorbacks had a 5-0 record against Ole Miss under Eric Musselman prior to Wednesday's game.
Georgia, Florida and South Carolina all defeated Arkansas for the first time since Musselman's first season in 2019-20.
Up Next
Arkansas hosts sixth-ranked Kentucky on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Ole Miss plays at Texas A&M on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.