SEC Basketball Preview/Prediction: Arkansas at Ole Miss

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Arkansas visits Ole Miss on Saturday in a key SEC basketball matchup. Look inside for a preview of the game along with a prediction of the game’s final score.

By 14Powers Hoops

Team Statistical Comparison

	FG%	3PT%	FT%	ORB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
Arkansas	0.445	0.312	0.757	102	470	177	131	67	178
Arkansas OPP	0.392	0.227	0.664	155	533	129	78	34	249
Ole Miss	0.437	0.328	0.695	132	489	218	104	38	189
Ole Miss OPP	0.428	0.288	0.715	115	465	176	94	50	201

Statistical Leaders

Arkansas Scoring Leaders

PLAYER	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Mason Jones	19.8	76	76	30
Isaiah Joe	17.1	74	39	52
Jimmy Whitt Jr.	14.0	86	24	0
Desi Sills	9.9	50	24	14
Adrio Bailey	6.6	35	18	5
Jalen Harris	4.5	18	20	7
Reggie Chaney	3.1	15	4	0
Jeantal Cylla	1.3	7	1	1

Arkansas Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Mason Jones	13	66	79	6.1
Jimmy Whitt Jr.	17	57	74	5.3
Adrio Bailey	19	48	67	4.8
Isaiah Joe	11	53	64	4.6
Desi Sills	8	34	42	3.0
Reggie Chaney	10	28	38	3.5
Jalen Harris	4	31	35	2.5
Jeantal Cylla	4	15	19	1.6
Ethan Henderson	3	9	12	2.0
Emeka Obukwelu	1	2	3	1.5

Ole Miss Scoring Leaders

PLAYER	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Breein Tyree	17.1	81	47	31
Devontae Shuler	10.9	56	21	20
KJ Buffen	9.6	51	28	4
Austin Crowley	4.1	20	9	8
Bryce Williams	3.9	13	16	5
Sammy Hunter	3.4	17	13	1
Antavion Collum	1.5	4	6	2

Ole Miss Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER	OR	DR	TR	RPG
KJ Buffen	24	65	89	6.4
Devontae Shuler	11	49	60	4.3
Breein Tyree	6	48	54	3.9
Blake Hinson	14	32	46	4.6
Luis Rodriguez	11	15	26	5.2
Sammy Hunter	9	16	25	1.8
Austin Crowley	7	16	23	1.6
Antavion Collum	2	14	16	1.5
Franco Miller Jr.	3	12	15	1.5
Carlos Curry	2	5	7	0.8
Bryce Williams	1	5	6	0.5
John McBride	2	0	2	0.3

NCAA RPI

Arkansas: 28

Ole Miss: 86

Arkansas Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Jeantal Cylla	F	6′-7″	215	SR	Lake Worth, FL
1	Isaiah Joe	G	6′-5″	180	SO	Fort Smith, AR
2	Adrio Bailey	F	6′-6″	217	SR	Clarence, LA
3	Desi Sills	G	6′-1″	196	SO	Jonesboro, AR
5	Jalen Harris	G	6′-2″	166	JR	Wilson, NC
11	JD Notae	G	6′-2″	185	JR	Covington, GA
12	Ty Stevens	G	6′-2″	180	JR	Republic, MO
13	Emeka Obukwelu	F	6′-8″	222	JR	Plano, TX
15	Mason Jones	G	6′-5″	200	JR	Desoto, TX
22	Abayomi Iyiola	F	6′-9″	210	JR	Atlanta, GA
23	Connor Vanover	F	7′-3″	230	SO	Little Rock, AR
24	Ethan Henderson	F	6′-8″	210	SO	Little Rock, AR
33	Jimmy Whitt Jr.	G	6′-3″	175	SR	Columbia, MO
35	Reggie Chaney	F	6′-8″	222	SO	Tulsa, OK

Ole Miss Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
1	Austin Crowley	G	6′-5″	188	FR	West Point, MS
2	Devontae Shuler	G	6′-2″	192	JR	Irmo, SC
3	Khadim Sy	F	6′-10″	244	JR	Dakar, Senegal
4	Breein Tyree	G	6′-2″	195	SR	Somerset, NJ
5	KJ Buffen	F	6′-7″	220	SO	Gainesville, GA
10	Carlos Curry	F	6′-11″	235	FR	Albany, GA
11	Franco Miller Jr.	G	6′-3″	202	FR	Freeport, GB
12	Shon Robinson	F	6′-11″	210	FR	Chicago, IL
13	Bryce Williams	G	6′-2″	178	JR	Tampa, FL
14	Antavion Collum	F	6′-7″	228	FR	Memphis, TN
15	Luis Rodriguez	G	6′-6″	202	SO	Los Angeles, CA
23	Sammy Hunter	F	6′-9″	230	FR	Bahamas
24	Jarkel Joiner	G	6′-1″	177	JR	Oxford, MS
33	John McBride	G	6′-7″	216	FR	Memphis, TN
34	Conner McKay	G	5′-11″	181	JR	Baldwyn, MS

Scouting Report

Arkansas (12-2, 1-1 SEC) fell to LSU 79-77 on Wednesday night in Baton Rouge. This game would have 19 lead changes. Arkansas’ largest lead was 11 points with four minutes to play in the first half. Early in the second half LSU built a 7-point lead. This game came down to the final seconds with LSU forward Trendon Watford scoring on an old fashion 3-point play to give the Tigers the victory. Arkansas out-shot the Tigers with eight made threes to LSU’s four threes. The Tigers however, got four more points at the line and one more field goal that ultimately was the difference in the game. Guard Mason Jones of Arkansas was the game leader in scoring with 24 points. He made 4 of 7 three-point shots. Watford led the Tigers with 21 points, all those point were 2-point field goal or three throws. Watford also pulled down 8 rebounds for the Tigers. Another eye catching stat was second chance points. LSU had 26 of those to none for the Hogs. Not surprisingly, LSU had 23 offensive rebounds to 3 for Arkansas.

For the season, guard Mason Jones (19.8 ppg) is the leader in scoring. Sharp-shooting Isaiah Joe (17.1 ppg) is the second leading scorer. Joe has 52 made threes so far this season. Jones also leads the Hogs in rebounds (6.1 rpg).

Arkansas is scoring an average of 74.5 points per game. Defensively, they are allowing 61.1 points per contest. The Hogs like to shoot threes. They have taken 351 attempts from beyond the arc so far this season. Only Alabama (419) and Auburn (362) have taken more. The Hogs not only can shoot the three, they can defend it. Arkansas is No. 1 in the conference in 3-point shooting defense allowing just 22.6% of shots to be made. Arkansas also leads the league in steals and average 9.5 of those per game.

Ole Miss (9-5, 0-1 SEC) fell to Texas A&M 57-47 on Tuesday in College Station. The game was an epic defensive battle. With a little over 9 minutes remaining in the first half the score was 11-11. From this point on to end of the half the Rebels would out-score the Aggies 18-8 to take a 29-19 lead to the locker room. However, the Aggies took a 34-32 lead on a jump shot by Wendell Mitchell with 12:11 remaining in the game. An Andre Gordon 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining in the game put A&M up by 10. The Aggies would go on to lead by as much as 13 points in the final minutes of the game. Both the Rebels (26%) and Aggies (18%) were terrible from 3-point range. The difference in this game was at the free throw line where A&M made 16 of 19 attempts (84%) to Ole Miss’ horrendous 4 of 7 attempts (57%). Breein Tyree was the Rebels leader in scoring with 26 points. Tyree was 6 of 13 from 3-point range and made all but one of the Rebel’s threes.

So far this season the Rebels Tyree (17.1 ppg) is the team’s leading scorer. Fellow guard Devontae Shuler (10.9, ppg) is the team’s second leading scorer. Forward KJ Buffen is the Rebels top rebounder averaging 6.4 boards a game.

Ole Miss is No. 10 in scoring offense (69.5 ppg) in the SEC. They rank 6th in the conference in scoring defense (65.2 ppg). The Rebels are fifth in the SEC in 3-point shooting accuracy and third in the conference in 3-point shooting defense. Ole Miss leads the league in defensive rebounding. Ole Miss is getting over 75 percent of rebounds after an opponent misses a shot. Assist to turnover ratio (2nd, 1.2) is another stat in which the Rebels excel. The Rebels are 14th in the league in blocked shots (2.7 bpg).

Arkansas looks like the better team in this game. The Hogs have been really competitive and barely missed on a huge win at LSU. Meanwhile, the Ole Miss loss at what was seemingly a terrible Texas A&M team was surprising.

Arkansas-Ole Miss Prediction

Arkansas 68, Ole Miss 65

Saturday‘s game tips off at 6:00 p.m. ET. TV: SEC Network.