Razorbacks Can't Score in Last Minute, Falling to Mississippi State
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Arkansas didn't have a single power forward, but they still made it close against Mississippi State. Even that can be considered after a whopping loss to Tennessee at home Wednesday night. But a 71-67 loss wasn't decided until the closing seconds.
The Razorbacks got a layup from El Ellis with 1:07 to play for a 67-65 lead, but couldn't score again the rest of the way. The Bulldogs managed to win that last minute to come out of Humphrey Coliseum that ruined at least the effort Eric Musselman wanted to see.
Makhi Mitchell was really the only inside presence for the Hogs and he answered with 21 points and 9 rebounds. It almost was enough, but the Hogs lost Khalif Battle (18 points) and didn't have many other options scoring against State.
The loss drops the Razorbacks 12-13 overall on the year with six games left to play, starting with a road trip to play Texas A&M for the second time this season at 6 p.m. Tuesday evening. It's another quick turnaround for the Hogs, which seems to be happening a lot right now.
It was clear from the opening tip the Bulldogs were going to try and take advantage of their physicality down low. They missed their first two layups, then got on a roll before the Razorbacks actually took a lead late in the first half before State pulled away to a 34-29 halftime lead.
By the end of the first half, the Hogs' struggles inside were starting to show. The Bulldogs were leading the rebounds, 23-11. Arkansas finished the last 3:02 of the half without a field goal after Tramon Mark hit a three-pointer with 3:02 left in the half to tie the game at 29. State ripped off five more points for the lead.
Battle had 8 to lead the Razorbacks. Mark had 6 and Chandler Lawson had 3 rebounds at halftime. The Bulldogs' were led by Tolu Smith, who had 7 points and 4 rebounds in the first half. Keshawn Murphy led State in rebounding with 5.
The second half was a back-and-forth game with the Bulldogs led by guard Josh Hubbard's 19 points and Cameron Matthews added 17.
After Mitchell and Battle's big games, only five other Razorbacks had a point. Ellis and Davonte "Devo" Davis each had 8. Tramon Mark had an early 6, but only played 27 minutes and Keyon Menifield got 4 minutes before missing the remainder of the game with an injury.
This story will be updated with postgame.
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