Perfectly good reasons to feel uneasy about Ole Miss this week

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Warning Razorbacks fans: No matter how bad the Ole Miss record may be, no matter how good the Arkansas record is, the Rebels are always a trap game.

In the two seasons in which Nolan Richardson led the Hogs to the national title game, including a year capped with a championship win over Duke in 1994, Arkansas lost a total of seven games in the regular season.

During that time, three of those losses, nearly half, came from playing SEC games against teams from the state of Mississippi at a time when neither school was aware it was still funding basketball.

Fast forward 30 years and, just like in the 1990s, when memes didn't exist but famous Star Wars quotes did, it's still appropriate to play Admiral Akbar from "Return of the Jedi" yelling out "It's a trap!" as the Rebel forces get lured into an ambush just outside the Death Star.

Ole Miss is 8-6 and has lost every time a team with a name casual college basketball fans might know has shown up on the schedule. They even lost their SEC opener in Oklahoma by 16.

From a distance, this should be a sleeper game where guys like Darius Acuff and Trevon Brazile get to play defense with reckless abandon because there is no way they are playing long enough to possibly foul out. Yet, a closer look proves that is hardly the case at all.

Let's start with one name that should haunt Razorbacks fans' dreams — Malik Dia. They remember experiencing him last year as they stood in the stands pointing at this monster while a terrible audio dub fixed his name into their mouths like the old Godzilla movies.

"Look," they way as if it's six or seven words while pointing. "It's Malik Dia!"

Then ESPN cut to footage of the 6-foot-9, 250 pound behemoth stomping his way through the Arkansas defense. It doesn't matter if it was the regular season release or the SEC Tournament sequel, Dia made the Hogs look bad.

Arkansas lost to the Rebels both times last season as Dia had season high level games only topped by a 23 point performance against No. 4 Alabama. He put up a combined 40 points and 16 rebounds which included an SEC Tournament performance where he put up nine points in the first four minutes.

"I think he's working on just his maturity in terms of handling success and handling adversity," Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said over the summer. "He's working on trying to be a leader in his own way and really that all starts with relationships with his teammates . . . It's very visible that he's a returner. It's been very visible that he's been in this program before. Last year, as a new player, you're just trying to survive. You're just taking it all in. This year, he seems to be a little more confident in himself, not pressing so much on the court and off the court."

Deceptive losses

Seeing a program rack up losses is usually a sign of a weak team, but it's always important to look into them before deciding a cupcake is rolling into town. What such an analysis will yield in this case is warning signs everywhere.

For instance, Arkansas coach John Calipari has a lot of respect for former fellow Kentucky coach Rick Pitino and what he's done in fully reviving the St. John's program his Hogs upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Rebels went and played the No. 23 Red Storm at their home in New York City where a lay-up from Dia with under a minute left pulled Ole Miss within a basket before they ultimately fell, 63-58.

Once again on the road, this time in Palm Springs, Calif. to face Utah, Dia hit a pair of free throws to put the Rebels up 72-70 with just over a minute left. Then he blocked a shot with 38 seconds left and secured the rebound to keep Ole Miss up by a point with 38 seconds left and the win in sight.

Beard's team used up as much clock as possible before throwing up a three with nine seconds left that missed, resulting in a rebound by the Utes. Still, the win was theirs with good defense.

Unfortunately for both Ole Miss and the SEC, Kezza Giffa fouled with four seconds left and Utah hit both free throws to come away with the win. In the previous game in Palm Springs, Kansas transfer AJ Storr buried a jumper with 15 seconds left to pull within four points of Iowa.

The Rebels just couldn't get over the hump in the end. That's just the kind of season it's been for the Rebels.

It sounds a lot like Arkansas last season before the Hogs wandered into Rupp Arena and turned the season around with an emotional win over Kentucky. Except, for Ole Miss, the Rebels aren't trying to get back to Beard's standard on the road.

They're taking on the Razorbacks in Oxford where the odd atmosphere always seems to throw the Hogs off their game. So far, Ole Miss is 6-1 in the cozy confines of The Pavilion.

Just a little help

Much like Arkansas, the Rebels have their own freshman phenom who is starting to come into his own at the right time. Guard Patton Pinkins put up 25 points against Oklahoma Saturday, including 4-of-6 from three and 9-of-11 overall, which means he was perfect on the night from inside the arc.

PATTON PINKINS HEAT CHECK pic.twitter.com/mU8WHxlQ9E
— Red Cup Rebellion (@RedCupRebellion) January 3, 2026

If he gets good help from fellow stars Malik Dia and AJ Storr, especially on the defensive end, then it could be a rough late night for the Hogs deep in the heart of Mississippi.

Deceptive losses

Just a little help

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