Arkansas upended by Southern Miss

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- It was a bizarre Saturday for Arkansas that ended with a doubleheader upset split.
First the football team won on the road. Then the basketball team lost at home.
With Southern Mississippi beating the No. 15 Razorbacks 63-54 in Walton Arena for the championship of the inaugural John Thompson Foundation Challenge Classic, about the only thing the crowd of 16,372 had to cheer was the pregame announcement regarding the Arkansas football team's 17-10 victory at No. 13 Mississippi State that ended a nine-game SEC road losing streak.
That upset was about as shocking as the one Southern Miss pulled off in Walton Arena, where the Razorbacks are now 98-18 in their eighth season since the building opened.
The Eagles (2-0) had lost seven consecutive games against SEC teams going back to the 1994-95 season, but they never trailed the Razorbacks, jumping to a 5-0 lead they held the rest of the game.
It was Southern Miss' first road victory over a ranked team since Jan. 10, 1991, when the 19th-ranked Eagles beat No. 21 South Carolina 64-58 at Columbia.
"They controlled the tempo the whole game," Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said. "They were able to make us play catch-up all night while they played keep away."
Senior forward David Wall led Southern Miss with 19 points, hitting 5 of 8 three-pointers. Senior guard Brad Richardson added 12 points, hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers.
Junior guard Teddy Gipson led the Razorbacks (1-1) with 15 points. Sophomore forward Alonzo Lane had 13.
Joe Johnson, Arkansas' sophomore guard who is the preseason SEC Player of the year, finished with five points on 2-of-10 shooting from the field after scoring 27 in the Razorbacks' 90-68 victory over Tennessee State on Friday night.
Johnson, a 76 percent free throw shoot last season, was 1 of 4 from the line Saturday night.
"When Joe can't even knock down a free throw, he's just having a bad night," Richardson said. :"It was just a bad night."
That went for all of the Razorbacks, and they combined to shoot 34.7 percent from the field, hitting 17 of 49 attempts.
"I didn't think we'd have everybody on the same night shoot it this badly," Richardson said. "I thought we'd have somebody step up."
Johnson missed his first seven shots before finally scoring on a tip-in with 10:45 left to pull the Razorbacks within 45-37.
"It just wasn't my night, but it wasn't everybody's night," Johnson said. "We couldn't make any free throws, we weren't playing any defense."
Said Southern Miss' David Richardson about Johnson's tough night, "Sometimes it's hard to live up to what people think you should be."
Wall was voted by the media as the tournament's most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by Richardson, Johnson, Gipson, Louisiana Tech's Antonio Meeking and Tennessee State's Terrick Brown.
Southern Miss suffered just 16 turnovers -- a low total for a visiting opponent in Walton Arena -- and that kept the Razorbacks from getting their fast break going on a night when they struggled to hit baskets.
"I think the biggest thing is that our kids really understood how to be patient and wait for good shots," Eagles Coach James Green said. "We did a good job of getting the ball inside and getting to the line, and of course, we did a nice job hitting three-pointers.
"I feel like this probably is the best we've ever shot three-pointers in my (five seasons) at Southern Miss."
Lane hit two free throws to pull Arkansas within 34-27 with 19:29 left.
The Eagles pushed their lead to 56-44 on a three-pointer by junior forward Elvin Mims with 4:21 left.
Arkansas made a run, closing within 58-53 on junior guard Jannero Pargo's three-pointer with 1:47 left.
But the Eagles didn't panic and finished out the game as the Razorbacks didn't draw closer than five points the rest of the way.
Arkansas outscored Southern Miss 8-2 the final 2:29 of the first half to cut the Eagles' halftime lead to 34-25.
Southern Miss led by as much as 30-15 after they went on a 15-4 run over a 6:25 span. The Eagles had 3 three-pointers in the scoring burst, including two by Wall and one by Richardson.
The Razorbacks, who started 5 of 20 from the field, got a tip-on basket by Davis scored to pull them within 30-17. It was their first basket in a 6:49 span.
After a rebound basket by Carlos Gill pushed Southern Miss' lead back to 15 points at 32-17, the Razorbacks scored the next eight points.
Cleveland made a steal and Richardson was called for an intentional foul when he grabbed the Cleveland to stop a fast break.
Cleveland hit 1 of 2 free throws, then Lane scored on a drive on the Razorbacks' ensuing possession to put them within 32-20 with 2:25 left in the half.
A three-pointer by Gipson and two more free throws by Cleveland after another steal.
Southern Miss then got a breakaway dunk from senior guard Mario Myles with 19 seconds left in the half -- when Arkansas made a mistake on its press -- to give the Eagles a 34-25 lead.
The Razorbacks shot just 28 percent from the field in the half, hitting 8 of 29 attempts. The Eagles were 11 of 28, but 6 of 14 on three-pointers.

This article was published on Sunday, November 19, 2000

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