Arkansas outlasts Ole Miss in overtime thriller, advances to SEC title game
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Arkansas let a double-digit lead slip away in the second half against the Cinderella story of Nashville, but the Razorbacks gathered themselves in overtime and are moving on to Sunday’s SEC Tournament title game.
Meleek Thomas poured in 29 points to go with 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and star freshman Darius Acuff Jr. added 24 points on a bad shooting day to power the 3rd-seeded Hogs past 15th-seeded Ole Miss, finally ending the Rebels’ heroic run in Nashville with a 93-90 victory.
Arkansas (25-8) will play for the SEC crown on Sunday against 4th-seeded Vanderbilt, which took down top-seeded Florida, 91-74, earlier on Saturday. The Razorbacks and Commodores will face off at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, although both Arkansas and Vanderbilt would’ve been going to the tournament anyway.
The same couldn’t be said for Ole Miss, which arrived in Nashville with a 12-19 overall record after going 4-14 in the SEC during the regular season. The Rebels then proceeded to pull off 3 upsets in 3 days against higher-seeded teams, capped by their quarterfinal victory over No. 2 seed Alabama on Friday night. Ole Miss was suddenly 2 victories away from a most unlikely trip to the NCAA Tournament, but Arkansas ended the fun on Saturday, albeit with 1 last, big charge from a Rebels team that wouldn’t say die.
Arkansas had a 70-60 lead with 5:43 to go on Saturday, but Ole Miss rallied in the final minutes of regulation to send Saturday’s semifinal to overtime. Ultimately, it was the Razorbacks’ day, and it was finally time for the Rebels to head home.
Acuff has been the engine behind Arkansas’s attack all season, and he got his points on Saturday, but they came on just 7-of-21 shooting, including a 2-of-7 clip from 3-point range. But Acuff did make 8 of 9 from the free throw line, and he added 5 rebounds and 7 assists to help offset his 5 turnovers.
Trevon Brazile was a beast on the boards, pulling down 10 rebounds to go with his 16 points, and Malique Ewin was huge off the bench for John Calipari’s team, putting up 14 points and 13 rebounds. Ewin’s work on the glass was part of a 44-31 rebounding advantage that helped Arkansas have the last laugh on Saturday against the gritty Rebels.
Ole Miss fell short despite shooting exactly 50% from the field, although it was off the mark from 3-point land, making just 9 of 29 from long distance.
AJ Storr was once again big off the bench for the Rebels, pouring in 24 points in 20 minutes. He led Ole Miss in scoring, with Malik Dia chipping in 16 points, while Ilias Kamardine and Patton Pinkins added 13 points apiece.
It was an incredible run for the Rebels in Nashville, but it ended just a few plays short of the title game, where Arkansas will be headed instead on Sunday afternoon.
With Arkansas moving on to Sunday’s title game, here is how Kalshi currently sees the odds for the Hogs’ matchup against Vanderbilt:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
