Teams that are short-handed don’t have a lot of room for error.
Arkansas was both short-handed and error-prone against Mississippi State in both teams’ SEC opener on Wednesday, falling 81-68.
The Razorbacks were without leading scorer JD Notae and forward Kamani Johnson. The school announced before the game that Notae would miss because of illness and Johnson was indefinitely suspended because of an undisclosed reason.
The game against the Bulldogs likely would have been a bit different with them.
Instead, Arkansas struggled on the glass, where Johnson would have helped, and struggled with turnovers and getting to the free-throw line, where Notae would have helped.
Mississippi State’s win was its seventh in its last eight games against Arkansas. The Razorbacks return to Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday to host Vanderbilt.
Here are five reasons behind the box score for Arkansas’ loss on Wednesday.