FAYETTEVILLE — Makhi Mitchell broke a 72-72 tie by putting in a layup with 54 seconds remaining in the game and Arkansas went on to take a 78-75 win over Georgia Saturday evening in Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas (12-11, 3-7) held a lead the majority of the game, including 34-29 at halftime, but the Bulldogs rallied late to take a brief lead. Georgia held a 70-69 lead with 2:05 remaining in the game. But Eric Musselman saw his team fight back and get the win avenging a 76-66 loss to Georgia in Athens on Jan. 10.
"We obviously needed to win today," Musselman said. "Offensively and defensively we made some improvement. Obviously we went with a small lineup. Bench scoring was phenomenal, 44-20. So plus 24 bench points. I felt we did a pretty good taking care of the basketball though we stepped out of bounds a lot. But all in all happy with the win. Obviously to shoot 73 percent in the second half, 14 of 19. It’s hard to lose a game if you shoot that percentage in a half which they did. They stuck with their 1-3-1 and I thought when we didn’t turn the ball over we did a good job handling that."
The game marked the return of senior guard Davonte "Devo" Davis. He came off the bench, but helped put his stamp on the win. Davis had four points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Arkansas had five players score in double figures including three off the bench.
"I thought Jalen Graham in the first half did a really good job," Musselman said. "He got us 11 points in 14 minutes. Khi Mitchell did really good drawing free throws and converting 6 of 8. Then obviously Keyon’s (Menifield) 30 minutes and his 15 points and leading us in scoring. Both he and El (Ellis). Really played three point guards together. Devo played 34 minutes and he’s a point guard as well. So playing three, four point guards at a time is a little bit unique for us but we’re still searching trying to find a winning formula based on our opponent on any given night."
Ellis hadn't seen any playing time since the loss to Kentucky. He surprisingly got the start against Georgia and responded in a big way as Musselman noted. In addition to his 15 points, Ellis had five rebounds, three assists and three steals. After having five turnovers against Kentucky with only one assist, Ellis only had one turnover on Saturday. Ellis talked about how he stayed prepared despite not playing in the two games.
"Preparation in the gym," Ellis said. "I’m in the gym every day whether I play or not. I’ll be ready. Tonight my number was called and I was ready to play and I wanted to play. I really feel like I can help this team. I’m just so happy we got that win and it’s so good to be out there."
Makhi Mitchell finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks. Tramon Mark added 13 points, five rebounds, two assists, three steals and a pair of blocks. Graham had three rebounds to go with his 11 points.
Arkansas hasn't been good against defending the 3-point shot, but that changed against Georgia. The Hogs held the Bulldogs to 4-of-18 (22%) from distance. Georgia shot 33% in the first meeting of the teams making nine from behind the 3-point line.
On Saturday, Arkansas won the rebounding by a narrow margin, 28-27. The Hogs scored 21 points off 14 Georgia turnovers.
Georgia (14-10, 4-7) was topped in scoring by Silas Demary with 19 points while also having three assists and two steals. Justin Hill finished with 18 points and three assists. Russel Tshewa had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Razorbacks will remain at home and host No. 6 Tennessee (17-5, 7-2) on Wednesday night. The Vols were at Texas A&M Saturday night. Wednesday's game will tip at 8 p.m. and televised on ESPN2.
