By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
OXFORD, Miss. — Arkansas freshman Julysses Nobles only played two minutes when the Razorbacks traveled to Mississippi State earlier this month.
But the Jackson, Miss., native played much more in his second trip to his home state on Sunday. And each minute he was on the floor — especially in the second half — was critical to Arkansas’ 80-73 win against Ole Miss in Tad Smith Coliseum.
Nobles came off the bench in relief of point guard Courtney Fortson, who was sidelined by foul trouble, to log 19 minutes against the Rebels. His numbers weren’t jaw-dropping — Nobles finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and zero turnovers — but he gave the Razorbacks a big lift.
“In the first half we got him in and he did a good job a couple of times,” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said. “The second half though he was huge.
“So good for him.”
It was a far cry from the past several weeks.
Nobles, who started 14 straight games to open the season before Fortson returned from suspension, had been struggling and his minutes diminished. In fact, he had only logged 16 minutes through Arkansas’ first five Southeastern Conference games, totaling four points, one assist and one steal.
But Pelphrey turned to Nobles to help the Hogs run their offense and defend Ole Miss’ guards Sunday.
He stepped on the floor in the second half after Fortson picked up his fourth foul at the 12:29 mark and played several critical minutes. By the time Fortson returned with 2:44 left, Arkansas had built a three-point lead it would not relinquish.
Pelphrey credited Nobles for staying patient.
“We always talk about your day is coming,” Pelphrey said. “You may not be playing as much as you want to or whatever the case may be, or happy with your role. You’ve got some serious foul trouble there in the second half and Julysses came in and did a really good job of just helping our basketball team defensively and running some offense.”
Extra Day
Arkansas got an extra day to get ready for Ole Miss thanks to the winter storm that pushed tip-off from Saturday afternoon to Sunday night. But Pelphrey said the Razorbacks couldn’t really do much from the preparation standpoint because it took Saturday off.
NCAA rules require a team to take one day off a week during the season. Usually, the Razorbacks use that day on Sunday but shifted it to Saturday.
However, Pelphrey believes his team did help his team from one standpoint: An extra day of rest after playing Mississippi State on Thursday night.
“From a rest standpoint, it’s never bad because these guys log a lot of minutes,” Pelphrey said.
‘T’ For Farmer
Forward Jemal Farmer picked up a technical foul in the first half after tussling with Ole Miss’ Terrance Henry for a rebound. Farmer was whistled for a foul, then was slapped with the technical.
It was part of another rough night for Farmer, who, has struggled lately. Farmer finished with zero points and three fouls in five minutes.
Foul Count
Arkansas was whistled for seven personal fouls in the game’s first seven minutes Sunday night. While that may not be very unusual, this statistic is: Ole Miss committed none during that stretch.
The Rebels didn’t pick up their first personal foul until the 8:02 mark, when Terrico White fouled point guard Courtney Fortson. But the uneven foul count leveled out over the next several minutes and both teams finished with seven fouls in the first half.
In the end, foul trouble hurt Ole Miss more. The Rebels lost forward DeAundre Cranston to his fifth foul midway through the second half. Forward Terrance Henry was also in foul trouble with four.
Free Throws
Coaches from both teams wore tennis shoes as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer awareness week. … New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who played his collegiate career at Ole Miss, attended Sunday’s game. … Ole Miss played without freshman forward Reginald Buckner, who was sidelined after suffering an ankle injury at Auburn on Thursday night.
