By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach John Pelphrey has come under fire this season, facing mounds of questions about his job security as the Razorbacks reach the end of the regular season.
It’s a subject Pelphrey insists won’t consume his thoughts, though.
Instead, he wants his team concentrating on the task at hand.
“We keep recasting the focus of what is important to our team,” Pelphrey said Thursday afternoon. “Right now, today, the focus of our basketball team will be to try to learn from Mississippi State. To go and get prepared the next two days for our game against (Ole Miss).”
But Pelphrey can take comfort in knowing he has company. If anyone else understands how Pelphrey feels, it’s the coach standing on the opposite sideline when Arkansas (18-11, 7-8 in Southeastern Conference) and Ole Miss (18-12, 6-9) meet in Tad Smith Coliseum today at 3.
Pelphrey and Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy enter the regular season finale staring at uncertain futures. Today’s winning team will claim the third seed in next week’s SEC Tournament, but the position will hardly ease frustrations that have mounted with losses by both teams.
The most visible example came in Thursday’s edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A concerned fan paid for the quarter-page advertisement, urging others to speak out.
Pelphrey, who acknowledged he was aware of the ad, said it wouldn’t distract him this week and hoped his players wouldn’t either. Center Delvon Johnson said he wouldn’t pay attention to it.
“I never once listen to what other people think about us or this team,” Johnson said.
“People can say what they want to say. You can’t worry about those things.”
Arkansas dropped the first meeting with Ole Miss this season, struggling to score in a 69-60 loss in Bud Walton Arena. It was the second straight loss at home for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas responded to beat Kentucky and Auburn last week and had a chance to claim a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament. But the Razorbacks struggled down the stretch Wednesday night and could now finish fourth with a loss.
So 8-8 in SEC play is the goal now for the Razorbacks. Arkansas hasn’t finished .500 or above in SEC play since the 2007-08 season.
“As long as we’ve got time on the clock we are going to go do the best we can,” Pelphrey said Thursday. “I think it’s really big. I want that eighth win. I want the 19th win overall. I think our players do, too. There is a difference who you play in the SEC Tournament.”
The winner of tonight’s game will face South Carolina, which has struggled to a 5-10 mark in conference play next Thursday. The rest of the SEC East is jumbled, but today’s loser would face either Tennessee, Georgia or Vanderbilt.
Both teams know their only path to the NCAA Tournament is by grabbing the SEC tourney crown.
It has been an elusive place for Kennedy, who hasn’t guided the Rebels into the NCAA Tournament during his tenure. Ole Miss had high hopes it would happen this season, but an 0-4 start in conference play damaged those hopes.
The Rebels lost at Auburn on Wednesday, ensuring they will finish below .500 in the SEC.
“I’m a big boy, I understand the reality,” Kennedy told the Jackson-Clarion Ledger last month, addressing his status. And I work at the discretion of my employer. I’m an employee of the University of Mississippi. When we get through with the season as with every year, I’ll have an opportunity to speak with my employer with the future. But until then I don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about that because that’s unfair to the kids that we’re coaching.
“We’ve still got games to be played, and that’s where our focus is.”
Pelphrey said Arkansas’ goal, despite the swirling talk regarding his future with the Razorbacks this week, will be much the same.
“It’s a game and an opportunity to go back on the road and try to continue to make progress there,” Pelphrey said. “The last time we went on the road we were fortunate enough to pick up a win and maybe we can do it again.”
TONIGHT’S TICKET
Arkansas (18-11, 7-8 in SEC) at Ole Miss (18-12, 6-9 in SEC)
When: 3 p.m.
Where: Tad Smith Coliseum in Oxford, Miss.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Razorback Sports Network
Coaches: Arkansas — John Pelphrey (69-57 in fourth season); Ole Miss — Andy Kennedy (103-62 in fifth season)
Projected Lineups: Arkansas — C Delvon Johnson (6-9, Sr., 9.5 ppg), F Marshawn Powell (6-7, So., 11.0), G Julysses Nobles (6-1, So., 8.3), G Rotnei Clarke (6-0, Jr., 14.7), G Marcus Britt (6-3, Sr., 5.1); Ole Miss — F Terrance Henry (6-10, Jr., 9.1), F Reginald Buckner (6-9, So., 7.0), G Zach Graham (6-6, Sr., 14.4), G Dundrecous Nelson (5-11, Fr., 7.0), G Chris Warren (5-10, Sr., 18.7)
