Neighbors familiar with Rebels

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors is very familiar with Ole Miss.

The Razorbacks’ first-year coach has watched the Rebels more than any other Southeastern Conference team this season. Today, he will attempt to put his extensive review to good use as Arkansas opens SEC play against Ole Miss at 2 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.

After falling by 46 points on the road at Arizona State on Dec. 21, Arkansas closed out the nonconference schedule with a 79-62 win against Grambling State on Thursday behind double-doubles from Kiara Williams, Malica Monk and a strong scoring night from Devin Cosper.

“We flushed that thing pretty fast,” Neighbors said of the loss to the Sun Devils. “The only clips we showed them were a couple where we didn’t huddle up after some good things happened to us. We’re looking at it as a culmination of the nonconference schedule, but it did feel good to move on past that.

“We corrected a lot of things we did wrong down there at Arizona State.”

The Razorbacks turned in their fourth game with 10 or more 3-pointers Thursday, highlighted by Cosper’s four. Neighbors said this is typically the time of year when his teams get their legs under them and shot quality improves.

Monk found teammates for good looks regularly against the Lady Tigers and finished with 10 assists as a result.

“I want a kid that will attack it and push the pace,” Neighbors said. “She really had to work her tail off. She adapted and changed how she was playing. I thought we got some finishes on the back end of that, and that’s good for Malica.”

Neighbors has known Ole Miss coach Matt Insell for years and is well aware of the challenges the Rebels present, beginning with guard play. Junior Madinah Muhammad averages nearly 18 points per game this season and Alissa Alston scores at a 15.8 point-per-game clip as well.

The Rebels also feature 6-5 Promise Taylor at 6-3 Shelby Gibson along the frontline. Taylor is a double-double threat, averaging 9.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per night to go with a team-high 39 blocks. Gibson led Ole Miss with a career-high 20 points in a 73-58 win against Texas Southern on Dec. 28.

“It’s a challenge for us,” Neighbors said. “So it presents some problems for us just in sheer matchup size. They’re in a situation where they’re a little further along in understanding their culture and their style of play. I have watched them an awful lot.”

Neighbors said he liked having a final nonconference primer Thursday night to knock off the cobwebs following Christmas break. He feels as if his team is well-prepared for league play.

“We’re as ready as we could be. We had to go on the road at Arizona State, Nebraska and Kansas, and played in a good tournament on the road, so I think we’re as prepared as we can be,” he said. “I think our rotations, our roles have been very clearly identified, and that, to me, is when you’ve started to make some progress.”