FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Malik Dia scored 21 points to lead No. 23 Mississippi to a 73-66 win over Arkansas on Wednesday night, the Rebels’ first win in Fayetteville since 2015.

Sean Pedulla scored 16 points and Dre Davis 10 points. Pedulla and Dia scored back-to-back goals with less than nine minutes left, extending Ole Miss’ lead to double digits after Arkansas (11-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) cut it to six.

Adou Thiero led the Razorbacks with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting. The rest of the Arkansas team shot just 32%.

Dia, Pedulla and Davis scored 14 straight points over a five-minute span midway through the second period for the Rebels (13-2, 2-0), outscoring the Hogs by four points in that span to push the lead to double digits stayed.

The Razorbacks, who fell out of the top 25 last week after a loss at Tennessee, have started the league 0-2 for the second straight season.

Takeaways

Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament gap could be wide by the end of the week as ninth-seeded Florida visits Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.

The Rebels are 2-0 in the SEC for the first time since 2019, which was also the last time the Rebels reached the NCAA Tournament. It looks like they will return in 2025.

Key moment

Ole Miss’ 17-7 run in the first 5:37 of the second half was exactly what the Rebels needed to leave Arkansas with a win.

Key statistics

The shooting doomed the Razorbacks. Arkansas shot just 22% from 3-point range while Ole Miss shot 39%, and Boogie Fland, the Razorbacks’ leading scorer this season, shot just 5 of 20 from the floor and scored 14 points.

Next

Ole Miss hosts LSU on Saturday.

Arkansas hosts No. 8 Florida on Saturday.

——

Get AP Top 25 poll alerts and updates throughout the season. Sign up here. AP College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball