Tommie Eddie did not play in the Rebels last meeting with the Razorbacks.

University, MS (U-WIRE) -- Winning a game can often seem like therapy to a team.

Sometimes a win will heal a team and change the whole season around. Just look at the Boston Red Sox after their dramatic win following a bench clearing brawl in a game against the Yankees in July.

For the Ole Miss men's basketball team, Wednesday night's win against Auburn was certainly a step in the right direction.

First, the win stopped a four-game losing streak, and second, it showed what Ole Miss is capable of doing on a given night.

Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes said he is glad to find his team after having lost them for about a two week stretch.

Barnes said his team was not playing the aggressive style of basketball that they have played in the past, and Barnes showed his team exactly what he wanted through game tapes from earlier in the season.

"I don't want to see that team that we're walking it (the ball) up the floor, guys turning down threes, we're not getting the ball inside, we're not diving on the floor," Barnes said. "I just showed them (on video). I said these are the same guys. We pretty much took a (video) clip of every guy."

Ole Miss (12-10, 3-6 Southeastern Conference) was certainly more aggressive on the offensive end Wednesday night, shooting more threes when having the opportunity and working the ball inside more. Ole Miss was 9-of-18 from 3-point range in the first half against Auburn, Wednesday.

Yes, Wednesday's win did come against an inferior team that does not have much size or experience, but if Ole Miss shoots the ball as well as it did Wednesday night, it should be fine against just about anyone, including Arkansas Saturday.

Arkansas (14-7, 2-6 SEC) blew Ole Miss out, 69-46, back on Jan. 5 in Fayetteville, Ark., but who is to say that won't happen again?

Well, things have changed since then.

Ole Miss has certainly gotten better despite losing four of its last six games, and Arkansas has gone through a bit of a slide itself, losing six of its last seven games since playing Ole Miss. Arkansas is 1-4 away from Bud Walton Arena. Not to mention Saturday's game is in Oxford, a place where the Razorbacks have not won since 1996.

However, the shots must fall for Ole Miss, who struggled the last time out against Arkansas, shooting a season low 26 percent from the floor. Turnovers also plagued the Rebels as they turned the ball over 24 times with 14 of those coming in the first 11 minutes after halftime.

The Rebels were missing one of their leading scorers in Tommie Eddie for the game in Arkansas last month.

Eddie, who is averaging 12.1 points per game, can't afford to be in early foul trouble like he was against Auburn Wednesday.

Ole Miss will need him to help establish the inside game against some of the taller Razorback players.

The Rebels will take on the Razorbacks at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Tad Smith Coliseum.

(C) 2004 Daily Mississippian via U-WIRE