Desi Sills (15 point, 5-of-7 three’s) on battling through coming back from shoulder injury by continuing to work each and every day.
Perico moves up to ninth while Hogs seventh at Cabo Collegiate
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Julian Perico climbed 12 spots into a tie for ninth and Arkansas improved one position into a tie for seventh after 36 holes (302-296 — 598) at the Cabo Collegiate on Tuesday, played at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course (par 72, 7.034 yards).
The Razorbacks, ranked 31st, are tied with No. 27 Baylor and No. 8 Oklahoma State and the three lead No. 21 Texas Tech (601), No. 23 Houston (606) and No. 1 Arizona (10).
Oklahoma, ranked seventh nationally, kept the lead through round two with a two-day score of 287-295 — 582.
Fourth-ranked Florida State is three shots behind the Sooners at 585. Rounding out the top six are No. 15 Texas A&M (586), No. 3 Arizona State (592), UTSA (595) and No. 10 Texas (596).
Once again, only four players are at par or better after two rounds. Vincent Norman (Florida State) posted the team round of the day — a 4-under 68 — and leads a trio of golfers in second by three strokes.
Garrett Reband (Oklahoma), Sam Bennett (Texas A&M) and Pierceson Coody (Texas) are all tied for second at even par (144).
The winner of this year’s event will earn an exemption to play on the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open on the same course at the end of the month.
For Arkansas, Julian Perico, ranked 20th in the nation, shot 12 spots up the leaderboard after a second-round, 2-under-par 70
The junior has a 36-hole score of 2-over-par 146 (76-70) and is tied for ninth, five strokes off the lead.
On Tuesday, Perico, who started on hole #10, was even at the turn with a bogey on his third hole and a birdie on his eighth. He had two bogeys and two birdies on his back nine but holed out from 80 yards on the 315-yard, par-4 5th hole for his fifth eagle for his 2-under 70.
It was his fifth eagle of the year and the 14th of his career, including a double eagle in last year’s Cabo Collegiate.
Tyson Reeder reeled off 16 pars with three bogeys to card a 3-over-par 75. He sits in a tie for 19th with a 36-hole total of 148 (73-75).
Mason Overstreet cut one stroke off his opening-round total and is one shot behind Reeder. Overstreet shot a 2-over 74 and is tied for 23rd at 75-74 — 149.
Rounding out the Razorback group is Segundo Oliva Pinto (78-77=155/T55), William Buhl (82-77 — 159/T74) and, playing as an individual, Manuel Lozada (86-76=162/T81).
The third and final round of the Cabo Collegiate is set for Wednesday.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Listen to Hogs-South Carolina here or on ESPN Arkansas stations
• Who: No. 12-13 Arkansas Razorbacks (19-5, 11-4 SEC) at South Carolina Gamecocks (6-12, 4-10 SEC)
• What: Razorbacks are looking for their fourth straight SEC road win of the season.
• When: Tuesday, March 2, 5:30 p.m. (pregame starts at 5 p.m.)
• Where: Colonial Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
• TV: ESPN2 (Dave Neal and Daymeon Fishback) CLICK HERE
• ONLINE: HitThatLine.com LISTEN HERE
• Radio: ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
The No. 12-13 Arkansas Razorbacks play their final regular-season road game of the year on Tuesday against the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Tipoff is set for 5:30 pm and the game will be televised on SEC Network.
Pregame coverage starts at 12:30 p.m. and you can LISTEN HERE or on the radio at ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman will have all the coverage.
• This will be the 36th meeting between Arkansas and South Carolina, all since both teams joined the SEC for the 1991-92 season.
South Carolina is Arkansas’ least-played opponent in the SEC at 35 previous games. Arkansas leads the series 20-15. Arkansas has lost two straight to the Gamecocks and is just 6-8 in Columbia.
• Arkansas has clinched a double-bye for the SEC Tournament, meaning the Razorbacks will not play until the quarterfinals on Friday, March 12. One win for Arkansas over the next to games clinches No. 2 seed.
• During its nine-game SEC win streak, Arkansas won back-to-back road games at Kentucky and Missouri. Arkansas won at Vanderbilt prior to the Kentucky-Missouri sweep for a current streak of three consecutive SEC road wins.
The last time Arkansas won three straight SEC road games was 2017, including a win at No. 21 South Carolina. Arkansas has not won four straight SEC games since Feb. 1995.
• Arkansas went undefeated in February (6-0) for the first time since 1993-94.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Barrett on Hogs’ improvement, buying into Musselman’s system
Razorbacks’ radio announcer Chuck Barrett said the improvement in this year’s team has been interesting to watch going into South Carolina game.
Neighbors on success in season changes tourney expectations
With Arkansas’ strong regular season performance, Mike Neighbors feels they are comfortably in the NCAA, which changes expectations for league tournament.
Toll enters transfer portal after one year, reports say
According to multiple reports, Arkansas’ Blayne Toll has entered the transfer portal after a season where he never really found a place to play.
Except on special teams where he played in seven games last year while flip-flopping between defensive end and tight end.
Toll played against Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida and Alabama this past season.
The Razorbacks are expected to start spring drills on Tuesday, March 9. The Red-White Spring Game is slated for April 17.
Coming out of Hazen, Toll chose the Hogs over Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Memphis, TCU and others.
Toll started as a tight end, but over the summer was moved to defensive end, then back to the offensive side. After the season he was moved back to defensive end and the Hogs hired a new defensive ends coach in Jermial Ashley to replace Derrick LeBlanc.
Dungee looks back at career ahead of SEC Tournament
Razorbacks senior Chelsea Dungee talked with the media Tuesday morning about her four years, the growth of the program and the tournament this week.
Hogs adding new executive director of player personnel
Sam Pittman has hired Butler Benton to become Arkansas’ new executive director of player personnel, according to multiple sources.
Benton, a Detroit native who played running back at Cincinnati, comes to Arkansas after serving as Director of Player Personnel at Georgia Southern.
The Razorbacks are also expected to add veteran coach Charlie Williams to the support staff in some capacity, according to reports
• Georgia Southern bio:
Butler Benton III, a four-year letterman as a running back at Cincinnati from 2004-07, served as the Director of Player Personnel for the Georgia Southern football program. In his role, Benton worked with head coach Chad Lunsford and recruiting coordinator Victor Cabral in several areas pertaining to recruiting, including the coordination of the recruit evaluation procedure, prospect identification and evaluations and the assistance with on-campus recruiting.
Benton also oversaw the communication and building of relationships with high school coaches and continues to build the database of GS alumni that are high school coaches and/or high school administrators.
Benton came to Statesboro after four seasons on the full-time staff at Michigan State as the player personnel coordinator. Benton worked on the structure and direction of recruiting related projects, and assists with the prospect evaluation process. He also mentors current student-athletes with a focus on personal development, academic performances and career planning.
Benton arrived at Michigan State in March 2016 after serving as director of student-athlete enrichment at the University of New Orleans for a year and a half. He previously spent 15 months as the assistant director of player development, engagement and academic enhancement at Notre Dame. Benton assisted in implementing programming to promote the intellectual, social and spiritual development of Irish football student-athletes. Prior to his stint at Notre Dame, he worked for nearly two years at Kent State as an internal operations assistant.
Benton was a four-year letterwinner (2004-07) as a running back at Cincinnati, earning three of his four letters while playing for Mark Dantonio. Benton rushed 379 times for 1,736 yards (4.6 avg.) and 11 touchdowns at Cincinnati. He also had 34 career receptions for 348 yards (10.2 avg.) and two scores. As a senior in 2007, Benton led the Bearcats in rushing with a career-best 499 yards on 100 carries and scored two rushing TDs. He gained 101 yards on 12 carries in the season opener against Southeast Missouri State. Benton set career highs with 16 catches for 154 yards (9.6 avg.). As a junior in 2006, Benton ranked second on the Bearcats in rushing with 497 yards on 108 attempts (4.0 avg.) and his four rushing TDs tied for the team lead. In 2004, he finished second on the team in rushing with 453 yards on 100 carries (4.5 avg.) and scored four TDs. Benton set career highs with 25 rushes for 127 yards against East Carolina.
Benton, a three-time all-city selection at Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, rushed for more than 3,000 yards during his prep career.
He earned his bachelor of business administration in finance from Cincinnati in December 2008 and received his master of arts in sport and recreation management from Kent State in May 2013. He married Jennifer Passmore in July 2019.
Dungee, Slocum get All-SEC awards from league’s coaches
Chelsea Dungee and Destiny Slocum both earned All-SEC Honors, the league office announced today.
Dungee was named to the first team, while Slocum was named to the second team by the league’s coaches.
Dungee, a three-time All-SEC selection, cemented her legacy in her final season at Arkansas, putting together her best season on the Hill.
Dungee is averaging career-highs in several categories this season, including points per game (22.2), field goal percentage (43.0 percent), and three-point percentage (39.1 percent).
She has scored 20+ in 16 of her 25 games played this season, and has gone for 30 or more points in four contests. Dungee’s consistency this season has been remarkable.
The Sapulpa, Okla.. native has scored in double figures in all 25 games this season, and has scored 10 or more in 30 games dating back to the end of last season, the longest such streak of her career.
All that scoring added up, as Dungee now has 2,098 career points, the highest collegiate total of any Razorback women’s player ever.
When looking at the numbers in SEC play, Dungee was somehow even better. She averaged 23.1 points per game, the most in the league in conference only games, scored 20 or more in 12 of Arkansas’ 15 league games, and dropped 30+ against Ole Miss, Florida and Tennessee.
She also showed her defensive chops this season, often guarding the other team’s best or second best player, with the ability to guard perimeter players and bigs.
She’s also averaging 1.5 steals per game, the highest mark of her career.
When the lights were brightest, Dungee always seemed to be at her best.
Against teams currently in the top-10 of the AP Poll this season, Dungee has been electric, averaging 22.0 points per game on 45.7 percent shooting and 43.3 percent from deep.
In the Hogs’ two ranked wins this season, Dungee has been nearly unstoppable, averaging 29.5 points per game, while shooting 56 percent from the field and 44 percent from three.
In a year full of memorable performances from the Arkansas guard, her showing against UConn stands out, as she dropped 37 points on the Huskies, the most by any single player against them this century.
Slocum, meanwhile, has had a huge on-court impact during her lone season at Arkansas. Slocum, who has now earned All-Conference honors in the Big 10 (Maryland), the Pac-12 (Oregon State 2x) and the SEC, was second on the team in scoring (15.6 points per game), while leading the Hogs in assists (4.0 assists per game).
She has scored in double-figures in 22 of her 25 games played this season, and has gone for 20+ in five games this season, including three times in her final six games of the regular season.
Like Dungee, Slocum was even better in SEC play, upping her scoring average (15.9) and her assists per game average (4.5). The Oregon State transfer’s elite decision making was also on display during league play, as her 2.3 assist-to-turnover ratio was the third best mark in the SEC.
As the regular season has winded down, Slocum has started to find her rhythm, as she has averaged 18.3 points per game over her last six contests.
Slocum has had quite a few memorable showings in her lone season under coach Mike Neighbors, including her 22-point 10-assists showing against Missouri, the first 20-point 10-assist showing by a Hog since Kimberly Wilson back in 1996.
She also put on a clinic in Baton Rouge, dropping 29 on LSU on 11 of 15 shooting.
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