Only one team under par on windy start to Cabo Collegiate

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Only one team under par on windy start to Cabo Collegiate

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course, one of the toughest on the PGA TOUR, showed its teeth today and a cold, windy day led to just one of the 116 teams being under par after one day one of the 11th annual Cabo Collegiate at TPC San Antonio.

Host and No. 31 Arkansas is tied for seventh, posting a 13-over-par 301 on the par 72, 7.034-yard track. Oklahoma leads the 116-team field, featuring 12 of the top 30 teams in the country.

The Sooners, ranked seventh, turned in a 1-under-par 287 and leads second place #15 Texas A&M (297) by 10 strokes.

Texas, ranked 10th, and Florida State, ranked fourth are tied for third (298).

Rounding out the top 10 are No. 8 Oklahoma State (299), No. 27 Baylor (300), Arkansas (301), No. 2 Arizona State (301), California (302) and top-ranked Arizona (305).

Only four players broke par on day one. Patrick Walsh (Oklahoma) carded a 3-under 69 to lead after 18 holes.

A trio of players are tied for second at -1 including John Pak (Florida State), Johnny Keefer (Baylor) and Pierceson Coody (Texas).

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.

Tyson Reeder leads Arkansas after round one. The graduate senior it tied for eighth after a 1-over-par round.  Reeder stood at 3-over after a double on the par-3, 13th but rallied with birdies on holes 14 and 17 to record his 73.

Julian Perico, the 20th-ranked player in the nation, and Mason Overstreet are tied for 21st after each turned in an opening-round, 3-over-par 75.

Segundo Oliva Pinto is one stroke behind Perico and Overstreet and the junior is tied for 57th. William Buhl is T77 and Manuel Lozada, playing as an individual, is T86 to round out the Razorback contingent.

Round two of three of the Cabo Collegiate is set for Tuesday. The 54-hole event will conclude Wednesday.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Hogs tied for 12th after first round at Gamecock Intercollegiate

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Hogs tied for 12th after first round at Gamecock Intercollegiate

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 13 Arkansas finished the first round at the Gamecock Intercollegiate at 299 (+11), good for a share of 12th place.

Duke currently leads the event at six-under, while six players are tied atop the individual leaderboard, all of whom shot 69 (-3) in round one.

The duo of Kajal Mistry and Cory Lopez led the Hogs on day one, as both fired rounds of 74 (+2), placing them tied for 35th on the leaderboard.

Lopez carded a team-high four birdies, but shot four bogeys along with a double on 17 to finish at two-over in the round. Mistry, meanwhile, played at even par on holes one through nine, but bogeyed hole 11 and hole 14 on the back.

Sophomore Julia Gregg is tied for 47th after day one, shooting a first round 75 (+3). While she was three-over on the back nine of the course, Gregg was one-under on the front nine, firing a birdie on hole one and paring holes two through nine to close out her round.

Finishing fourth in the Hog lineup was redshirt junior Brooke Matthews, who currently sits at four-over, good for a share of 61st place.

Like Gregg, Matthews played much better on the front of the course, recording three birdies and two bogeys on her way to a one-under score over those nine holes.

On the back, though, Matthews was +5, including back-to-back doubles on 13 and 14.

Sophomore Ela Anacona rounded out the lineup on day one, shooting a first round 78 (+6). She’s tied for 79th place headed into day two.

O’Gara on Razorbacks’ flying high in spring with high rankings

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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O’Gara on Razorbacks’ flying high in spring with high rankings

As Arkansas’ active programs continue to rise in the rankings and win SEC titles, Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara is impressed.

Moody named top freshman in SEC for second time

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Moody named top freshman in SEC for second time

After wins over the top two teams in the SEC last week, Arkansas guard Moses Moody was named the SEC Freshman of the Week, the league announced today.

This is the second time Moody has earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors this season. He has also been named the overall SEC Player of the Week twice this season by College Sports Madness.

Moses Moody • Little Rock / Montverde (Fla.) Academy

• Averaged 21.0 points and 6.5 rebounds.

Set career highs in both games for assists and had a career-high for blocked shots:

• ALABAMA: 24 points – 5 rebounds – 4 assists – 3 blocked shots – 1 steal

• LSU: 18 points – 8 rebounds – 5 assists

• Was a combined 27-of-33 at the free throw line in the two games.

• Played all 20 minutes of the second half in both games and has done so a team-best 11 times this season, including six straight.

• Was 16-of-19 at the free throw line in the Alabama game (16 makes tie for 6th-most by a Hog in a game, 3rd-most in an SEC game; 19 attempts tie for 7th-most by a Hog in a game, 3rd most in an SEC game)

Against Alabama

• Moody scored 10 in the first half, thanks to 5-of-5 shooting at the free throw line, and had three of his then career-best four assists.

• In the second half, he scored 14 points, thanks to 11-of-14 at the line, as the Hogs out-scored the Tide 42-28 in the second half. Moody additionally had two of his career-high three blocked shots.

• With Arkansas up four in the second half (56-52 with 8:53 left) Moody was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. He made all three at the free throw line for a comfortable seven-point edge. Down the stretch, Moody scored seven of the team’s final 11 points.

Against LSU

Arkansas trailed by five at halftime and Moody helped the Hogs out-score the Tigers 51-38 in the second half.

• He scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, making 7-of-10 free throws.

• He had four of his career-high five assists in the second half.

• With the game tied (46-46 with 15:38 left), Moody made five straight free throws to put the Hogs up five and Arkansas never relinquished the lead.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Halftime Pod Presented By Eastside Liquor — March 1, 2021

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Halftime Pod Presented By Eastside Liquor — March 1, 2021

Come on, not many of you expected this in January

Andy Hodges
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Come on, not many of you expected this in January

When Monday’s media poll dropped with Arkansas jumping eight spots to No. 12 there was a wave of excitement for a fan base needing something.

In the coaches’ poll they are 13th.

The last time the Razorbacks were that high in a poll was 1998.

Coming on the same day the baseball team is ranked No. 1 in the country and the women’s team likely to be highly ranked later in the day, spirits are high.

Oh, and before we forget, both track teams took SEC Indoor league titles over the weekend and will be hosting the NCAA Championships in a few weeks.

But for the men, let’s not forget there was the Lunatic Fringe of the Razorbacks’ fan base back in mid-January that were ready to pack up the Muss Bus, aim it out of town and put the hammer down (sorry, couldn’t resist that).

We cautioned you then to just calm down and relax because there were a lot of games left and the guess was Eric Musselman would have it straightened out pretty quick.

It’s called coaching and that’s why college sports sells the coaches, who are the most consistent face of any sport at any school. Players come and go, but coaches either win or the face of the program changes … quickly these days.

The Hogs may be the hottest basketball programs in the SEC and maybe the country.

Last week they ran away late from sixth-ranked (eighth in today’s poll) Alabama, then rallied from a halftime deficit to sail past LSU in a second half that wasn’t as close as the final 83-75 score indicated.

Musselman knows how to coach and there is a segment of folks that race to be first on social media to declare the program is in shambles and changes have to be made.

One sports radio talking head even brought up the idea over the weekend that Musselman might be headed to another job in Minnesota where he spent part of his youth with his dad coaching there.

Maybe it’s good speculation, but there hasn’t been any indication Musselman is looking to go anywhere else.

The knee-jerk reaction is he really wants to be back in the NBA or in the Big Ten or anywhere other than Fayetteville. Okay, Eddie Sutton crawled to Kentucky back in 1985 but no other coach has left for another job.

That’s a combination of a different Northwest Arkansas and higher expectations. Having the financial resources helps keep good coaches in Fayetteville … as long as they are winning games and staying off Harleys on the Elkins highway.

As of now there is zero evidence Musselman viewed Arkansas a stepping-stone to something else. With Sutton there was always the feeling it wasn’t big enough.

Nolan Richardson wasn’t going anywhere even after things fell apart in 2001.

The feeling is Musselman won’t, either.

Especially considering he’s gotten the Hogs back in the national conversation with nothing approaching two normal seasons. Covid has been an issue for a year and has thrown college basketball with curve balls and changeups all year long.

How Musselman has handled it probably speaks as much to why he’s have success. He has that “it” factor. Knows it, gets it, understands it … whatever you want to call it.

But for now he has the Hogs No. 12 in the country.

And he knows it won’t mean a lot if he doesn’t win games this month.

 

Hogs move to No. 1 in polls, but Van Horn probably doesn’t care

Andy Hodges
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Hogs move to No. 1 in polls, but Van Horn probably doesn’t care

It’s a good bet Dave Van Horn knows Arkansas was moved to the top spot in Monday morning’s college baseball polls and probably shrugged it off.

Fans will care about a March poll that means nothing in May.

Van Horn probably doesn’t.

“I’ll be more than happy to comment if it happens,” he said after finishing the sweep of Southeast Missouri over the weekend. “I don’t have anything to say about it because it hasn’t happened.”

He was smiling when he said that, by the way. Van Horn knew.

But the truth is he knows it’s a long way to May.

“We need to work on some things,” Van Horn said Sunday. “I feel good about where we’re at.”

The latest edition of both the D1 Baseball and Baseball America Top 25 polls has the Hogs ranked No. 1 in the country after Ole Miss lost two of three games over the weekend to Central Florida.

Arkansas was ranked No. 8 in the preseason by D1 Baseball and slotted in at sixth by Baseball America but has earned a spot at the top of the rankings quickly after an impressive opening weekend at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown.

Van Horn, who is building what has become probably the most consistently strong team in college baseball over the last few years and the last piece to the puzzle is closing out a national championship.

Right now, though, he’s just trying to figure out this team.

“I feel good about our team, where we’re at,” Van Horn said. “Obviously, the bottom line is you need to win games, and we’ve been winning them. Whether we played real well or just OK, we found a way to win a couple games where were were behind these first seven.”

Arkansas will play next against Murray State in a three-game series starting Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium.

The Hogs travel to Louisiana Tech for a weekend series March 12-14 and play a single game on Tuesday, March 16, at home against Oklahoma before opening SEC play at Alabama March 19-21.

Murphy expects Hogs to move up in week’s hoops polls

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Murphy expects Hogs to move up in week’s hoops polls

Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy doesn’t have a vote in the writer’s poll for college basketball, but expects the Hogs to move up.

Go back to Baton Rouge and take your Corn Dogs with you

Tye Richardson
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Go back to Baton Rouge and take your Corn Dogs with you

Tye & Tommy on the win over LSU, sweeping SEMO, best Bachelor trip locations and more!

 

Hogs’ seniors finish with night to remember, big SEC win

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Hogs’ seniors finish with night to remember, big SEC win

No. 16 Arkansas finished the regular season with a game to remember, blasting Alabama behind a combined 72 points from three seniors for a 94-76 win.

The win finished the regular season with a 19-7 record (9-6 in the SEC. The Crimson Tide finish 15-8 (8-8).

Mike Neighbors’ Hogs went supernova from beyond the arc in the regular season finale, hitting 19 threes as a team, a program single-game record.

That total is also a single-game SEC record. With the win, Arkansas finished with nine SEC wins, only the third time in school history the Razorbacks have reached that threshold (2019-20, 2011-12).

It was a special night for redshirt senior guard Amber Ramirez, who put on arguably her greatest performance as a Razorback in her final game in Bud Walton Arena.

The sharpshooter poured in 35 points, a new career-high, while making eight of her 14 threes, a season-high, and just one make short of tying Wendi Willits’ single-game record.

Fellow seniors Chelsea Dungee and Destiny Slocum got in on the act as well, going for 20 points and 17 points, respectively.

Turning point

The Hogs got off to a blistering start from deep, knocking down eight of their 14 long balls in the first quarter, spearheaded by Ramirez’s five first-quarter threes.

Ramirez sent two more threes home in the second quarter, totaling seven triples in the first half.

Arkansas’ hot shooting helped the Razorbacks build a 51-39 lead over the Crimson Tide heading into halftime.

Alabama started to surge back in the second half, though, winning the third quarter, 19-16, but Arkansas would not be denied on Senior Night.

The Razorbacks dominated the fourth quarter, 27-18, aided by 12 more points from Ramirez in the final frame.

Dungee sealed the three-point record with an incredibly difficult step-back jumper from deep in the game’s final minutes, putting the game on ice.

Hogs highlights

• Dungee went for 20+ yet again, her 12th time in 15 SEC contests going for 20 or more.

• Her double-digit scoring streak also reached 30 games.

• Slocum dished seven assists, a team-high.

• Sophomore Makayla Daniels nearly double-doubled, going for 15 points and a career-best nine rebounds.

• Senior forward Taylah Thomas swatted three shots, her fourth multi-block game this season.

• Despite not scoring a single point, redshirt senior guard Jailyn Mason was a game-high +15.

Next game

With the regular season in the books, Arkansas heads back to Greenville, S.C., where they will take part in the SEC Tournament.

Their first game will come on Thursday, when they will play Ole Miss.

The game will be the nightcap on Thursday, and will be televised on the SEC Network.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Neighbors surprised at team’s offensive outburst

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Neighbors surprised at team’s offensive outburst

Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors was a little surprised at shooting nearly 50 percent from the field (and three’s) in overwhelming Alabama.

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