Razorbacks will face three-time champion Baylor in SEC-Big 12 Challenge

Arkansas will host Baylor in this year’s edition of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge, the league office announced Thursday and it is a big hurdle.

“Being the reigning and three-time National Champion pretty much sums it up,” Mike Neighbors said in a press release.  “On top of it all, you have Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey coming into Bud Walton.”

The game will be played in Fayetteville, marking the second straight year the Razorbacks have hosted a Big 12 opponent in the Challenge (they beat Kansas State last year).

“If that doesn’t get our fans excited, we need to check on them,” Neighbors said. “It’s also a reflection of the fan support over the last three years. This game isn’t even an option if our fans had not been supporting us in the way they have the last three seasons.”

The Hogs’ record in the Challenge is 3-3 and facing the Bears helps Neighbors fill a promise he made to a talented group he’s got for this year’s team.

“We promised this group of kids they would play against the best if they would come to Arkansas, and playing against a national power like Baylor helps us deliver on that promise,” he said. “This is a reflection of what they have done the last three years.

“We know it’s an incredible challenge that early in the season, but this game will prepare us for what promises to be the toughest SEC gauntlet there has been in the last decade.”

The Razorbacks will play in the Challenge for the seventh time, and currently sport a 3-3 all-time record after defeating Kansas State at home last season.

The matchup between Baylor and Arkansas is one of several high-profile contests set to happen in this season’s Challenge, as Baylor is coming off of a season in which it finished third in both the AP and Coaches Polls.

The season before, Baylor won its third National Championship, all of which have come since the turn of the century.

Arkansas, meanwhile, is coming off its best SEC season ever, and was poised to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years before the Covid-19 pandemic cut the season short. The Hogs finished tied for third in the final SEC standings.

Arkansas holds a decisive edge in the all-time series, owning a 21-7 advantage, including a 10-2 record in Fayetteville. However, Baylor won the most recent matchup between the teams, as the Lady Bears eliminated the Hogs from the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Waco, 73-44.

Official game information and start times will be announced at a later date.

2020 SEC/Big 12 Women’s Basketball Challenge Matchups

South Carolina @ Iowa State
Kentucky @ Kansas State
Alabama @ Oklahoma State
Texas A&M @ Texas
Tennessee @ West Virginia
Baylor @ Arkansas
Kansas @ Ole Miss
Oklahoma @ Georgia
TCU @ Missouri
Texas Tech @ Vanderbilt

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.

Watch live as governor delivers daily Covid-19 update Thursday afternoon

Watch Governor Asa Hutchinson’s daily update on the state’s progress during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tamaz enters transfer portal, but Hogs still have crowd at catcher

In what was becoming a crowded position at Arkansas with new players coming in, freshman Dominic Tamez has decided to explore his options going somewhere else.

From San Antonio, he appeared in eight games in 2020.

In the past couple of months, the Razorbacks have added two grad transfers, including Collegiate Baseball first-team All-American AJ Lewis and former San Francisco catcher Robert Emery.

Little Rock Christian Academy catcher Cason Tollett is also on the roster, and he made one appearance last season as as a freshman.

Tamaz’s strength was at the plate and coach Dave Van Horn was frustrated at times with his defensive efforts. In a midweek game against Illinois State, when he allowed three passed balls in six innings before being replaced by Opitz.

Tamez’s defensive struggles were so severe that just a few days before the season was canceled, Van Horn told the Swatters Club that Opitz would likely be carrying a heavier load moving forward because he couldn’t trust Tamez behind the plate.

It was likely, though, that Tamez would have still been a key reserve on this year’s team as a pinch hitter or even as a backup outfielder, a position at which he worked some in practice.

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Yurachek on plans bringing players back and how they can use a football

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If nothing else, it was clear from Hunter Yurachek’s press conference Wednesday morning and a later appearance on ESPN Arkansas they have a plan to get players back working out but it’s not in concrete.

The entire Covid-19 situation is a constantly moving target and there likely isn’t a solution anytime soon. The best vaccines for respiratory viral infections in history have only been 60 percent effective, so living with it is something we may all have to get used to.

Even Yurachek, who appears to be fairly aware of that. Like some of us, he’s wearing a mask when he might be in close proximity to people because, well, it doesn’t hurt anything.

“I’ve got four masks now,” he told Derek Ruscin and Zach Arns (Ruscin & Zach) on ESPN Arkansas after his earlier press conference. “People a great deal smarter than me are recommending I wear a mask. I don’t want it to not be a college football season because I’m not wearing a mask.”

That’s the same approach some of us have taken, too. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t. Regardless, I’m not making a stand on that hill.

The Razorbacks will have players back on campus for on-campus workouts starting June 8. It is a phased-in approach, Yurachek said, that is custom-made for the Hogs in accordance with state guidelines.

Yurachek met with about 150 parents the last couple of evenings on Zoom and none have had problems sending their kids back to Fayetteville.

“If they’re like me and had their kids living at home the last seven or eight weeks they are ready to get them out of the house,” Yurackek said with a grin, while saying he was doing that “with some levity.”

Right now, the rules by the NCAA don’t allow balls to be used at practices. Of course that really means the players can’t use balls from the school.

“All of these games are played with balls,” Yurachek said at his press conference. “At some point in time you’ve got to be able to have access to that piece of your game to hone your craft.”

While the rules right now don’t permit any of the coaches to watch, the way he said he removed any doubt he’s pretty sure the players will find a way to work out with the tools of their sport.

“If Feleipe Franks has a football and he gathers his receivers together and they find a place to go throw balls, they can have access to balls,” Yurachek said. “We just can’t have oversight of that and our coaches can’t be involved in that process.

“I think you’ll see the leaders of all our teams, football, soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball take some onus on themselves to figure that out.”

Unlike some other teams in the SEC, the Hogs will not be testing players upon their return to campus. It will be if they have symptoms such as a fever above 100.4 and have had exposure.

“We have a plan that is customized to the State of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas,” Yurachek said.

If they show symptoms, players will be tested and if positive quarantined with their roommates for a period of time to see if they develop symptoms.

Yurachek made it clear a couple of positive tests isn’t going to shut things down.

“I was very candid with the parents,” Yurachek said of his Zoom meetings with them. “I told them that there will be a student-athlete that tests positive for Covid-19 on our campus.

“We’re equipped to handle that. We have a plan to handle that. And all we can do is mitigate their risk. There’s a great deal of onus that’s going to come on the shoulders our of student-athletes.”

Don’t ask about how many fans will be able to come to games. Yurachek doesn’t know right now. They are planning — physically and financially — to have a complete seasons in all sports.

How that plays out will probably be determined over the next month.

Yurachek updates protocols, handling players’ return to on-campus workouts

With the announcement that Arkansas players will be returning for voluntary on-campus workouts June 8, athletics director Hunter Yurachek held a Zoom press conference Wednesday with more details on protocols, safety issues.

Counce on playing, coaching; legacy of Sutton at Arkansas

Dr. Jim Counce was Eddie Sutton’s first signee when he came to Arkansas in 1974 and he was the ultimate role player, then delayed going to medical school while he coached with the Razorbacks.

He talked about that Wednesday morning, plus Sutton’s legacy with the Hogs, with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft (The Morning Rush) on ESPN Arkansas.

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Former Razorback Dr. Jim Counce joins The Morning Rush

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Yurachek to outline plans for players coming back, getting sports restarted

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Hunter Yurachek has walked a political tightrope about as well as any Arkansas athletics director has done in managing a complete shutdown of sports in an unprecedented manner.

We’ll probably never know his true feelings because, quite simply, we don’t need to know. It was a decision made for him by folks higher up the pecking order.

When he made the announcement March 13 everything was suspended until April 15 he was obviously pained. He also said his initial thoughts when they cancelled the SEC Tournament in the middle of it was that might have been a little quick.

Then he quickly added he understood the concerns of everyone as everyone in charge of anything has struggled to hit a target that is constantly moving against something nobody can see and fewer understand.

Not even the so-called experts really have a clue. Based on their public flip-flops this has gone all over the place. The numbers say the overwhelming majority of infections occur in closed spaces and even the CDC has said transmission from surfaces is far less risky than they originally thought.

It appears this entire thing still has far more questions than answers, but Yurachek is at least taking a leadership role and getting things ready to get players back on campus for those infamous “voluntary” workouts that in reality are’t that voluntary at all.

Things might get interesting if some players don’t want to come back for those workouts.

The guess is that won’t happen. Everybody is tired of being limited in their actions and many are probably ready to roll right now.

He will outline his plan for re-opening things Wednesday morning. Because of the way the entire Covid-19 crisis changes from day to day, Yurachek knows without me telling him that plan has to be flexible and could probably change by the first of July based on what we find out.

Many expect the virus to reduce significantly as the temperatures increase. If that’s the case by the end of June in Arkansas it won’t be around much, especially for people that get outside.