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Tolefree, Dungee pace Razorbacks to big win over Tennessee-Martin

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 20 Arkansas finished the non-conference schedule strong Sunday afternoon, beating UT Martin (4-7), 96-46, in the last game of the decade.

The Hogs have now won seven straight heading into conference play, the longest winning streak for the Hogs since the fall of 2016.

Alexis Tolefree once again led the way for the Razorbacks, going for a career-best 23 points against the Skyhawks.

The senior guard did most of her damage from beyond the arc, going six of 12 from deep. Three others joined Tolefree in double-figures, as Chelsea Dungee went for 16, Amber Ramirez went for 14 and A’Tyanna Gaulden went for 12.

Defensively, coach Mike Neighbors’ squad had very active hands, recording 18 steals, the most since the Hogs posted 20 against Oral Roberts back in 2013.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Turning point

The Razorbacks led by 10 after the first quarter, but went on a quick 12-0 run early in the second quarter to put the game away.

The Skyhawks got the first points of the second period, then Arkansas scored the next 12 straight to make it a 33-13 game with 7:19 to play in the second.

Four different Hogs scored on the run: Gaulden (4), Ramirez (3), Dungee (3) and Thomas (2).

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

HOG highlights

• Tolefree has now scored 20 or more points in four of her last five outings. Her six treys matched a career-high.

• Taylah Thomas led the Hogs in rebounding, pulling down nine boards against the Skyhawks.

• Gaulden continues to light it up off the bench, as she reached double-figures for the fourth straight contest.

• Makayla Daniels distributed the ball well, going for a career-high six assists.

• Kiara Williams played her best game of the season, going for a season-high eight points to go along with two blocks.

• Freshman center Destinee Oberg made her Razorback debut, playing just over four minutes, recording her first-career block.

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Next time out

The Razorbacks open conference play on Thursday, as No. 11 Texas A&M comes to Bud Walton Arena.

Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m., and the game will be available on SECN+ and will also be featured on SEC Network’s whiparound coverage.

Hogs’ wide receiver arrested over holiday for DWI in Sharp County

Wide receiver Deon Stewart was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning in Sharp County, where his northeast Arkansas hometown of Hardy is located.

According to multiple reports, Stewart was driving left of center and booked around 4:17 a.m. before being released on bond at 10:56 a.m. He has a court date set for Jan. 17.

He missed the entire 2019 season with a knee injury but is expected to try for a sixth year for a position that is talented, but very young.

Stewart caught 57 passes for 616 yards and three touchdowns over four seasons, including 33 catches for 404 yardsin 2017, when he was the second-leading receiver on the team.

Playoff coaches show there’s no single path to predict success

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Based on the resumes of coaches in the College Football Playoff and recent history, Arkansas fans might not need to be too critical of the hiring of Sam Pittman earlier this month.

Maybe the only constant among them is they WANTED the job guiding the program they have.

Apparently nobody really wanted the Razorbacks’ job. Hunter Yurachek talked to some, but they were reportedly not that interested unless there was a guaranteed retirement option.

That means, simply, they either didn’t view the situation in Fayetteville as something they weren’t going to risk their future trying to turn around unless they made enough money they didn’t have to get a job.

One thing about Yurachek’s incentive-based buy-out plan was it sorted out the pretenders from the contenders pretty quick. It’s a good guess he’d figured out that no coach hired by the Hogs in over a decade really WANTED to be in Fayetteville.

In hindsight, that point is not really debatable. Bobby Petrino just wanted out of the NFL, John L. Smith just needed the money, Bret Bielema wanted away from his boss and Chad Morris simply wanted a Power 5 job.

None of them really knew or cared about Arkansas, which was reflected in their diminished interest with each passing year.

At least Pittman viewed the Razorbacks as a destination job, not a stepping stone.

For some fans, they were ready to throw up their hands when Lane Kiffin decided the Ole Miss job was better than the Hogs.

Yes, things have gotten to that point.

Yurachek may have figured out the main thing might be finding someone who just really wanted the Arkansas job. That was Pittman.

What most fans don’t want to look at is there’s no rhyme or reason these days to hiring a football coach that will be successful.

Just look at the guys in the College Football Playoff that started Saturday. Three of the four coaches have never been a head coach anywhere other than where they are and the one that took over a program and had three rather forgettable seasons.

Two of the four had never even been a coordinator before becoming a head coach. The two coaches in the championship game got there by getting someone to fix the side of the ball they didn’t know well.

All four were Power 5 conference champions with one loss among all four teams in the playoff.

Compare these guys to Pittman:

Dabo Swinney, Clemson: Only a receivers and tight ends coach at Alabama, then Clemson before taking over when Tommy Bowden threw his hands up and quit in the middle of the 2008 season. He promptly fired the offensive coordinator, took it over built a team that has been a national powerhouse since 2015. He got Brent Venables to put together a defense that’s been a big key to the Tigers’ run.

Ryan Day, Ohio State: Bounced around as a receivers and quarterbacks coach with a couple of stints as a coordinator for 15 years before landing on Urban Myer’s staff in 2017. He inherited a good situation, but hasn’t let it slip. He hasn’t messed around with the defense, but now we find out as he has to replace his coordinator.

Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma: Was an offensive coordinator at East Carolina before coming to Norman, then Bob Stoops suddenly quit and handed him the team. He hasn’t let it drop off any, although fans would like to see them win a playoff game. Riley, who is a common name tossed out for NFL openings, has to find someone to fix a defense that struggles to stop anybody.

Ed Orgeron, LSU: Was hired at Ole Miss and promptly found himself not knowing how to swim and jumping into the deep end of the pool. He changed his mindset and lifestyle while working his way back up, landing the Tigers’ job by selling himself when Les Miles was fired and may have the best team in school history right now. A career defensive coach, Orgeron figured out the Miles’ offensive approach wouldn’t work and he’s gotten it fixed in record-setting fashion.

Pittman, a lifelong assistant, has been on playoff staffs and he’s worked in some really, really bad situations (John Blake’s staff at OU in 1997-98 and Derek Dooley’s last year at Tennessee come to mind immediately).

The thing is, a lot of those assistants learn from seeing where others fell flat on their face, crashing top-tier programs into a mess that, admittedly, wasn’t as bad as the current one with the Hogs.

But the key is, his overall experience and depth of knowledge from good and bad programs might be exactly what is needed in Fayetteville.

Morris recognized how far things were off from the direction he wanted to go, but he’d never been around anything like that at the SEC level. He didn’t have a clue how to even begin fixing things.

It looked in practice like he was more concerned with doing things wrong in a hurry than getting the offense fixed and had knee-jerk reactions on personnel decisions.

Pittman has been at programs bigger than Arkansas. He knows to win here, though, you can’t do things the same way they were done at Oklahoma, Tennessee or even Georgia. He’s coached at a championship caliber in the last couple of years.

The Razorback situation is different from those and if you think it will be fixed the same way those were, then you are wrong. The guess is Pittman knows this, too.

It can be turned around and it might not take as long as some of you think, either. By the way, that’s winning enough games to get to a bowl game, not making the playoff.

But don’t fall into the trap that there’s only one path to being successful.

Arkansas wraps up 2019 on road Sunday against Indiana

Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (10-1) at Indiana Hoosiers (11-1)
What: Arkansas’ final game of 2019; End Non-Conference Portion of Schedule
When: Sunday – Dec. 29, 2019 – 6:00 pm (ET)/5:00 pm (CT)
Where: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall – Bloomington, Ind.
How (to follow):
TV: Big Ten Network (Lisa Byington and Dan Bonner)
CLICK HERE to Watch Big Ten Network on Fox Sports App Online
Radio: ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home. (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
Online: HitThatLine.com
Sirius/XM: XM Channel 391 and streaming online, channel 938
Live Stats: www.Indiana.StatBroadcast.com

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will play its final men’s basketball game of 2019 — and wrap up its non-conference portion of the schedule — on Sunday at Indiana.

The game will be telecast on Big Ten Network and tipoff is set for 5 p.m. You can hear the game at ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home and online at HitThatLine.com.

After Sunday, Arkansas will return home to open SEC play by hosting Texas A&M in a game officially announced Saturday as being sold out.

Against Indiana

• This is the fifth meeting between Arkansas and Indiana. The series is ties, 2-2, but the Hoosiers are 2-0 versus the Razorbacks in Bloomington.

• Indiana won the first game in the series with a 75-50 decision early in the 1949-50 season in Bloomington.

• A mere 58 years later, Arkansas won the next encounter, 86-72, in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament East Regional.

• The team met twice last season. The Razorbacks won an exciting 73-72 decision in Bud Walton Arena in game three. The Hoosiers evened the series, 2-2, with a 63-60 win in the second round of the 2019 NIT..

The NET, RPI and Bracketology

• Arkansas’ NET was 33 in the most recent NCAA NET rankings (Dec. 16).

• Arkansas’ NET is 2nd-best among SEC schools behind Auburn (8).

• The rest of the SEC: Tennessee (46); Ole Miss (51); Florida (56); LSU (58); Missouri (68); Kentucky (72); Georgia (75); Alabama (77); South Carolina (90); Miss. State (101); Vanderbilt (133) and Texas A&M (205).

• Arkansas has an RPI of 20.

• Arkansas’ RPI is better than eight teams in the top 25, including Memphis, Penn State, Arizona, Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Gonzaga and Washington.

• ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Hogs as a #12 seed, facing VCU in a play-in game to earn one of the final spots.

• The rest of the SEC: Tennessee (46); Ole Miss (51); Florida (56); LSU (58); Missouri (68); Kentucky (72); Georgia (75); Alabama (77); South Carolina (90); Miss. State (101); Vanderbilt (133) and Texas A&M (205).

• Arkansas’ RPI is better than eight teams in the top 25, including Memphis, Penn State, Arizona, Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Gonzaga and Washington.

Musselmans’ history with Indiana

• There is not a lot of history between Arkansas and Indiana. However, the Musselmans have a history with the Hoosiers.

• Eric Musselman coached former Hoosiers Calbert Chaney, Brian Evans, Alan Henderson, Keith Smart, Jay Edwards and Jim Thomas in professional basketball.

• On Jan. 8, 1972 Minnesota hosted Indiana. The game was the Big 10 opener for both teams and the first Big 10 conference game coached by Golden Gopher head coach Bill Musselman (Eric’s father) and Hoosier head coach Bobby Knight. Minnesota won 52-51.

• Bill Musselman (Wooster, Ohio) and Bobby Knight (Orrville, Ohio) also grew up as high school rivals.

• During the 1998 NBA lockout, Bill and Eric Musselman spent a week with Coach Knight observing practice..

Rare trip to Big 10 land

• Even though Arkansas played Indiana twice last year, including a season-ending loss in Bloomington in the second round of the NIT, this will be just the eighth time Arkansas has played a regular-season game at a Big 10 opponent.

• Arkansas at Big 10 opponent (0-7)
– at Indiana (NIT)             03/23/19              L, 60-63
– at Minnesota 11/22/16              L, 71-85
– at Michigan     12/08/12              L, 67-80
– at Ohio State  12/01/84              L, 84-85
– at Michigan     12/06/80              L, 65-75
– at Indiana        1949-50                L, 50-72
– at Illinois                           1949-50                L, 53-65

Joe & Jones end 11-year drought

• Last year, Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones rarely had good games on the same day. Their best games together include FIU (Joe 34 & Jones 19) and Tennessee (Joe 23 & Jones 18).

• The duo has scored in double figures six times in the same game this season.
• Jones scored 32 and Joe 24 in the season opener.
• Game 2, each scored game-high 16 vs North Texas.
• Both scored 16 in win over Austin Peay,

• The past two games, Joe and Jones have each scored at least 20.
• 12/14/19         Tulsa      Joe: 20 / Jones: 41
• 12/21/19         Valpo    Joe: 21 / Jones: 20

• The last time two Razorbacks scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games was the 2008-09 season when Michael Washington and Courtney Fortson accomplished the feat.
• 12/10/08         NC Central          Washington: 20 / Fortson: 20
• 12/17/08         Austin Peay        Washington: 24 / Fortson: 20

Hey Joe, one triple from Top 10

• Isaiah Joe went into several record books last season. He set four school records for 3-pointers, two SEC freshman records (while being just the fourth SEC frosh to lead the league 3PT%) and made the fourth-most 3-pointers by a freshman in NCAA history.

• Joe is on the verge of entering the Arkansas career record for 3-pointers made.
• Joe has made 152 career triples — one shy of 10th (153 by Jonathan Modica (2003-06).
• Joe has made 152 treys in 45 career games. By comparison, Modica needed 118 games to make his 153.

Isaiah Joe on Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Watch List

• Arkansas sophomore Isaiah Joe was named to the 2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award watch list, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced today.

• FANS CAN VOTE FOR THEIR FAVORITE PLAYER HERE.

Razorbacks’ league opener against Texas A&M officiall sold out

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas announced the men’s basketball game versus Texas A&M (Jan. 4, 2020) in Bud Walton Arena is sold out.

This is the fifth sold out game at Bud Walton Arena this season.

As part of the Texas A&M game, Arkansas will welcome back the Razorback Men’s Basketball Lettermen.

All five Razorback Saturday home men’s basketball games in 2020 are sold out, including Texas A&M (Jan. 4), Kentucky (Jan. 18), TCU (Jan. 25), Mississippi State (Feb. 15) and Missouri (Feb. 22).

This is the most games in Bud Walton Arena that Arkansas has sold out in advance for men’s basketball since having six in 2017-18.

Musselman recounting going to Indiana as youngster, Sunday’s matchup

Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman met with the media Friday afternoon and talked about going to Bloomington when his dad was coaching Minnesota and looking at game with Hoosiers.

Bailey on how Hogs handled Christmas, block against Valpo, other players

Arkansas’ Adrio Bailey talked with the media Friday afternoon about the team handling the Christmas break, his big block against Valparaiso last weekend and his teammates.

Sills on bouncing back from knee injury, getting ready for Sunday’s game

Razorback Desi Sills talked with the media Friday afternoon on bouncing back from the bruise knee he suffered in last Saturday’s win and going on the road to play in Indiana.

???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — Aaron Torres on the Arkansas/Indiana game

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Phil & Tye on bowl SZN, Friday Beers, what if’s of Arkansas sports this decade plus AT!

Schaefer previews Razorbacks’ game Sunday with UT-Martin

Arkansas assistant coach Todd Schaefer met with the media Friday and talked about Sunday’s matchup with Tennessee-Martin at Bud Walton Arena.

Razorbacks’ tight end Gunter enters transfer portal after redshirt junior season

Arkansas tight end Grayson Gunter has put his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal, according to multiple reports confirming the move Thursday.

A native of Mississippi, he played in all 12 games this past season for the Razorbacks and had six catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. He will be immediately eligible somewhere next year as a graduate transfer.

During his three seasons on the field, he had 11 catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns. He caught his first touchdown pass in 2018 in a 23-0 win over Tulsa. He had one reception for 29 yards as a true freshman in 2016.

• Silas Robinson (transfer to Texas State)
• Daulton Hyatt (transfer)
• Collin Clay (transfer)
• Nick Starkel (leaving program)
• Jordan Jones (transfer)
• Kamren Curl (entering NFL Draft)
• Grayson Gunter (transfer)