Arkansas players Mason Jones and Daniel Gafford talked with the media after the 73-72 win over the Hoosiers on Sunday at Bud Walton Arena.
Hoosiers’ Miller impressed with Gafford in Hogs’ 73-72 win Sunday
Indiana coach Archie Miller talked after the game about the problems Razorbacks center Daniel Gafford posed for his team in Sunday’s game where Gafford score 27 points.
Tolefree’s 22 paces Razorbacks in closs loss to No. 22 Arizona State
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas junior Alexis Tolefree paced the Razorbacks in scoring for the third consecutive game, dropping in 22 points in an 88-85 loss to No. 22 Arizona State in Bud Walton Arena on Sunday night.
ASU led by as many as 10 points in the second half, but Arkansas kept battling back to keep the game close. The Sun Devils had a nine-point lead, 84-75, with 1:31 to go in the game but Chelsea Dungee drained a 3-pointer to close the gap. Dungee finished with 20 points in 24 minutes.
Junior Kiara Williams followed with a put back basket to close within four points, 84-80. Arkansas fouled on the defensive end, and ASU made just one of the bonus shots.
Senior Malica Monk grabbed the rebound on the miss and junior Jailyn Mason put in the fast-break layup making it a three-point game with 18 seconds to play.
Arkansas was forced to foul, and ASU made the next two free throws. Dungee finished with a layup off a missed shot for the final score.
Tolefree (22) and Dungee (20) were joined in double figures by Monk with 13 points and Mason with 11 points. Arkansas was at a significant height disadvantage and ASU outrebounded the Razorbacks 43-35. The Sun Devils scored 44 points in the paint and got 42 bench points.
Key Stat
Arkansas won the fourth quarter for the third game in a row. The Razorbacks outscored the Sun Devils, 23-19, in the final 10 minutes hitting nine shots from the floor including two of their six 3-pointers. Arkansas was 3-for-6 from the line in the final frame.
Notes
• Arkansas starters: Alexis Tolefree, Malica Monk, Kiara Williams, Jailyn Mason, Chelsea Dungee
• Arkansas is 1-2 against Arizona State. Arkansas lost to ASU in Arizona by 45 points last year.
• Arkansas took 29 of 32 first half shots before the shot clock reached 15 seconds.
Up Next
The Razorbacks hit the road taking part in the Music City Thanksgiving Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, Nov. 23-25.
Arkansas faces Tennessee State, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin in consecutive games with 7:30 p.m. tips. The Razorbacks return home hosting Oral Roberts on Nov. 28.
Neighbors pleased with improvement of Hogs against Arizona State
Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors called Sunday night’s 88-85 loss to No. 22 Arizona State at Bud Walton a moral victory and a positive heading to games in Nashville.
Tolefree, Dungee positive after close loss to Sun Devils on Sunday
Arkansas players Alexis Tolefree and Chelsee Dungee talked with the media after losing to Arizona State, 88-85, on Sunday night, but they were positive about the team’s play.
Thorne praises Razorbacks’ improvement from last year’s game
Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne talked with the media after beating the Razorbacks on Sunday night, but the game was a lot closer than last year’s blowout.
KNWA VIDEO: Arkansas players after loss to Mississippi State
Video courtesy of KNWA
Razorbacks Armon Watts, Dre Greenlaw and Ty Storey talking with the media after the 52-6 loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday in a performance that pleased none of them.
Hogs’ performance against ’Dogs unacceptable to everybody
If your opinion of Arkansas being on the wrong end of a 52-6 tail-kicking in Starkville on Saturday is not acceptable, well, Chad Morris is right there with you.
“Unacceptable in all areas,” a grim-faced Morris started with his postgame comments. “Unacceptable coaching. Unacceptable playing. Unacceptable effort.”
You got the idea watching him this may be an interesting last week of the season.
“Not what we’re about,” he said. “Not what this program’s going to be built on. It’s absolutely not acceptable.”
The reason I got the idea it may be an interesting week is what came next.
“We’re going to find out,” he said. “We’re in a big gut-check time right now.”
The loss is by far the worst-looking performance this Razorback team has had all season. Mississippi State came into the game ranked No. 21 and looked every bit of that, but this team has already played Alabama and LSU without looking quite as inept.
“Obviously, we had some opportunities,” Morris said. “We were unable to execute. That’s the biggest thing. Just a lack of execution. Drops, had guys open and couldn’t get it, had a touchdown, get a touchdown called back, got guys running open … just a lack of execution.”
Morris looked and acted like someone who was completely blindsided by the performance and didn’t see it coming at all.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “Not one time. We had really good workouts, our energy level has been high, our attitude had been great.”
He was asked how he would address it in the postgame and you got the idea he knew, but wasn’t ready to tell anyone else.
“We’re gonna find out,” he said. “it’s a gut-check. It’s going to take a special person to come back in here tomorrow and put their best foot forward. If you don’t have that, it’s okay, but don’t show back up.
“From coaching, to playing, to equipment, to training, it’s everything.”
In the second half, defensive coordinator John Chavis came out of the pressbox to the field.
“More than anything so (the players) could see the urgency in his eyes and his voice,” Morris said.
There were plays open. Quarterback Ty Storey was wide open for a pass, but De’Vion Warren short-armed it, which was just one of the myriad of problems for him all day long as he dropped a wide open crossing route later that would have either gotten a touchdown or pretty close to it.
“You have to make plays at any level,” Morris said. “You have to execute. You get a call, you practice the call, continue to rep it … I don’t think De’Vion said, ‘Hey, I’m going to drop this ball.’ Without a doubt he didn’t say that. But you have to execute and we’re just not executing.”
He said he wasn’t upset.
“I’m disappointed,” he said. “The steps we’ve been taking, this is just unacceptable, you know, in all areas.”
That was the defining word for this game. Morris was asked later about some of the defensive starters coming out before the game to try and exchange information with State’s cheerleaders, but he wasn’t addressing.
“Unacceptable,” was the answer the rest of the way for the last couple of questions.
It does bring up questions about what may be the biggest issue Morris has not been able to overcome this season and it’s a lack of self-discipline within the program he inherited.
Oh, it’s fairly certain that issue will be addressed by Morris and the staff.
After five years of things that you hear about, see and then wonder about, maybe Morris discovered that was the biggest problem of all in this program.
This team hasn’t had a lot of senior leadership. That’s not to say a couple have taken on that role, but it takes more than one or two. There hasn’t been a lot of internal accountability for five years so you didn’t think it would happen immediately, did you?
It hasn’t and that has led to wild swings in what we’ve seen on the field this season. For example, how can a team that looked decent against LSU turn around and stink it up against Mississippi State?
It appears that’s the same question Morris and the staff have, too.
As we said, that may make for an interesting week before closing it out against Missouri on Friday.
It also might be a different-looking team, too.
KNWA VIDEO: Morris after loss to Bulldogs
VIDEO COURTESY OF KNWA
Arkansas coach Chad Morris on “unacceptable” performance against Mississippi State on Saturday in the Hogs’ 52-6 loss.
Hogs find out Mississippi State’s defense as good as advertised
Arkansas won’t win a game in the SEC West this year and it will take a road win on Friday to avoid the worst season in program history after losing to Mississippi State on Saturday, 52-6.
The Bulldogs came in with one of the top defenses in the nation and the Razorbacks’ offense couldn’t do much against it at all.
The game actually wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
State put up 475 yards of total offense, including 287 on the ground in completely dismantling the Hogs’ defense.
The Bulldogs led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter before pulling away to a 17-3 halftime lead.
Connor Limpert had a pair of field goals for the only Arkansas scores on the day.
In the third quarter, State ran away completely, building a 38-6 lead before coasting home in the final period playing mostly backups.
The loss drops the Hogs to 2-9 overall and 0-7 in the SEC. They will finish the season the day after Thanksgiving at Missouri.
Can Hogs pull off road win against cowbells, Mississippi State?
Ah, cowbells. Everybody loves them, especially when you have 58,000 fans ringing them in unchoreographed unison. Love Mississippi State or hate them, Arkansas must make its way into Starkville Saturday to face their SEC West foe, the Bulldogs.
Before I go further, please permit me to extend prayers to Arkansas fanatic “Eddie from Clarksville” and his family. Sometimes we forget what is truly important upon this Earth, and all of our thoughts are with them at this time.
Back to business. The Razorbacks see this as a winnable game despite the fact that they are going up against one of the top defenses in the nation.
Mississippi State sees it as a trap game.
I see it as a reason to point out three aspects as to why the Hogs need to leave Davis Wade Stadium with a “W.”
• Arkansas has never lost 10 games in a single season. Winning one of the last two would eliminate this possibility. Of course, the Razorbacks have never lost nine in a single season before either, so a winning streak at the end prevents this new low.
• Recruiting. No matter what one says to rebuttal my beliefs, SEC losses always damper recruiting even in the smallest amount. This game can only assist with any future targets east of our friendly borders.
• Let’s be honest, Mississippi State is not on the same level of our hatred with Alabama, Auburn, and Ole Miss, however, we despise losing to the maroon clad university that fully eliminated our dwindling hopes of national achievement in 1998.
Arkansas can win this Saturday, yet I feel we must treat it as though the future of the program is at stake.
Ty Storey needs to start and play the entire game, and we do not need to finish this season in spring practice mode. A 4–8 season will feel and look leaps and bounds better than 2–10.
To top it off, Bulldogs coach Joe Moorhead made the generalized statement of Arkansas being better than their record. Let’s prove to him the accuracy of his statement.
Finally, despite my being mathematically all but eliminated from defeating Andy Hodges in this season’s “HitThatLine.com SEC Picks” contest, the conference rolls on, and pride is still on the line.
But I’ll roll with the Hogs pulling off the upset to win it, 34-17.
- The Citadel at (1) Alabama – Tide by… Good night, do I even really have to put this prediction in writing. Only Jack Crowe would pick Alabama to lose.
- Idaho at (13) Florida – The Gators vandalize Idaho by 31.
- Middle Tennessee at (17) Kentucky – Wildcats by 21.
- Missouri at Tennessee – Vols by 6, but only because they are at home.
- UMass at (5) Georgia – Bulldogs are happy to dominate by 24.
- Liberty at Auburn – What is this, Homecoming Week in the SEC? Tigers by 34.
- University of Alabama – Birmingham at Texas A&M – Easy win by 30 for the Aggies.
- Rice at (7) LSU – The Owls will lose by a rough 22.
- Ole Miss at Vanderbilt – The only other pure SEC match-up sees the Rebels defeat the Commodores by 7.
- Chattanooga at South Carolina – Gamecocks by 27.
Go HOGS!!!
Find me on ‘Twitter’: @PeterMorganWPS
