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Razorbacks crack Top 10 in weekly gymnastics rankings

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas moved up one spot to No. 10 in the RoadtoNationals.com weekly rankings list following its 196.525 performance against No. 6 Kentucky last Friday.

The 196.525 against the Wildcats was Arkansas’ third highest home opening score in program history.

Arkansas began the year as the preseason 19th-ranked team, and moved up to No. 11 following its week one score of 195.350 at No. 3 LSU. It’s the first top-10 ranking for the Razorbacks since Feb. 9, 2016.

Event Rankings

The Razorbacks rank fourth in the nation on beam with an average score of 49.200.

Freshman Sophia Carter leads Arkansas on the event, recording scores of 9.900 in both meets at LSU and Kentucky.

Carter won her first career event title on beam against the Wildcats and ranks tied for sixth-nationally, and as the second-best freshman, in the event.

On vault, Arkansas comes in as the eighth-ranked team nationally with an average score of 49.050.

Senior Amanda Wellick is ranked No. 14 on both bars and beam, while sophomore Sydney McGlone is tied for No. 13 on vault.

Wellick scored a season high 9.900 on bars against Kentucky, receiving her 31st career event title. The Razorbacks rank 19th on bars and 27th on floor.

Arkansas is one of five teams from the Southeastern Conference ranked in the top 10.

LSU is No. 1 for the second-consecutive week, while Kentucky and Florida are tied for fifth. Alabama comes in just ahead of the Razorbacks at No. 9.

The Razorbacks are on the road again for another top 25 conference matchup against the No. 24 Missouri Tigers this Friday.

The meet will be streamed on the SEC Network+ and the WatchESPN App beginning at 6:45 p.m.

Schultz selected to 2018 USA Diving high performance squad

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Freshman diver Brooke Schultz continues to add to her accolades, as the Fayetteville native was selected to the 2018 USA Diving High Performance Squad over the weekend.

The High Performance Squad is composed of divers who most exhibit the potential, skill and determination to become 2020 U.S. Olympic Team members.

The squad is broken into three tiers and Schultz was picked for the top one.

Tier one includes six members from the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team and 11 members from the 2017 FINA World Championships team that represented the United States this past July in Budapest.

Tier two contains two Olympians and five members from the 2017 FINA World Championships team, while the third tier takes place of what was formerly known as the Junior National Squad.

Schultz is the only Southeastern Conference diver on the squad.

Over the weekend, Schultz won both the 1m and 3m springboards against No. 7 Tennessee, remaining undefeated in dual meet action this season.

Of her 18 six-dive efforts this season, Schultz has 15 first-place showings, having never finished outside the top three.

In dual meets alone, Schultz has yet to finish off the top of the podium, recording 10 first-place finishes — five each on the 1m and 3m. She has won SEC Diver of the Week five times this season.

To begin the 2018 part of the schedule, Schultz competed at the Tennessee Diving Invitational, where she broke her own school record on the three-meter for the third time this season, scoring a 383.40 to capture the 3m crown at the invite.

It was her fifth school record this season, as she has broken the 1m mark two times.

On the 1m, Schultz finished second with a score of 325.70, leading all Southeastern Conference divers.

At the 2017 USA Winter Diving National Championships in December, Schultz won the three-meter title with a 15-dive score of 912.25.

Anderson on Hogs getting back on track on road

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks coach Mike Anderson wants same energy from players they had down the stretch in win over Missouri last Saturday.

Thompson, Beard talk about facing Gators on road

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas’ Trey Thompson and Anton Beard met with the media to talk about the Razorbacks’ game Wednesday night in Gainesville.

Morning Rush Hour 3

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

Morning Rush Hour 2

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Morning Rush Hour 1

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Zimmerman leads Hogs to SEC road win over Auburn

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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AUBURN, Ala. — Arkansas junior Bailey Zimmerman had a break-out game helping the Razorbacks to a Southeastern Conference road win at Auburn on Sunday.

Kiara Williams picked up her third double-double with a career-best 15 points and 14 rebounds. Jailyn Mason and Malica Monk also finished in double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Zimmerman dropped in a season-best 13 points behind three 3-pointers as Arkansas (11-7, 2-3 SEC) knocked off the Tigers (10-7, 1-4 SEC) on their home court. In addition to her scoring, Zimmerman’s defense, including a career-best eight rebounds fueled a 24-point halftime lead that resulted in the win.

Auburn scored first but Arkansas went on a 6-0 run that prompted a Tiger timeout just 1:30 into the game. Arkansas finished the quarter up five points, 16-11.

The Razorbacks poured in 24 points in the second frame in a 10-minute stretch that was nearly perfect.

A 13-0 run gave Arkansas 15-point lead at the media timeout and the Razorbacks outscored Auburn 25-6 in the frame to lead 41-17 at the half. It is the second-largest halftime lead for the Razorbacks this season.

The Tigers rallied in the second half outscoring Arkansas in the final two periods, but the first half deficit was too big to overcome as the Razorbacks picked up the conference road win.

Notes

• Bailey Zimmerman, Malica Monk and Jailyn Mason were all in double figures in the first half. Zimmerman tied her season-best with 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

• Arkansas had a 41-17 lead at the half. It is the first lead at the break since the Ole Miss game on Dec. 31.

• Forty-one first half points is the second-best point total in the first 20 minutes this season. Arkansas scored 42 points in the first half against Samford in the second game of the year. Arkansas scored 40 points against ORU and Grambling this year.

• Arkansas hit a season-best nine 3-pointers in the first half.

• Arkansas out-rebounded Auburn 23-11 in the first half. It is only the sixth time this year Arkansas had more rebounds than its opponent in the first 20 minutes.

• Kiara Williams had her third career double-double with a career-best 15 points and 14 rebounds. It is her sixth double-digit rebounding game of the year.

Up Next

Arkansas returns home hosting Florida on Thursday, followed by back-to-back road games at No. 12 Missouri on Jan. 21 and at No. 9 South Carolina on Jan. 25.

Jackson was dead-on after ’82 Hogs-SMU game

Andy Hodges
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The legendary Keith Jackson came close to not being an icon of college football.

If not for Roone Arledge’s infatuation with Frank Gifford, well, he would have likely stayed with Monday Night Football.

Youngsters are confused with the word “stay” there.

The very first season of Monday Night Football, which was on ABC then, kicked off with Joe Namath and the New York Jets against the Cleveland Browns in 1970 had Jackson behind the mic.

Yes, Jackson was the first ringmaster of a three-ring circus that had him trying to keep things on track between Howard Cosell and Don Meredith.

Arledge, then head of ABC Sports (years later he added the news division to his domain), knew Gifford’s contract with CBS was ending after the 1970 football season.

Jackson was not in favor of the move at the time.

“It pissed me off,” Jackson told me the night before Arkansas and SMU played in Texas Stadium in 1982 while sitting in the bar at the Anatole Hotel.

ABC was doing the game and Jackson did the play-by-play with Lee Grosscup handling the color. As Arkansas’ athletics director, Frank Broyles didn’t do Razorback games and was in Los Angeles doing the USC-UCLA game that day.

“We had a pretty good group that first year on Monday Nights,” he said. “Howard was, well, he was Howard. Don had that cornpone bull*&$#, which was fine and a lot of people really liked it. It was fun keeping it all on track.”

Arledge promised Jackson he would make him the voice of college football as one means of making the transition a little easier to swallow.

“He also gave me some more money,” Jackson said.

As usual, Jackson asked as many questions as he answered as the talk turned to the next day’s game. Most were about how the Mustangs were handling the change in coaches with Bobby Collins taking over for Ron Meyer.

“Bobby started off lost and confused,” was how I described it. “Now he’s just lost and not showing signs of finding his way out of the trees.”

He also wanted everyone’s prediction on the game from the three or four other Dallas-area media guys around then.

It wasn’t unanimous. As usual, Jackson straddled the fence and wasn’t coming down on one side or the other.

The game ended in a 17-17 tie that didn’t leave anyone happy. SMU had scored late on a pass interference call against the Hogs that SHOULD have been called against the Mustangs, so everybody from Arkansas was mad.

As luck would have it, I ran across Jackson as he was leaving the stadium.

“Hell, I guess everybody’s mad now,” he said with that cackling laugh of his. “SMU will be madder about this one a month from now, though, because this one will cost ’em a national championship.”

“Even if they beat Pitt in the Cotton Bowl?” I asked because everybody already knew that matchup was set.

“Yep,” was Jackson’s reply. “The voters are just looking for a reason to not vote for SMU and this tie gave it to ’em.”

He also was deadly accurate about Arkansas.

“Lou’s (Holtz) got a bigger problem, though,” he said. “He’s gotta go down to Austin next week and play the Longhorns.”

That turned out to be true, too, as Texas beat the Hogs badly, 33-7.

Jackson passed away Friday night. It’s not accurate to paint him as a college football announcer because he did everything from the Olympics to baseball.

He was unique in so many ways and always had time to talk to just about anyone, plus he usually had a straightforward opinion on just about anything.

And he was usually right.

Razorbacks get late run to slip past Missouri, 65-63

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas overcame a late deficit Saturday to defeat the Missouri Tigers 65-63 in Bud Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks found themselves down by six with less than five minutes in the contest, after once holding an 18-point advantage in the first half.

Arkansas used a 12-4 run to close the game out and record the two-point win. Arkansas is 8-1 in its last nine contests decided by one possession, the best mark since the 1994-95 season.

Getting his first career start, freshman guard Darious Hall was all over the place early.

After being on the receiving end of two low-post passes from senior forward Trey Thompson that resulted lay-ups, Hall slammed home his first dunk of the game, thanks to senior guard Daryl Macon, who cut through the Missouri defense and dished it off to Hall.

Arkansas had it in its mind to go inside early and the Razorbacks did and did so often. The Razorbacks would outscore the Tigers 20-4 in the paint in the first half.

Hall scored eight straight points for Arkansas, all in the paint, as part of an 11-0 run that gave the Razorbacks their first double-digit lead in the game.

Following a Missouri three-pointer, Arkansas would go on another 10-point run, combining for a 21-3 over a seven-minute span to go up 28-10.

Missouri would close the half on a 16-5 run, hitting six of its last nine shots, including four three’s to narrow the margin at the break, as Arkansas would lead 35-28.

Senior guard Jaylen Barford scored the first eight points for the Razorbacks in the second half, including five-straight to open the period, as Arkansas stretched its lead back out to double-figures.

Missouri would sneak back in the game, cutting it to two with 8:57 left in the second half, as Arkansas struggled to find its groove on offense. The Tigers would eventually retake the lead at the lead on two made free throws with a little over seven minutes remaining. Missouri would stretch its lead to six, before Arkansas would fight back to tie the game at 63-63.

Freshman forward Daniel Gafford scored seven of Arkansas’ last 10 points, but none more bigger than the two that gave Arkansas the lead and win.

Missouri would go to the other end of the floor and launch a desperate three that rattled out, as the Hogs went on to hold off the Tigers 65-63.

Gafford led Arkansas with a team-high 15 points, six rebounds and one block. Barford would add 13 of his own to go along with four rebounds. Hall had the most complete game of his young career, as the Little Rock native scored 10 points, five rebounds and two steals.

Macon may have only finished with eight points but he matched that total in the assist column, tying his career high for the third time this season.

Arkansas controlled the paint, outscoring the Tigers 34-14.

Game Notes

•  Arkansas is 8-1 in its last nine contests decided by one possession, the best mark since the 1994-95 season.

•  The win gave the Razorbacks six victories in the last seven meetings against Missouri.

•  Arkansas improved to 7-4 against Missouri since the Tigers joined the SEC.

•  Arkansas has the fourth-most home wins in the country during the Mike Anderson era at 104. In 10 games in Bud Walton Arena this year, the Razorbacks are 9-1 with a +162 scoring margin.

•  During the last five seasons, Arkansas is tied for second in the SEC in league wins with 36. Missouri ranks 14th in the conference with 10 victories.

•  Arkansas is 42-14 (.750) in conference play at Bud Walton Arena under Coach Anderson, averaging nearly seven SEC home wins per year.

•  In games decided by four points or less, Arkansas has won nine of the last 10.

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