Florida’s hot shooting too much for Hogs in 88-73 loss

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Arkansas was unable to overcome an early deficit Wednesday night in Gainesville, falling on the road, 88-73, to Florida.

At the first media timeout of the evening, all five of the Razorbacks’ starters were in the scoring column. Down 7-2, Arkansas hit three consecutive 3-point attempts to take its first lead at 11-10.

Following the media break, Florida went on a 28-10 run to take its largest lead of the game to that point at 18.

The Hogs trailed 48-33 at halftime, as Florida out-shot Arkansas 55.6-41.9 percent from the field in the first period. The Razorbacks struggled to get any production from their bench, as Florida outscored Arkansas 17-4 off the bench in the opening frame.

A bright spot for Arkansas was guard Jaylen Barford’s shooting. The senior went 4-of-6 from the field, hitting three from deep, in the first period. However, he was in foul trouble, earning three before half.

Arkansas opened the second half on a quick 5-0 run to cut the Florida lead to 10, after Barford started the the half with a three from the top of the key and freshman Daniel Gafford hit a short hook shot.

Arkansas and Florida traded shots for the next seven-plus minutes, before Barford hit a layup and sophomore guard C.J. Jones stepped into a 3 to cut the Florida lead to nine at 62-53.

That was as close as Arkansas would get, as the Gators went on a 20-8 run following Jones’ three to take their largest lead of the game at 82-61.

Barford led all scorers, recording his seventh 20-point effort of the season, tying a career high with 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting, going 5-of-6 from behind the arc.

Barford also recorded four assists. Barford has 12 career 20-point efforts, including nine coming away from home.

Gafford posted 14 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and the only one recorded ever by a current Razorback.

Senior guard Daryl Macon finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Arkansas returns home Saturday to host the Ole Miss Rebels at 2:30 p.m. in front of a sold-out crowd in Bud Walton Arena.

Hatfield named to College Football Playoff Committee

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IRVING, Texas — Former Arkansas player and coach Ken Hatfield has been named to the 13-member College Football Playoff selection committee, CFP executive director Bill Hancock announced on Wednesday.

Hatfield is one of six new members and will serve a three-year term on the committee, which is responsible for selecting the top four teams in the playoff and assigning them to semifinal games as well as placing the next group of teams in the remaining New Year’s bowls.

The committee meets in-person beginning late in the football season and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week, leading up to its final selections.

In six years as a head coach, Hatfield posted an Arkansas-record .760 winning percentage and averaged more than nine wins per year from 1984-89.

He led the Razorbacks to a bowl game all six seasons, including two Cotton bowls, two Liberty bowls, the Holiday and the Orange.

He coached the Razorbacks to Southwest Conference championships in 1988 and 1989, and final rankings of No. 12 in 1985, No. 15 in 1986, No. 12 in 1988 and No. 13 in 1989.

On the field as a halfback, he earned first-team All-SWC honors in 1964.

His 81-yard punt return for a touchdown keyed the 14-13 victory at No. 1 Texas as Arkansas went 11-0 in 1964 and won the national championship following a 10-7 victory over No. 6 Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.

Hatfield led the nation in punt returns in 1963 and 1964, averaging 16.7 yards per return each season. He also led the SWC in 1962. In 1962 and 1963, he led the Hogs in interceptions.

In 1962, he led the team in passes broken up, and as a kickoff returner, he led the club in 1962 and 1964.

His 16.01 career punt return average is a school record while his 1,604 total return yards rank second in school history and ranked first until 2004.

His 1,153 career punt return yards rank first at Arkansas and his 518 punt return yards in 1964 is a season record.

About the College Football Playoff

The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 seed vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.

This season’s Playoff Semifinals will take place Saturday, December 29, 2018, at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and Capital One Orange Bowl.

The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 7, 2019, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Saturday’s game with Ole Miss officially a sellout

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Saturday’s game against Ole Miss is officially sold out, marking the fourth consecutive Saturday home contest Arkansas has announced as a sellout.

Arkansas fans can stretch that streak to five games against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Feb. 10, the only remaining Saturday home game with tickets still available.

Fewer than 50 tickets remain for the first mid-week sellout of the year as the Super Tuesday matchup against Kentucky on Feb. 20 would be the seventh sellout of the season.

Remaining Home Games with Available Tickets
• South Carolina (Tuesday, Feb. 6)
• Vanderbilt (Saturday, Feb. 10)
• Kentucky (Tuesday, Feb. 20)
• Auburn (Tuesday, Feb. 27)

Arkansas is back in action this evening, traveling to Gainesville, Florida, for a 6 p.m. tip-off against the Gators on ESPN2.

Raining 3’s expected for Hogs’ women’s game with Florida

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — It’s raining 3’s might be the headline after Thursday’s Southeastern Conference women’s basketball contest between Arkansas and Florida.

Scouting Arkansas

The Gators (8-10, 0-5 SEC) lead the league in 3-point shooting with Arkansas (11-7, 2-3 SEC) second in shooting from distance. Thursday’s 6 p.m. tip should be a fast-paced match-up. The game airs live on the SEC Network.

The Razorbacks are coming off a road win at Auburn and rank second in the SEC averaging 7.8 made 3-point field goals per game. Arkansas is also second with made 3-pointers with 141.

Arkansas saw back-to-back season-best nights from junior Bailey Zimmerman at Georgia and at Auburn. Zimmerman hit six 3-point field goals in those games, shooting 46{e1768d0eec022f908d772ba0c0274d97d05d220b4341147789bdb671ddb19707} from beyond the arc.

She added a career-best eight rebounds against the Tigers and was key as a defensive stopper in the game. Kiara Williams also stepped up with her third double-double last week with a career-best 15 points and 14 rebounds.

The Razorbacks are in the midst of a tough road SEC schedule. They played back-to-back games on the road at Georgia and Auburn, host Florida, and return to the road traveling to No. 11 Missouri on Sunday and No. 10 South Carolina on Thursday.

Scouting Florida

The Gators are also in a transition season welcoming a new head coach this year. Cameron Newbauer leads Florida after four seasons as Belmont’s head coach.

Although they are 0-5 in the SEC, Florida’s last four games have been decided by single digits and the Gators have held leads late in the contests.

Five Gators average double figures led by Funa Nakkasoglu at 14.9 ppg. Haley Lorenzen (12.6 ppg), Paulina Hersler (12.2 ppg), Dyandria Anderson (11.3 ppg) and Deilcia Washington (10.1 ppg) are also averaging double digits.

Haley Lorenzen is the team’s leading rebounder with 9.3 rpg.

Morning Rush Hour 3

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday

Morning Rush Hour 2

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Morning Rush Hour 1

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Hogs take aim at Gators on road Wednesday night

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — Looking for its fourth victory away from Bud Walton Arena this year, Arkansas travels to Florida on Wednesday evening for a 6 p.m. tip-off on ESPN2.

The Rundown
Opponent: Florida (12-5, 4-1 SEC)
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 17
Site: Exactech Arena (Gainesville, Fla.)
Tip-off: 6 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN2 | WatchESPN
Live Stats: Click Here
SiriusXM Radio: 137/190

The #Fastest40 Facts

• The Razorbacks are looking for their first conference road win of the year after tying the program record for SEC road wins in a season last year with six.

• During the last four seasons, Arkansas is second in the SEC in league wins with 36, while Florida is third with 35.

• Following Saturday’s victory over Missouri, Arkansas’ RPI went from No. 25 to No. 21 according to the NCAA, while its strength of schedule is up from No. 13 to No. 7.

• Arkansas has won 31 consecutive games in which it has led at halftime. During Mike Anderson era, the Razorbacks are 116-7 when leading at the intermission.

• Daniel Gafford’s game-winning dunk against Missouri was his 39th slam of the year, more than six SEC teams, including Florida with 35 as a program this season.

• Daryl Macon is one of two players in the SEC with four games of 8+ assists this season. In those four contests, he has totaled 32 assists and just six turnovers.

• Jaylen Barford is the only player in the SEC to rank in the top three in points per game (3rd) and field goal percentage (3rd).

A Win Would…
• Give the Razorbacks their first true road win of the season and the fourth victory away from Bud Walton Arena this year.

• Be Arkansas’ first win Gainesville in 23 years, dating back to a 94-85 victory during the 1994-95 season when Corliss Williamson led the way with 20 points.

• Snap a seven-game losing streak to Florida, including 12 straight losses in Gainesville.

Igbokwe named SEC’s co-runner of week

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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BIRMINGHAM — Six-time All-American sprinter Obi Igbokwe has been named the Southeastern Conference Co-Runner of the week, for his efforts this past weekend in the 200-meter dash at the Arkansas Invitational.

Igbokwe shares the honor with Auburn’s Akeem Bloomfield.

NCAA Leader

A native of The Woodlands, Texas, Igbokwe opened his third season as a Razorback in dominant fashion, finishing as the top collegiate performer in the 200.

Racing alongside a pair of decorated professionals Igbokwe was pulled out to a personal best performance in the event of 20.78.

The time ranks him as the top 200-meter sprinter in the NCAA and the third-fastest sprinter in the world at that distance.

Igbokwe now ranks at No. 9 in the 200 on Arkansas’ all-time bests list.

Igbokwe will next see action on the road next weekend at the Simmons-Harvey Quad in Ann Arbor, Mich., against Ohio State, Michigan State and host Michigan.

Arkansas returns to its home track Jan. 26-27 for the Razorback Invitational.

Shaffer named co-freshman of week after Kentucky effort

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Redshirt freshman Sarah Shaffer was named the Southeastern Conference Co-Freshman of the Week following her 39.325 all-around performance in the Razorbacks’ home opener against No. 6 Kentucky last Friday.

Shaffer’s all-around score is the highest among freshman in the SEC this season, and the seventh highest in the conference overall. The score is the fourth highest among the nation’s freshman this season through week two.

The Tyler, Texas, native secured Arkansas’ highest all-around score since April 2, 2016 and the highest by a Razorback freshman since 2015.

As the Razorbacks’ anchor on beam, Shaffer helped Arkansas secure its highest beam score of 49.250 since March 8, 2014. In total, Shaffer took second in the all-around and on the floor while taking fourth on vault and recording her highest event score of 9.875.

Shaffer was one of Arkansas’ five scorers on every event against No. 6 Kentucky, helping the Razorbacks tally its third-highest home opening score in program history of 196.525, and vault into the top 10 of Road To Nationals weekly rankings for the first time since 2016.

Shaffer’s Results vs No. 6 Kentucky
Vault: 9.875
Bars: 9.800
Beam: 9.800
Floor: 9.850
All-Around: 39.325

Shaffer becomes the sixth Razorback gymnast to earn an SEC Freshman of the Week honor and ­is the first since Jessica Yamzon won the award on Feb. 7, 2017.

The 10th-ranked Razorbacks return to action Friday for another top-25 conference matchup at the No. 24 Missouri Tigers in Columbia. The meet is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. and will be streamed on the SEC Network+ and the WatchESPN app.

Tickets for the remaining four home meets are available at the Razorback Ticket Center by calling 1-800-982-HOGS (4647) or by clicking here. Arkansas’ next home meet is Jan. 26 at 6 p.m. against Georgia.

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