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Kingsley excited to return for senior season

FAYETTEVILLE — Moses Kingsley has withdrawn his name from the 2016 NBA Draft process and will return to the Razorbacks for the 2016-17 season.

The Abuja, Nigeria, native earned 2015-16 second team All-SEC honors and was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team after averaging 15.9 points per game and 9.3 rebounds per contest. He was one of eight high-major players with 16 double-doubles on the year and was named one of 10 finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award as the nation’s top center.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to go through the draft process, but I’m excited to return to Arkansas for my senior year,” Kingsley said. “I feel like I can continue to improve and put myself in a better position for the future. I would like to thank my teammates, coaches and family for their support and I’m looking forward to putting that Razorback jersey on for one more year. We’ve got a big summer ahead! WoooPig!”

Kingsley finished the regular season as one of five high-major players in the country averaging at least 16.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He recorded a block in 31 of 32 games and ranked second in the SEC with 76 blocks on the year. Kingsley was one of three players in the nation with multiple games of 20 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks last season and he scored in double figures in 29 of 31 games.

“Moses got the feedback he needed and we are thrilled to have one of the best players in the SEC returning for his senior season,” head coach Mike Anderson said. “If he improves this year as much as he did last year, he has a chance to be one of the best players in the country.”

We know what we don’t know after Red-White game

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Spring games seldom give a great read on what a team has actually accomplished.

After the White (first) team basically dominated the Red (everybody else) for a 39-21 win Saturday at Razorback Stadium, the glaring positive is Austin Allen has the look of a pretty good quarterback.

The first thought after the game was that he’d probably be the clear-cut starter at about 12 other places in the league. Okay, maybe not LSU where the question is still open that the coaching staff there would recognize a good quarterback if they fell over one.

Yes, Austin looked that good.

He was throwing out routes on a line and on target. That’s the measure of a quarterback that might can play at the next level. Having some experience at receiver helps on those throws more than most people know. Even on incompletions, most of them weren’t Allen’s fault.

There are plays when everybody does their job and the receiver simply has to make a play, which is the biggest part of his job. In the SEC, a foot of separation between the receiver and the defensive back is as wide open as it gets.

The defensive backs were making plays. The effects of new secondary coach Paul Rhoads is already paying dividends. At a position where coaching can make a huge difference, the Razorbacks secondary looked SEC-capable.

At least that’s the hope.

You have to take into a little consideration that when we are playing against each other that when things go well with one side of the ball, it usually is because the other side isn’t,” Bret Bielema said later.

And that’s why we know what we don’t know after this spring practice is done.

“Our defense all spring has played extremely well, they have tackled efficiently, they have done a lot of good things day in and day out, which tells me it is not a fluke,” Bielema said. “They are trained, they are coached, they are responding and doing a lot of really good things. I think you saw that particularly in the first half.”

Remember, this was one’s against everybody else.

The Red (everybody else) had just 49 yards of total net offense and only 10 of that was on the ground. It would have been 36 yards rushing except Red team quarterback Rafe Peavey accounted for 26 yards in losses.

While that’s good for the defense, it does raise some eyebrows, however. It leads some of us to one of those uh-oh moments.

In the chaotic 2012 spring game, the No. 1’s downed everybody else 65-0, pointing out that team’s lack of depth behind some pretty decent starting players. That lack of depth showed up early against Louisiana-Monroe and without strong guidance from the top, the team collapsed from there.

This team has some good things.

There’s a lot of things that we have got to get better at on the offense with the ones,” Bielma said.

Allen wasn’t one of them.

Austin did some good things, but he has some miscues in the first half that weren’t his,” Bielema said. “He had a dropped pass by Dominique Reed, he had Keon drop the easy touchdown on the sideline sweep over there and had a couple of guys break down in protection that allowed some pressure on him.”

That’s good news for the fans who have agonized on talk shows and message boards about the status of the quarterback position.

Allen will be fine. Quit worrying.

The question marks will be the offensive line, which is breaking in new people with a new coach. Bielema has said it’s a work in progress. Add in some talented question marks at running back, who appear to have potential, but they haven’t shown it in a game yet, and you have the questions.

We probably won’t have the answers until, oh, about the second week of October.

And, yes, that’s when Alabama comes to town.

Rousey makes Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover

Despite a devastating loss in her last fight, Ronda Rousey has landed the cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit edition.

Dykes after overtime loss to Florida

Arkansas coach Jimmy Dykes talked about the disappointing loss to Florida in overtime Thursday.

Razorbacks fall in overtime to Florida

Arkansas had four players in double figures and three with double-digit rebounds but it wasn’t enough to lift the Razorbacks over Florida in a 71-66 overtime loss Thursday in Bud Walton Arena.

Junior Jessica Jackson paced the Razorbacks (9-12, 4-4 SEC) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Kelsey Brooks added 14 points while sophomore Devin Cosper tallied 12. Junior Alecia Cooley finished with a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in the Razorbacks’ second consecutive overtime loss of the season.

Fans might have thought they were at the Randal Tyson Track Center Thursday inside of Bud Walton Arena. The fast-paced, turnover-plagued game was nip-and-tuck for 45 minutes.

The first half opened with Florida (17-4, 5-3 SEC) pressing and Arkansas using its speed to break the press. The Gators scored first but Arkansas rallied taking a 26-25 lead into the halftime break.

The Razorbacks extended the lead to 10 points at the 5:28 mark of the third period and seemed to have the game well in hand. Teams left the court for the media timeout at the 4:58 mark and the Gators came out on fire, outscoring Arkansas 10-5 to close the frame tied at 44.

Florida scored their 10 points from five different players as Arkansas struggled with five turnovers and three missed shots as the momentum shifted to the Gator bench.

The fourth frame was an even heat with each team scoring 15 points. Arkansas had a two-point lead, 59-57 after Jackson hit 1-of-2 from the line with four seconds left in regulation. The Gators called timeout and made some offensive subs. They inbounded the ball in front of their bench and hit a jumper in the paint with one second on the clock, tying the contest at 59 and forcing overtime.

The game was tied twice in overtime but Arkansas found itself with the lead, 66-65, with 31 seconds to go after Cosper dropped in a jumper from just outside the paint.

Florida scored on its next possession to retake the lead with the clock winding down. Arkansas was forced to foul and Florida hit its bonus shots to hold on for the win.

Arkansas hosts No. 13 Mississippi State Sunday at 2 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.

NOTES
• Arkansas Starters: Jessica Jackson, Kelsey Brooks, Devin Cosper, Melissa Wolff, Alecia Cooley
• Kelsey Brooks is the sixth player to score in double figures in the first half of the game
• It is Brooks’ first time to score in double figures – she had 12 at the half
• It is the 11th time this year a Razorback player has been in double digits in a game this year
• Brooks finished with 14, her season best
• Jessica Jackson was also in double figures with 16 points
• It is her 18th double digit game of the year
• It is her 69th double digit game in her career
• Jackson added 10 rebounds for her 14th career double-double
• Devin Cosper scored 12 points in the game
• It is her 11th double digit point game as a Razorback
• Senior Melissa Wolff grabbed 10 rebounds
• It is her seventh double figure rebounding game of the year
• It is the 18th of her career
• Junior Alecia Cooley scored 11 points
• It is her sixth game as a Razorback in double figures
• Cooley also grabbed 10 rebounds for her third double-double
• It is the 13th time Arkansas has been even with or out-rebounded its opponent
• Back-and-forth game featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes
• Arkansas is 9-25 all-time against Florida
• The Razorbacks are 5-10 in Fayetteville vs. the Gators