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Fayetteville

Razorbacks blow big start, but manage to recover for win over Texas Tech

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas (24-12) gutted out a 71-66 victory over former Southwest Conference foe Texas Tech (20-15) in front of an energized home crowd in the Postseason WNIT Super 16.

The Razorbacks came out with the fire, starting the game off with a 15-0 lead. Texas Tech settled in, owning the lead for eight minutes of the contest that saw six lead changes and four ties, but owned a 19-14 advantage in the third quarter, which was the difference in the game.

Makayla Daniels led the Razorbacks with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Chrissy Carr added 17 points. The Hogs will travel to Kansas to play the Jayhawks in the Great Eight on Sunday afternoon, marking Arkansas’ fourth appearance in the fourth round of the WNIT, first since 2011.

Texas Tech won the tip, but Samara Spencer took a charge to force an early Lady Raider turnover. The Razorbacks capitalized with a second-chance 3-pointer courtesy of Saylor Poffenbarger.

Carr then knocked down a 3-pointer and Erynn Barnum came up with a steal to deliver a layup, as Arkansas was up early, 8-0, just 1:16 into the game, forcing Texas Tech to take an early timeout.

Arkansas continued to get the job done on defense, capitalizing with another Poffenbarger triple. Texas Tech scored its first basket after nearly six minutes with a jumper, but Spencer answered with another jumper of her own.

With three minutes to go in the quarter, Arkansas led 17-4. Texas Tech began to pick it up and went on a 5-0 run, while Arkansas was in a scoring drought for nearly three minutes.

The Lady Raiders then knocked down a triple, and after one quarter, the Razorbacks held an 18-12 advantage. After Arkansas’ 15-0 start, the Lady Raiders outscoring the Razorbacks 12-3 in the second half of the quarter.

Texas Tech capitalized on a slow start for the Razorbacks in the second quarter, as the Lady Raiders started the frame on a 4-0 run. It took nearly 6.5 minutes, but Carr knocked down a triple to take the Razorbacks out of their drought.

Texas Tech responded with a layup and got fouled in the process but could not convert the 3-point play. At the media timeout, Arkansas had the slight edge, 21-18, but out of the break, Texas Tech drained a triple to tie the game at 21 with less than four minutes remaining in the half.

The Lady Raiders then took their first lead of the game on their next possession with another 3-pointer, while Arkansas was held scoreless for four minutes. With the Lady Raiders on a 10-0 run, Arkansas took a timeout, as Texas Tech led 26-21 with 2:17 left in the quarter.

Out of the break, Daniels broke the Razorbacks’ drought with a much-needed triple and Carr tied the game at 26 with a layup. Daniels made her own miss with a layup to help the Razorbacks go up by two, but Texas Tech tied the game at the buzzer with the game knotted up at 28 at the half.

Makayla Daniels (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

The Lady Raiders got the first basket of the second half with a layup as the shot clock expired, following that up with a jumper for a 4-0 run. Daniels then knocked down her second 3-pointer of the game to cut it back to a one-point game.

Spencer knocked down a 3-pointer to give the lead back to the Razorbacks, 36-35, with under six minutes to play in the quarter. The Lady Raiders did not make a field goal for six minutes but benefited from getting fouled and got majority of their third quarter points from the free throw line, taking the lead again off freebies.

Jersey Wolfenbarger delivered a jumper and Daniels got one on their next possession to give the Razorbacks the lead back, 40-39, with 2:28 left in the quarter. Arkansas then started to make their way to the line, making two of four free throws, and after a Spencer miss, the Razorbacks came up with the offensive board, leading to a Maryam Dauda layup off a Wolfenbarger dish.

Wolfenbarger then knocked down a 3-pointer, which capped off an 11-0 run, but Texas Tech nailed a 3-poitner at the buzzer to end their scoring drought and trail the Razorbacks, 47-42, going into the fourth quarter.

Texas Tech missed two free throws to begin the quarter but got the rebound and made a jumper as the shot clock expired. The Lady Raiders got another lucky look, as they banked in a shot at the buzzer, but Daniels answered with a 3-pointer of her own.

Arkansas went on a 6-0 run, benefiting from Texas Tech’s coach getting a technical foul and Wolfenbarger drawing a foul as well. With 6:33 left in the game, Arkansas held the 55-49 advantage.

Texas Tech then went on a 5-0 run to make it a 56-54 game with 5:50 remaining in the contest. With no Arkansas field goals for over three minutes, Carr delivered back-to-back triples, but Texas Tech responded on both with baskets of their own.

Daniels drew a foul and made two shots, as Arkansas led 66-59 with 2:05 left in the game. Arkansas came up with stops on defense, forcing Texas Tech to foul. The Razorbacks made 7-of-10 shots from the line down the stretch, delivering stops when they needed to in order to gut out the 71-66 win over the Lady Raiders.

Saylor Poffenbarger (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

Hogs Highlights

• Daniels paced the Razorbacks with 21 points, while scoring 16 of her points in the second half. She knocked down three 3-pointers and went 8-of-10 from the free throw line, while pulling down eight boards and dishing out three assists. She played nearly 38 minutes

• Now at No. 11 on the all-time scoring list, Daniels has 1,442 career points

• Carr followed with 17 points, delivering four 3-pointers, including pivotal ones down the stretch in the fourth quarter

• Spencer registered 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes

• Wolfenbarger recorded eight points off 3-of-5 from the field

• Poffenbarger had a near double-double of eight points and nine boards. She moved up to No. 3 on the individual season rebounding list (249)

• Barnum logged five points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. She is now No. 23 on the career rebounding list at Arkansas (571)

• The Razorbacks knocked down 11 3-pointers. On the season, Arkansas has 298 3-pointers, which is the second most in an individual season in program history

• Arkansas is now a perfect 12-0 over the Lady Raiders in Fayetteville

• Arkansas outscored Texas Tech 15-2 in fastbreak points and 16-8 in second-chance opportunities

• The Razorbacks advance to the fourth round of the Postseason WNIT for the fourth time in program history, first since 2011

• Arkansas’ 24 wins ties the most for the program since 2019-20, as that team went 24-8

Next Game

The Razorbacks will head to Lawrence to face Kansas on Sunday, March 26 at 2 p.m. inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Hogs explode in 10th inning to blow away LSU opening series

BATON ROUGE, La. — It was a pitchers’ duel for nine innings.

Neither Arkansas or LSU could do more than end things in a 1-1 tie, but that changed in the 10th inning.

The Razorbacks got into the Tigers’ bullpen and in the 10th inning, Dave Van Horn pinch-hit Reese Robinette, a freshman who hasn’t played much this season, and he delivered big time.

He launched a three-run home run against LSU’s top reliever Christian Little. The three-run shot marked the second home run of Robinett’s young career and gave the Hogs a 4-1 lead before they added a run later in the frame on a sacrifice fly from Brady Slavens and broke things open with a grand slam by Kendall Diggs. Tavian Josenberger went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored out of the leadoff spot. Peyton Stovall added a pair of hits and an RBI out of the No. 2 batter.

Tigers starter Paul Skenes struck out 12 and gave up one run the Hogs worked to get in the fourth inning. Hunter Hollan and Hagen Smith made it look like that might just be enough.

It wasn’t.

LSU got a homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game.

That brought up an interesting extra inning the Razorbacks pretty much settled in the top of the inning with the offensive explosion.

The Tigers got a two-run homer from Dylan Crews, but it was just one of the few mistakes Smith made with a dominating sinker that kept LSU off balance most of the day.

The Razorbacks now have a 15-game winning streak and the two teams will wrap up the series tomorrow with a doubleheader that was scheduled today based on forecasted bad weather on Sunday.

It will be a pair of 9-inning games unless there’s aother pitcher’s duel. The first game will get started at 1 p.m. and be available on streaming only. The nightcap will be later and televised on the SEC Network.

You can hear the games on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.

Bud Light Next Morning Rush Podcast: Season comes to an end after an 88-65 loss to UConn

Tye and Chuck break down last night’s loss to the Huskies and what lies ahead for the basketball program.

#Arkansas #ArkansasRazorbacks #Hogs #Hawgs #WPS #ArkansasRazorbacksPodcast #GoHogs #HitThatLine #WooPigSooie #RazorbackPodcast #ArkansasPodcast #HogPodcast

Hogs can’t come close to returning from UConn’s first-half run in blowout end

An up-and-down season for Arkansas ended in Las Vegas on Thursday night with a whopping loss.

UConn’s 88-65 win over the Razorbacks was about as dominating as it got all year, too.

Nothing really worked for the Hogs in this one.

When you sit back and look, that 14-0 run by the Huskies in the first half was a shot in the mouth the Razorbacks never really recovered from.

The persistent jabs the rest of the way prevented them from really getting any kind of hope about a comeback.

The biggest takeaway from this may be how Eric Musselman and his staff got them to the Sweet 16. The main reason they even got in the NCAA Tournament was a strong early schedule against some teams that did well.

The Hogs continued to develop throughout the year let them make a little noise, but it wasn’t going to be enough against a UConn team that may have played its best game of the season.

When a team shoots 57.4% throughout the game on a Hogs’ team that really can’t shoot the ball consistently, it’s a problem. Arkansas needed to have a lights-out game shooting the ball and only hit 31.7%.

Part of that was the Huskies’ defense. I have no idea what the reason was for the Hogs other than they picked a really bad night for one of their worst shooting games of the season.

It doesn’t help when what everybody (including Musselman) was afraid might happen and that’s not being able to slow down the UConn’s experience and strength on the boards.

The final edge for the Huskies was 43-31, but early in the game the Hogs couldn’t get a defensive rebound.

The Huskies also dominated inside, out-scoring the Hogs 42-24. Again, the first-half numbers were much more dominant. By halftime you kind of had the feeling this game was out of hand and it was going to take a comeback for the ages.

Nobody thought that was going to happen because the Hogs couldn’t shoot. Freshman point guard Anthony Black led the scoring with 20 points and nine of those came at the free-throw line.

But, we saw this all year. Up one week, down the next week has been the theme all year.

We’ll have plenty to talk about for a while, guessing who’s coming back and which ones are leaving for the NBA or the transfer portal.

Musselman, though, is going to be looking for shooters.

Getting 31.7% in the Sweet 16 might not have beaten a team of managers by some other teams. That’s over and done now, though.

That’s now in the past.

Now they get to figure out what to do going forward.

Democrat-Gazette’s Bob Holt on if Nick Smith starts

Looking at possible starting lineup in Sweet 16 against UConn Thursday night plus previewing Razorbacks’ game to advance.

Pig Trail Nation’s Alyssa Orange on excitement for Sweet 16 matchup

With Razorbacks facing UConn on Thursday night in Las Vegas, even media people have some level of anticipation for game.

Democrat-Gazette’s Tom Murphy on what Hogs have to do against UConn

Play of Makhi Mitchell has to continue for Razorbacks in Sweet 16 matchup plus Nick Smith needs to step up.

Anthony B. Nevill from T1 Sports & Race in Vegas glad to see Hogs in town

Looking at college basketball this season and how transfers have made big impact for teams at big-school level.

Halftime Pod Presented By Eastside Liquor- March 23, 2023

Guests- Bob Holt, Alyssa Orange & Tye

Hogs vs Huskies; What’s Your Starting Lineup? Vegas Baby

HALFTIME IS LIVE. Arkansas and UConn tonight from Las Vegas 6:15 PM CT

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11:15 – Bob Holt

12:20 – Alyssa Orange

1:15 – Tye Richardson

Hogs vs Huskies; What’s Your Starting Lineup? Vegas Baby Call or text, 877-377-6963