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Hogs, Kansas to meet in Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Hogs, Kansas to meet in Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A lot of folks will be shocked to find out Kansas made Arkansas football explode.

Thought this was going to be boring, huh? The Razorbacks and Jayhawks will play in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28 as next best choice for that game after Missouri refused to play their old Big 8 rival.

But the Hogs got on the football map simply because of Kansas and Missouri.

When Jack Mitchell set sail from Fayetteville in 1957 to take over at Kansas, Frank Broyles was wrapping his first year as a head coach in Missouri.

Athletics director John Barnhill called Broyles in Columbia and wrapped up the Hogs’ new coach, thus setting in motion the first step in taking football around here to a national level.

Now the Hogs are the second choice to go to Memphis after Missouri didn’t want any part of renewing any old rivalries there.

Yes, Kansas is pretty much a basketball school that doesn’t exactly set the world on fire. They played in an Orange Bowl in 1968 with a lineman named Karl Salb from Crossett on the offensive line and lost a close one to Penn State.

Pepper Rodgers was the coach then and they didn’t get back to a big-time bowl until returning to Miami in 2007 under Eric Mangino. They downed Virginia Tech, 24-21.

The Jayhawks have played in just 12 bowl games in their entire football history. Basketball is the big sport there. They have four national championships.

Wilt Chamberlain and Adolph Rupp played there (if you don’t know who they are, Google should be your friend). The original rules of basketball by James Naismith are on campus.

The Hogs will be playing in the Liberty Bowl for the sixth time, and for the first time since a 45-23 victory over Kansas State on Jan. 2, 2016.

The Razorbacks are 2-3 all-time in the Liberty Bowl. Old-timers will remember getting hosed by the officiating crew on a cold Monday night in December, 1971, when Joe Ferguson won the MVP award, but Tennessee won the game when a phantom holding call against Bobby Nichols wiped out a game-winning field goal by Bill McClard.

The game will be the first between Arkansas and Kansas since 1905, when the Jayhawks won 37-5 in Lawrence, Kan. The Razorbacks also lost 6-0 to Kansas in 1905.

Kansas, under second-year coach Lance Leipold, is in the midst of its best season in more than a decade, but has lost six of seven games leading into the postseason. The Jayhawks began the season 5-0 and reached No. 19 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

This will be Kansas’ first time to play in the Liberty Bowl since a 31-18 loss to North Carolina State in December 1973.

The Jayhawks have not played in any bowl since they defeated Minnesota in the Insight Bowl to conclude the 2008 season.

Hog fans will be happy for a short trip to Memphis.

Coach Sam Pittman will be glad to have some extra days of practice time to look at some younger players that haven’t gotten a lot of playing time this year.

Unless you’re in the playoff, that’s about all you have to focus on for this secondary bowl trips.

Kickoff for the game is 4:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.

Brazile’s 23 leads Hogs to dominating win over Spartans

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Brazile’s 23 leads Hogs to dominating win over Spartans

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Trevon Brazile scored a career-high 23 points and the Razorbacks out-out-scored San Jose State 59-23 in the second half to lead No. 11 Arkansas to a 99-58 victory over the Spartans on Saturday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena.

Ricky Council IV added 17 points and Nick Smith Jr., who got his first career start and saw his most extensive since missing the first six games with an injury, scored 16 points with five assists.

Despite 12 lead changes, Arkansas controlled most of the first half, but only led by five at the break. The Razorbacks, up three (44-41) at the 17:27 mark in the second half, reeled off a 15-2 run to take 16-point lead and never looked back.

Arkansas shot a blistering 75.9 percent (22-of-29) from the field, including 5-of-7 from 3-point range, while holding the Spartans to just 9-of-26 (34.6%) overall and 2-of-11 (18.2%) from deep. Brazile scored 14 of his 23 in the second half and Council scorde 10 of his 17 in the period.

Nick Smith (Gunnar Rathbun / HitThatLine.com)

The biggest boost in the second half came from Jalen Graham who scored 11 points with six rebounds in 11:39 played – all in the final 20 minutes.

San Jose State was led by Omari Moore with 21 points, but he only scored five second-half points. Sage Tolbert finished with a double-double (12 points and 11 rebounds).

Arkansas concludes the current three-game homestand on Tuesday (Dec. 6) versus UNC Greensboro. Tipoff at Bud Walton Arena is set for 6 pm and the game will be televised on SEC Network.

Ricky Council (Gunnar Rathbun / HitThatLine.com)

FIRST HALF: Arkansas 40, San Jose State 35

• The first half featured 12 lead changes, but Arkansas did lead 12:34 compared to San Jose State leading just 3:01.

• Arkansas used a 9-0 run to take a 38-31 late in the first half.

• San Jose scored the next four points before Ricky Council IV his two free throws with 0.4 seconds left before the break to provide the 40-35 score at the break.

• Nick Smith Jr., led Arkansas with 11 points and four assists while Trevon Brazile had nine points and four rebounds.

• San Jose State was led by Omari Moore’s 16 points while Sage Tolbert grabbed eight rebounds.

• Both teams shot the ball well as San Jose State was 14-31 (45.2%) from the field and Arkansas was 15-of-30 (50%).

• Arkansas had 10 assists on its 15 made field goals.

Anthony Black (Gunnar Rathbun / HitThatLine.com)

SECOND HALF: Arkansas 59, San Jose State 23

• Arkansas only led by three (44-41) at the 17:27 mark of the second half.

• The +36 scoring margin in the second half ties for the ninth-biggest point differential in a half since 1945. (It ties for the sixth-largest in the second half alone.)

• Arkansas only missed seven field goals in the second half (22-of-29) and no player missed more than one shot from the field.

GAME NOTES

• Arkansas’ starting lineup was Anthony Black – Nick Smith Jr. – Ricky Council IV – Jordan Walsh – Makhi Mitchell for the first time this season.

• Arkansas won the tip.

• Makhi Mitchell scored the game’s first points, an alley-oop layup from Anthony Black at 19:08.

• Trevon Brazile was the first Razorback sub for the eighth straight game.

• Arkansas had six “and-one” old fashion 3-point plays in the game.

• Nick Smith made his first collegiate basket at 17:57, a 3-pointer from the right wing.

• Arkansas was at its season scoring average (77 points) with 8:09 left in the game, leading 77-52.

• Second-year walkon Cade Argobast scored his first collegiate points, hitting a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:32 left in the game.

• This is the first game all 15 Razorbacks played in a game this season and 10 scored.

• Arkansas had a season-high 22 assists, including six from Black, five from Smith, three from Davonte Davis and three from Derrian Ford.

• Joseph Pinion made his first career 3-pointer.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

KJ’s coming back, which is a big relief for Hog fans

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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KJ’s coming back, which is a big relief for Hog fans

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — He may not have a backup yet, but Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson will be back.

It’s been a question that has kept some Razorback fans squirming since the season ended last week.

Jefferson didn’t keep everybody hanging for long, which means he obviously didn’t have a particularly high NFL draft score and didn’t want to look for somewhere else to play.

Now coach Sam Pittman and his staff have to find a backup with Malik Hornsby announcing he’s entering the transfer portal Monday and Cade Fortin fresh out of eligibility.

Considering Jefferson will be behind almost a completely new offensive line, that backup spot may end up being kind of important.

Pittman had said he was looking for help in the portal this year and they have committed four-star Malachi Singleton out of Georgia, but they still have get his name on the bottom line. Relying on a true freshman is not particularly comforting for anybody

Jefferson’s career completion percentage of 65.5 is currently the best in program history by a wide margin.

His 5,529 career passing yards ranks eighth in school history, 2,236 yards behind the all-time leader in Tyler Wilson.

KJ Jefferson (Michael Morrison / HitThatLine.com)

Jefferson’s 46 passing touchdowns are the seventh-most in school history and 18 shy of Brandon Allen’s program record.

The Hogs are waiting to find out their bowl destination this season with a lot of speculation has them playing a Big 12 opponent in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Dec. 28.

Considering the way the season has gone, that would be a good note for fans.

Not as good as Jefferson being there and coming back for a fifth season.

If Barry Odom leaves, where does Sam Pittman start looking?

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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If Barry Odom leaves, where does Sam Pittman start looking?

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Thank you, Dean Blevins.

The former Oklahoma quarterback has certainly fired up the message boards and rumor mill in Arkansas with a simple tweet Friday afternoon.

Razorbacks defensive coordinator Barry Odom was one of coach Sam Pittman’s first staff hiring back in 2019 and has basically been the head coach of defense since.

Now, this is a report (from a usually solid source in Oklahoma) he could be interested in the Golden Hurricane after three seasons in Fayetteville and his son has finished his senior season at Shiloh Christian.

Hog fans are starting to wonder who would be next. No guesses here on exactly who they could get.

It is something to consider, consider the Hogs are coming off a 6-6 season that was seriously off the expectations of just about everybody after last season’s 9-4 mark that finished with a bowl win over Penn State.

His defenses with the Hogs have given up lots of yards, but actually done pretty well keeping people out of the end zone at times.

Barry Odom (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

Odom was kicked to the curb after four seasons as the head coach at Missouri with a 25-25 overall record.

When Pittman was hired with the Hogs in December 2019 he didn’t waste any time picking Odom and the two have also been fairly close with regular walks discussing various aspects of being a head coach in the SEC.

Tulsa fired football coach Philip Montgomery after a 5-7 season on Sunday. The Golden Hurricane finished 2022 season on a high note, though, with a 37-30 upset of Houston on Saturday.

Razorbacks finally get Saturday home game against Spartans

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks finally get Saturday home game against Spartans

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — With December, we’ve come to learn Arkansas’ basketball teams start coming together.

Until the SEC play starts Dec. 28 in Baton Rouge against LSU and a new coach.

For now, though, San Jose State comes to town for a 3 p.m. game.

HOW TO WATCH-LISTEN

Who: No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks (6-1, 0-0 SEC) vs. San Jose State Spartans (6-2, 0-0 Mountain West)

What: First home Saturday game of 2022-23 (Arkansas’ next Saturday game in Bud Walton Arena won’t be until Jan. 21).

When: Saturday, Dec. 3, 3 p.m.

Where: Fayetteville, Ark., Nolan Richardson Court at Bud Walton Arena

On TV: SEC Network and fuboTV (Kevin Fitzgerald and Daymeon Fishback)

Listen Online: HitThatLine.com

Radio: ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)

Sirius/XM: 136 (Sirius) / 207 (XM) • SXM App: Channel 983

Eric Musselman (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

GAME NOTES

• This will be the first meeting between Arkansas and San Jose State.

• However, Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman has a history with the Spartans while at Nevada as both schools were members of the Mountain West Conference. Musselman was 6-0 versus San Jose State while at Nevada. Musselman posted a 60-21 record versus Mountain West opponents while at Nevada and has improved that mark to 61-21 thanks to a win over San Diego State at Maui.

Ricky Council (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

• Ricky Council IV is the SEC leader in scoring (20.14 points per game) and minutes played (36.96 avg.) while ranking sixth in field goal percentage (.514).

Anthony Black (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

• Anthony Black ranks among the SEC top 15 in minutes (3rd; 33.74 avg.), steals (8th; 2.29), assists (9th; 3.43), points (14.1 points per game) and rebounds (13th; 5.71).

• Arkansas caps its three-game home stand Tuesday versus UNC Greensboro. Following this current homestand, Arkansas will play three games as the home team — playing two games on neutral courts and one at Bud Walton Arena — before opening SEC play on the road Dec. 28 at LSU.

Nick Smith (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

• Dec. 10: Arkansas will be the home team in the second annual Crimson and Cardinal Classic versus Oklahoma in Tulsa.

• Dec. 17: Arkansas will make its annual trip to North Little Rock to host Bradley.

• Dec. 21: Arkansas will return to Bud Walton Arena to host UNC Asheville.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Halftime Pod Presented By Eastside Liquor- December 2, 2022

Tye Richardson
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Halftime Pod Presented By Eastside Liquor- December 2, 2022

Phil and Matt talk to Aaron Torres, San Jose State tomorrow, Championship weekend and more!

Bud Light Next Morning Rush Podcast: CFB Playoff expands, Official Visits

Tye Richardson
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Bud Light Next Morning Rush Podcast: CFB Playoff expands, Official Visits

Tye, Tommy and Chuck on the field expanding in the 2024-2025 season, dead period over and more!

The Gimme the HAWGS Chuck Podcast E36: Sam Pittman LIVE wrap-up, looking ahead to San Jose State

Tye Richardson
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The Gimme the HAWGS Chuck Podcast E36: Sam Pittman LIVE wrap-up, looking ahead to San Jose State

Presented by Weichert Realtors – The Griffin Company

Razorbacks stay on roll, downing Troy behind five in double figures

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks stay on roll, downing Troy behind five in double figures

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —Arkansas (9-0) is continuing to roll, as the team flew past Troy, 87-70 on Thursday night.

The Razorbacks had 20 assists on 31 made field goals, while having five players in double digits in scoring.

Samara Spencer led the way with 19 points, while Erynn Barnum followed with 18 on 8-of-9 shots made. In her reunion, Arkansas great Chelsea Dungee made her return to Fayetteville, but this time on the Troy sideline as an assistant coach.

Chelsea Dungee (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

Both teams were making shots like in the opening minutes of the game. The score was tied at 10-10 less than three minutes into the contest, with Makayla Daniels knocking down two triples for the Razorbacks in there.

The Razorbacks went on an 8-0 run with big thanks to Chrissy Carr coming up with back-to-back layups in the paint. At the media timeout, Arkansas led 18-10 with 4:40 left in the quarter.

Troy scored four points out of the media timeout, with many of those opportunities coming from offensive rebounds. The Hogs closed out the quarter on a 9-7 run capped off by a Jersey Wolfenbarger 3-pointer to lead 27-17 after one quarter.

Arkansas began the second quarter 0-for-5 from the field until Barnum came up with a put-back basket.

Samara Spencer (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

After that slow start, the Hogs more than made up for it, throwing a party from beyond the arc with three 3-pointers, including two by Spencer.

The Hogs had the 42-21 advantage with 3:23 left in the half, which was big thanks to a 17-2 run. The Razorbacks outscored the Trojans 17-7 in the second quarter to go into the locker room up, 44-24. The Hogs forced 14 Troy turnovers in the first half.

Barnum helped the Razorbacks get going in the second half with back-to-back baskets in the paint. Troy cut the lead to 19 in under two minutes in the third quarter, but Spencer could not be stopped, going 3-of-3 from the field to climb up to 19 points.

Erynn Barnum (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

Following another Carr 3-pointer, Troy took a timeout and the Hogs led by 27, the largest lead of the night, with 3:59 remaining in the third. Troy went on a 5-0 run out of the media timeout, but a second-chance opportunity 3-pointer by Wolfenbarger put the Trojans at bay.

Going into the final quarter, the Hogs took a 23-point lead, 67-44.

Troy came into the fourth quarter on a vengeance, knocking down 3-of-4 shots, but every time they scored, the Hogs responded, thanks to Spencer feeding Barnum of back-to-back-to-back possessions.

The Razorbacks had the 76-51 edge with eight minutes and some change left in the game. Troy outscored Arkansas 26-20 in the fourth, but the Razorbacks cruised to the 17-point, 87-70 victory.

Chrissy Carr (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

Game Highlights

• Spencer led the Razorbacks with 19 points with three 3-pointers, as well as three rebounds and six assists

• Barnum had a solid game, making 8-of-9 shots for 18 points. She added eight rebounds and two steals

• Carr tallied 14 points with two of those shots coming off triples

• Wolfenbarger had an efficient game off the bench with a season-high 11 points off 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. She added three boards and two blocks

Makayla Daniels (Andy Hodges / HitThatLine.com)

• Daniels logged 10 points, three rebounds and four assists

• Saylor Poffenbarger registered nine points and five assists

• Avery Hughes had four points in three minutes

• All 12 players saw action tonight

Next Game

Arkansas continues its homestand by hosting Oral Roberts on Sunday at 2 p.m. The game marks the first Signature Sunday of the year, where players will be available for autographs following the contest.

Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman previews San Jose State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman previews San Jose State

Also on Kamani Johnson’s graduation, Davonte Davis’ energy coming back what he expects in Saturday’s game.

Razorbacks’ Kamani Johnson gets degree, more playing time

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorbacks’ Kamani Johnson gets degree, more playing time

Making most of opportunities has put now-graduate squarely in bigger role for Hogs as they are coming together.

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