Recent success on national level plus returning to Texas roots among things might make Hogs’ offensive coordinator explore.
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Hogs Fall at Vandy; How Can They Fix Themselves?; Wild Super Wild Card Weekend; Last Game for Brady?
Guests- Mike Irwin & Connor O’Gara
Razorbacks end break against Vanderbilt tonight
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —The No. 23 Arkansas women’s basketball team (16-3, 3-1 SEC) is set to face Vanderbilt (9-9, 0-4 SEC) on Monday evening, Martin Luther King Day. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Monday, Jan. 16
Time: 6 p.m.
Opponent: Vanderbilt
Location: Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Watch: SECN
Game Notes
• Arkansas women’s basketball is No. 23 in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches Poll and the last team out of the AP top 25 poll, racking in the 26th most votes with 33. The Razorbacks were ranked for four straight weeks in the AP and WBCA Coaches polls prior to the team’s third loss of the season (#21, #21, #17 and #24 in AP)
• Coming into the team’s fifth SEC contest of the season, Arkansas is 3-1, which is the best start for the program in league play since 2005-06 when that team also started the conference slate 3-1
• Arkansas has started the season 16-3, which is the best start in the regular season for a Razorback women’s basketball program since 2007-08 when that team also won 16 times in its first 19 games
• With Arkansas’ 77-55 win at Missouri, the Razorbacks held the Tigers to a season low in points, which was also the largest defeat inside Mizzou Arena since Dec. 2019
• The Razorbacks have won their last three games by an average margin of 23.7 points per game. Two of those games were on the road, as Arkansas has improved its true road record to 5-0
• Arkansas is looking to get its fourth win of the last five games against Vanderbilt after dropping last year’s matchup in Nashville (L, 54-51). These two teams will face each other twice in the regular season
• Mike Neighbors has led the program to another winning year in the regular season, as the Razorbacks have 16 wins. This marks the fifth regular season winning year for coach at Arkansas
• The Razorbacks are 7-1 at home this season
• The team has a well-balanced offensive attack with four players averaging double digits in scoring, almost all five starters
• Erynn Barnum paces the Razorbacks with 15.6 points per game, while leading the SEC in field goal percentage at .627. She is also tied for a team’s most blocks with 21
• Saylor Poffenbarger continues to bring great defense to the team, leading the way in rebounding with 7.9 per game, 131 of her 150 rebounds coming on the defensive side. Poffenbarger also ties for the team’s leader in blocks with 21
• Samara Spencer is the second leading scorer with 15.0 points per game and leads the team in assists with 88, 4.6 per game
• Makayla Daniels leads the team in steals with 25, while also averaging 13.3 points per game
• Chrissy Carr puts up 11.5 points per game and leads the squad with 41 3-pointers
• The team leads the SEC in least turnovers per game with 13.6
• Arkansas gets to the line 25.0 times per game, which is fourth in the country, second in the SEC behind LSU
• In the SEC, Arkansas leads in 3-point attempts per game (26.8) and is No. 2 in 3-pointers per game (8.5)
• The Razorbacks have outrebounded opponents in 13 games. The team’s 31.4 defensive rebounds per game is the 12th most in the country
Scouting Vanderbilt
• Vanderbilt was picked to finish 14th in the SEC Preseason Media and Coaches polls after a 16-19-year last season and making it to the third round of the WNIT
• The Commodores are 9-9 this season, starting the year with a five-game winning streak. The team’s most quality wins have come on the road at Louisiana Tech (75-70, OT), Columbia (74-63) and Western Kentucky (82-71)
• Ciaja Harbison leads Vandy with 19.3 points per game and 74 total assists
• Sacha Washington pulls down 7.6 rebounds per game, which paces the team. She also logs 10.1 points per game
• Marnelle Garraud averages 13.1 points per game
• Shea Ralph is in her second year at the helm of Vandy, leading the Commodores to their first postseason appearance since 2014 last season with the team’s third round appearance in the WNIT
History Against Commodores
• Vanderbilt and Arkansas have played one another 37 times with the Commodores holding a 26-11 advantage
• The two teams have played one another every year (apart from 2021 when Vandy cancelled its season) since 1992, Arkansas’ first year in the SEC
• In the last 10 meetings, the series is tied at 5-5, while Arkansas has the 3-1 advantage in the last four games
• Monday’s game will be the first one of this series played in Fayetteville since 2019
• Arkansas opened road SEC play at Vanderbilt last season, getting edged out, 54-51. Sasha Goforth led the Razorbacks with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Daniels logged seven points and nine rebounds
Last Game
• Arkansas earned its third 20+-point victory in a row to defeat Missouri in Columbia, 77-55, which marked eight straight victories over the Tigers
• The Razorbacks saw two players with 20 points, led by Poffenbarger, who put up a career-high 24 points and six rebounds at her mom’s alma mater
• Barnum logged her second double-double of the season after registering 21 points and 11 rebounds
• Carr made timely shots to finish with 16 points, four of those shots coming off 3-pointers, and led the team in +/- at +26
• Spencer pulled down a career-high nine rebounds, all defensive, while tallying six assists
• Arkansas had the edge in points in the paint, 40-22, while outrebounding the Tigers, 45-37
Next Game
Arkansas will face its toughest tests of the season, starting with a road matchup at No. 5/5 LSU on Thursday, Jan. 19. The game will tipoff at 8 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on SEC Network.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
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Hogs stumble in second half, losing to Vanderbilt.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This one is going to sting for a bit.
No. 15 Arkansas blew a double-digit lead in the second half and watched Vanderbilt shoot over 60% to come away with a 97-84 win Saturday afternoon in a surprising turnaround that left folks scratching their head.
“Ninety-seven points is a lot of points to give up in a college game,” Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said later.
Ricky Council IV led the way for Arkansas with 24 points in the losing effort. Anthony Black added 20 and Davonte Davis pitched in 17 for the Razorbacks.
In what was a long, physical and chippy first half of play, it was Arkansas that pulled ahead 42-34 at the break behind 55.2% shooting from the field and 31 combined points from Council and Black.
No sooner than it felt like the Hogs had firm control early in the second half, things began to unravel as Vanderbilt caught fire and roared back from a double-digit deficit to go up by as many as 14 with just under eight minutes to play.
The Hogs cut the lead to as little as six with just over two minutes to play, but the Hogs were unable to completely dig out of the hole down the stretch as the Commodores held on for the victory.
Hogs coach Eric Musselman made a lineup tweak for the second consecutive game as leading scorer Ricky Council IV replaced Jordan Walsh alongside Anthony Black, Davonte Davis and the Mitchell twins in the starting five.
Now the Hogs will stay on the 0-2 road stretch, going to Columbia (Mo.) on Wednesday against No. 20 Missouri (13-3, 2-2 SEC) for an 8 p.m. tip on SEC Network.
It will be the second meeting between the teams this season. The Razorbacks rallied from 17 down to defeat the Tigers on Jan. 4 in Fayetteville, 74-68.
From there the Hogs will return home for just the second Saturday contest in Bud Walton Arena of the year when it hosts Ole Miss (8-8, 0-4 SEC) for an early 11 a.m. tip in Fayetteville (Ark.).
Hogs looking for much-needed SEC win against Vanderbilt
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas needs a win … for a lot of reasons.
After getting pushed around and losing to Auburn and Alabama, there are a lot of questions about one of the teams with the highest expectations in decades.
It’s caused coach Eric Musselman to start juggling his roster and rotations.
“We’re searching, scratching,” he said earlier this week. “We’re not satisfied being 1-3 in the league and certainly not satisfied with our overall record, either. But this is a team that’s going through tremendous adversity right now with two opponents that we spent a lot of time on structuring the roster as well as scheme offensively and defensively.”
Going with a bigger lineup paid off against Missouri and the Crimson Tide. They were more physical there.
“I thought (the new lineup) worked out well,” Musselman said. “They have a really big front line, so that was a little bit of the reason. What we’ll do at Vanderbilt I have no idea right now. I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that I’m still trying to solve and search. If there’s something there to try to figure out, we’re trying.”
Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPNU.
Game Notes
• This will be the 53rd meeting between Arkansas and Vanderbilt. All but 12 have come since Arkansas joined the SEC. The Razorbacks own a 39-13 advantage in the series, including a slight 28-12 margin in SEC meetings.
• Arkansas is 8-8 versus the Commodores in Memorial Gym, including an 8-7 mark in SEC games.
• While Vanderbilt won last year’s meeting in Bud Walton Arena, Arkansas has won 11 of the last 13 games.
• In an SEC scheduling quirk, Arkansas is playing at Vanderbilt for just the fourth time since 2014-15 (12 meetings). Over the last 12 meetings with the Commodores, seven have been at Bud Walton Arena, three have been at Vandy’s Memorial Gym and two have been in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for the SEC Tournament.
• Arkansas opens SEC play with four of its first six on the road.
• Arkansas’ first four SEC opponents (LSU, Missouri, Auburn and Alabama) have each won at least 12 games and won a combined 52-10. That represents the best four-team aggregate win total any team has faced to date.
• To end January and open February, Arkansas will play four-of-six games on the road, including the SEC-Big 12 Challenge at Baylor.
• The Hogs also wrap the 2022-23 regular season by playing two of the last three on the road (at Alabama and at Tennessee before hosting Kentucky in the finale).
Who: No. 15-16 Arkansas Razorbacks (12-4, 1-3 SEC) at Vanderbilt Commodores (8-8, 1-20 SEC)
What: Arkansas has won 11 of the last 13 meetings with Vanderbilt.
When: Saturday, Jan. 14, 1 p.m.
Where: Ingram Court at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn.
How to Watch: ESPNU and fuboTV (Kevin Fitzgerald and Carolyn Peck).
• Listen Online: HitThatLine.com
• On the 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).
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
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