SDS’ Connor O’Gara doesn’t think Les Miles survives the allegations from his days and LSU and it will drag down Jeff Long for not knowing about it.
Hogs back in Top 10 for first time since 1995 season
Before this week, the last time Arkansas basketball was in the Top 10 in national polls they played for the national championship at the end.
Nobody’s ready to go out on that prediction this year, but it really wouldn’t be THAT surprising.
Which is how far Eric Musselman has taken this program in two years totally fouled up with covid 19, new transfer rules and all that’s gone one.
Arkansas will be the No. 2 seed at the SEC Tournament this week in Nashville (Tenn.) and are in the mix for a potential 2-seed at the upcoming NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis.
The Hogs are sitting at 21-5 overall on the season (13-4 in the SEC).
Tipoff for that game will be approximately 6 p.m. and you can hear the game here or on ESPN Arkansas’ radio stations or watch on the SEC Network.
Murphy on ‘veteran presence’ Moody has staying within offense
Tom Murphy of the Democrat-Gazette talked on ESPN Arkansas on Monday morning about Moses Moody adapting to flow of the game.
Swofford on Mascot Media broadcasting high school playoffs
With the playoffs coming to a close, after last year’s covid issues Mascot Media is working to get all the games streaming for fans.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – On to Nashville
Tye & Clay on the win over A&M, baseball staying undefeated, best grills to buy and more!
Because Van Horn plans for May in February, Hogs play in June
Arkansas is on a roll with 10 straight wins to start this season and don’t fall for any of the negative nannies saying it’s not against SEC teams.
What it does show is Dave Van Horn and how he works his program.
“It’s not like we just sat here and played a bunch of mid-majors and got after ’em,” he said after Sunday’s 6-0 win over Murray State that capped a weekend series where the Hogs trailed in the first three games until late. “We had to fight for wins.”
Not Sunday. On the third day of a weekend series, it usually gets interesting because pitching gets deep into the roster.
That’s going to usually work in Arkansas’ favor because of how Van Horn has put this team together.
And he works his ways combining praise and being able to get their attention when that’s the best course of action.
“You look at what’s going on around the country, mid-majors are beating the big schools all the time,” Van Horn said Sunday. “To beat who we’ve beaten, I’m real proud of the guys — I told ’em that — for showing up every day and getting after it.”
To be honest, about the only thing Van Horn hasn’t gotten is a national title. If he had a pile of those, the Razorbacks’ baseball program would be along the lines of Alabama in football.
Oh, don’t think we’re saying the Hogs are going to run the table the rest of the season. You can’t compare football and baseball by the number of losses.
Nobody does that in college baseball and in a sport where there is a legitimate way to win a championship without anybody’s opinion mattering, Van Horn consistently has the Hogs in the mix.
He knows he doesn’t have to win every game … but he wants to and you get the idea this team does, too, and it’s what he likes about it.
Van Horn has blended a roster in a year filled with covid distractions, uncertainty and more changes than he wants to deal with, he has somehow made it work to his advantage.
The guess here is we’re going to see a year with some really, really good baseball being played across the college baseball landscape at the highest levels.
A lot of players that would be trying to climb their way out of the minor leagues are playing another year at the collegiate level. Arkansas has a couple of those guys like Casey Opitz, who would have been gone after last season in a normal year.
Van Horn also brought in transfers from other programs that is starting to pay off. Lael Lockhart was the Friday starter at Houston last year and his getting five solid innings to start things Sunday was big.
“Lael did a good job,” Van Horn said later. “He had a couple innings where he cruised pretty fast. But he also had a couple where he had to fight a little bit. He made a couple of mistakes on pitches when he was ahead in the count and gave up some hits that maybe shouldn’t have happened or if they were gonna happen they needed to be later in the count after he threw maybe a chase pitch or two.”
And he made it through without Van Horn having to stroll to the mound to take him out. He let him figure out how to get out of a couple of jams.
“He knows what he did,” Van Horn said. “What he did was work out of it. He did a tremendous job again working out of a couple of small jams.
“The fifth inning was getting a little bit dicey there but he got a strikeout that got us in the dugout and finished up his day.”
It has appeared finding a Sunday starter was the last piece of the pitching rotation that has Peyton Pallette starting on Friday, then Caleb Bolden on Saturday.
Lockhart may be the leader just less than two weeks away from the SEC opener against Alabama.
That’s always been the most critical day of the season. It was Norm DeBriyn that explained one time Sunday was when you could either sweep a team, avoid getting swept, win or lose a weekend series.
It adds up by the time you get to May.
Which is what Van Horn starts thinking about before Valentine’s Day every year and it’s why the Hogs are usually still playing in June.
Razorbacks stay perfect with Sunday shutout win
10-0.
No. 1 Arkansas completed the series sweep against Murray State on Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium, shutting out the Racers, 6-0, to continue a perfect start to the 2021 season.
The Razorbacks are undefeated through their first 10 games of the season for the second time in the Dave Van Horn era (2003) and for only the third time in program history (1996).
The Hogs have won 14 straight games dating back to the final four contests of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Arkansas won a program-record 18 games in a row to begin the 1996 campaign.
Starter Lael Lockhart set the tone early for the Hogs. The lefty struck out two in the top of the first and never looked back, finishing his day with six strikeouts in five scoreless innings of work.
The graduate transfer from Houston allowed five hits and walked only one in the outing. He now owns a 2.77 ERA in 13 innings this season and has racked up 19 strikeouts along the way.
Lockhart’s dominance on the mound was backed by the Razorback bats from the get-go. Right fielder Brady Slavens drove in a run on his sacrifice fly to right in the bottom of the first, giving Arkansas an early lead.
One run was ultimately all the Hogs needed, but there were plenty more to come.
Third baseman Jacob Nesbit returned to the starting lineup and made his presence felt immediately. The Coppell, Texas, native launched a three-run homer to left in the fourth to put the Razorbacks ahead by four.
Two more runs came across in the bottom of the fifth on sac flies from first baseman Cullen Smith and shortstop Jalen Battles. Lockhart’s day was done after five as the bullpen took over the game with a 6-0 lead.
It was pure filth from Ryan Costeiu, Evan Gray, Kevin Kopps and Zack Morris, who combined to close out the final four innings of the game.
Together, the foursome silenced Murray State and allowed only one hit while striking out five.
Offensively, second baseman Robert Moore continued to rake. The preseason All-American notched his fifth multi-hit game of the season and is now slashing .375/.458/.625 on the year.
Arkansas hits the road next weekend, heading to Ruston, La., for three games against Louisiana Tech. Game one of the series gets started at 6 p.m. Friday
Van Horn pleased team stays unbeaten with series sweep
Arkansas shut out Murray State on Sunday evening, 6-0, to finish a sweep and stay undefeated, which Dave Van Horn likes considering it’s been against good teams.
Lockhart on solid five innings shutting out Murray State
Hogs’ pitcher Lael Lockhart (5 innings, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk, 0 runs) on his performance in sweep-clinching 6-0 win over Racers.
Nesbit makes first hit of season big one with three-run homer
Hogs’ Jacob Nesbit talked with the media about his home run in the fourth that broke open a 6-0 win in the final part of a sweep over Murray State.
Moody’s defense (plus 28 points) leads Hogs win over Texas A&M
For the second straight game, Moses Moody tied his season high with 28 points.
However, it was his blocked shot on a Texas A&M dunk attempt with the game tied and 1:49 left to play that led Arkansas to an 87-80 victory over Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena.
The win closes the regular season for both programs and the Razorbacks improve to 21-5 overall, 13-4 in the SEC.
The win was the 11th in a row in SEC play for the Razorbacks, the best streak in the SEC this season and ties the 1993-94 national championship team for most consecutive league wins. The 1994-95 team also won its final 11 SEC games that season. Texas A&M fell to 8-9 overall, 2-8 in the SEC.
Moody made a career-high five 3-pointers (5-of-8) with two assists, two steals and the crucial block.
Graduate senior Jalen Tate and freshman Davonte Davis also made key plays down the stretch to lead to the win.
Down two (71-69) with 4:58 left, Arkansas outscored the Aggies 18-9 down the stretch.
However, Texas A&M was up one, 76-74, with two minutes left. Justin Smith got an offensive rebound and put-back to tie the game. On the ensuing possession, Moody had his blocked shot.
Then Arkansas, on an apparent old-fashion 3-point opportunity, had a call reversed after review changing a block to a charge to give the Aggies the ball. Savion Flagg capitalized with a put-back to give his team the lead, 78-76, with 1:13 left.
Undaunted, Moody drained a 3-pointer to put his team up one, 79-78, a lead the Hogs would not relinquish.
Texas A&M called a timeout once crossing half-court with 48 ticks left. On the inbounds play. Davis tipped the pass.
Tate corralled the loose ball and tipped the ball back to Davis. Davis then threw the ball ahead for a Justin Smith dunk and a 3-point lead.
A&M had a good look at 3-pointer in the right corner but missed. JD Notae came down with the rebound, was fouled and he sank both free throws for a five-point cushion.
Emanuel Miller was fouled with 14 seconds left and he made both free throws. Notae was once again fouled and made both to put the Hogs back up by five. Davis then sealed the game with a steal and a dunk.
Tate finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Davis had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. Smith, who played all 40 minutes, added 11 points.
Miller and Quentin Jackson each scored 23 points for the Aggies with Miller adding 10 rebounds.
Arkansas will be the #2 seed at next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. The Razorbacks receive a double-bye and will not play until the quarterfinal round on Friday at 6 pm.
