Tag: Mike Neighbors

Arkansas zaps Kent State to start season 4-0

Arkansas basketball is a perfect 4-0 to start the season.

Samara Spencer had 22 points and Erynn Barnum added 20 to lift Arkansas to an 80-59 win over Kent State on Thursday.

With the victory, the Razorbacks have begun the season 4-0 for the first time since 2019.

Arkansas never had real trouble against Kent State, leading for 38 of the game’s 40 minutes. A 13-2 run to start the second quarter gave the Razorbacks an 18-point lead and finished things early.

Barnum has scored 20 points in back-to-back games after she netted a career high against Tulsa. Spencer’s 20-point game is the fourth of her career.

Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors picked up the 100th win of his career, making him the fourth Razorbacks women’s basketball coach to reach that threshold.

The Hogs are back in action Sunday at Little Rock.

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Arkansas limits UCA to 22% shooting in easy basketball matinee

Arkansas had little trouble with Central Arkansas on Friday morning.

Two in-state opponents played, two in-state opponents defeated.

The Arkansas women’s basketball team beat Central Arkansas in its home opener Friday from Bud Walton Arena, 72-34, on Elementary Day. The victory helped the Razorbacks to a 2-0 start after they knocked off Arkansas-Pine Bluff on the road to start the season earlier in the week.

The game against UCA was never terribly close. The Bears shot 22% from the field, 11% from 3-point range and 42% from the free-throw line. No one scored in double figures.

Arkansas had three players reach double-digits. Erynn Barnum led the team with 19 points and nine rebounds. Makayla Daniels added 14 points and Maryam Dauda had 10 off the bench.

Coach Mike Neighbors’ team has a quick turnaround. Tulsa visits Fayetteville on Monday night.

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Arkansas picks up votes in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll in preseason

Arkansas was ranked just outside the Top 25 in the preseason coaches poll.

Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors has the Razorbacks on the rise in 2022-23.

The Arkansas women’s basketball team found itself just outside the Top 25, picking up votes, anyway, in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll ahead of the regular season on Wednesday.

Only five SEC teams picked up more points than Arkansas in the voting. South Carolina is the No. 1 team in the country. Tennessee was No. 4 and LSU was No. 14. Just ahead of Arkansas but outside of the official rankings, Texas A&M was de facto No. 27, Kentucky was de facto No. 33 and the Razorbacks were 40th.

The SEC’s coaches also released their preseason prediction poll Wednesday, as well. A&M and Kentucky were actually picked well below Arkansas at 10th and 11th. The Hogs checked in at No. 5 behind the three ranked teams and Alabama in fourth.

Arkansas opens its season November 7 in Pine Bluff against UAPB.

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Arkansas picked to finish fourth in preseason SEC poll

Arkansas’ preseason spot of No. 4 is the team’s highest since 1995-96.

It’s been almost three decades since the expectations for the Arkansas women’s basketball team were as high as they are in 2022-23.

The last time the Razorbacks to finish fourth-or-better in the SEC was 1995-96. On Tuesday, the SEC media selected Arkansas to be fourth in this year’s preseason poll.

Coach Mike Neighbors’ team is coming off an 18-13 (7-9) season in which the Razorbacks finished tied for eighth in the SEC. They made the NCAA Tournment as a No. 10 seed but lost to Utah in the first round.

Arkansas returns a bulk of its rotation from last season, only having lost guards Amber Ramirez and Sasha Goforth, both starters. Ramirez exhausted her eligibility while Goforth, a Fayetteville native, retired because of health issues.

Guards Makayla Daniels and Samara Spencer will head the offense as the two returning starters who averaged double figures in scoring last year.

See the entire preseason 14 below.

Look: Former Razorback assistant drops 30 points, earns WNBA All-Star Game MVP

Former Arkansas graduate assistant Kelsey Plum had a WNBA All-Star game performance to remember on Sunday.

A former Razorback assistant had the WNBA All-Star performance of a lifetime on Sunday.

[autotag]Kelsey Plum[/autotag], who served as a graduate assistant under head coach [autotag]Mike Neighbors[/autotag] from 2020-22, scored 30 points in Sunday’s WNBA All-Star Game for Team Wilson in their 134-112 win over Team Stewart at Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Ill, a performance that earned her the Most Valuable Player award.

Plum, who currently plays for the Las Vegas Aces, is having the best season of her career to this point, as she averages 20 points and six assists in 34 minutes per game.

Arkansas Women’s Basketball won at least 18 games per season while Plum served as a graduate assistant on Neighbors’ staff, making the NCAA Tournament both times.

Here is a look at the best images from Plum’s MVP performance:

 

SEC basketball scheduled released for Arkansas

A trip back to the NCAA Tournament appears on the table for Arkansas basketball.

Mike Neighbors has Arkansas basketball on the rise.

The Razorbacks may have fallen in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year as No. 7 seed, but Arkansas will return a roster filled with McDonald’s All-Americans and a transfer from Connecticut who is likely to slot right into the lineup.

Now, as of Wednesday, the Razorbacks have any idea of their path back to the NCAA Tournament as the SEC released the league opponent schedule for women’s basketball.

Arkansas will get a pair of games against Missouri, LSU and Vanderbilt, plus travel to Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State and South Carolina. The Hogs will host Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M at Bud Walton Arena.

Arkansas finished last season tied for eighth in the SEC with a 7-9 league record. Dates and times for the games will be announced later. The Razorbacks will also play Northern Arizona, Clemson and Kansas State during nonconference in November.

Arkansas basketball loses another player to transfer portal

Another Arkansas basketball player has hit the transfer portal after the team’s NCAA Tournament run.

[autotag]Mike Neighbors[/autotag] and the Arkansas women’s basketball team aren’t losing much heading in 2022-23 and the head coach had established fairly well a rotation by the time the Razorbacks made the NCAA Tournament.

Elauna Eaton was part of it, but after committing to the Hogs coming out of Nettleton in northeast Arkansas in the Class of 2020, the one-time state High School Player of the Year is moving on.

Eaton entered the transfer portal over the weekend after playing in 28 games, averaging 3.5 points in 14 minutes per in her redshirt freshman season. She missed her first year on campus because of an ACL injury.

She was the No. 41 player in the country out of Nettleton and picked Arkansas over Ole Miss, LSU, North Carolina State and USC.

The only player Arkansas was guaranteed to lose off its NCAA Tournament team of 2021-22 is guard Amber Ramirez, who led the team in scoring with 15.4 per game. Now, Eaton joins junior center Destinee Oberg in the transfer portal.

Arkansas basketball vs. Utah NCAA Tournament: How to watch, stream, listen

The Arkansas women’s basketball team is set for its first round game in the NCAA Tournament against Utah on Friday. The Razorbacks are the 10-seed in the Spokane Region where they’ll tip against 7th-seeded Utes at 4:30 p.m. CT. The trip to the NCAA …

The Arkansas women’s basketball team is set for its first round game in the NCAA Tournament against Utah on Friday.

The Razorbacks are the 10-seed in the Spokane Region where they’ll tip against 7th-seeded Utes at 4:30 p.m. CT. The trip to the NCAA Tournament is the second straight for Arkansas, which fell in the first round last year.

Arkansas went 18-13 in coach Mike Neighbors’ fifth season. Utah went to the PAC 12 Championship game and went 20-11, falling in the title game to No. 1-seed Stanford.

The winner of the game will play the winner of 2-seed Texas and 15-seed Fairfield.

You can find out complete information on how to watch, who to watch and where to watch the Hogs and Utes below.

Arkansas women’s basketball a 10-seed, will play Utah in NCAA Tournament

Arkansas and Utah are set to meet in a 7-10 matchup in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.

Coach Mike Neighbors and the Arkansas women’s basketball team are back in the NCAA Tournament.

The Razorbacks are the 10-seed in the Spokane where their opponent will be 7-seed Utah. The game is set for Friday in Austin, Texas.

Arkansas stumbled a bit down the stretch, losing four of its last five regular-season games, but beat Mississippi State in the finale and bubble team Missouri in the 8/9 game of the SEC Tournament.

Utah finished sixth in the PAC 12 but made the tournament championship game where the Utes fell to No. 1-seed Stanford.

The Hogs are led by sixth-year senior Amber Ramirez and SEC Freshman of the Year Samara Spencer. Ramirez led the team with 15.1 points per game this year, while Spencer averaged 12 and doled out a team-high 93 assists.

Arkansas snaps SEC skid, beats Missouri

Arkansas looked more like the NCAA Tournament it is supposed to be with a win over Missouri.

The Arkansas women’s basketball team put a stop to its 0-2 start in SEC play on Sunday with an 83-73 win over Missouri.

Rylee Langerman had a career high 17 points off the bench as the Razorbacks finished with five players in double figures scoring. Amber Ramirez led the team with 21, going 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.

The Tigers were a dangerous opponent entering the game, having won five straight, including a victory of over then No. 1 South Carolina a couple weeks ago. But Arkansas was never in serious trouble. The Hogs led by as many as 20 points in the second half.

It was a step in the right direction for a team that has visions of an NCAA Tournament berth. But a loss to Vanderbilt, a team picked 14th in the 14-team SEC, before the Missouri game had put a dent into the hopes.

“We took our punches. We learned some valuable, valuable lessons. I know I did as a coach,” Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said. “I know they did individually. We got a few things fixed, not everything. We’ve still got a lot more work to do, but I’ve got to feel like that was one of our best efforts of the season.”

Arkansas has a week off before South Carolina visits Bud Walton Arena on Thursday.