Razorbacks Return Home For SEC/Big 12 Challenge

December 2, 2016

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Off to its best start under head coach Jimmy Dykes, the University of Arkansas women’s basketball team returns home for an SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup with Texas Tech on Saturday in Bud Walton Arena. Tip time is scheduled for 3 p.m. on the SEC Network.

Arkansas (7-0) remained undefeated with a thrilling 57-50 win over Tulsa in their first true road game of the season on Wednesday night. Trailing 48-40 with 7:08 left, the Razorbacks held the Golden Hurricane without a made field goal for seven-plus minutes, as they scored 17 straight points as part of a 17-2 run to end the game.

Jessica Jackson led all scorers with a season-high 22 points and also pulled down a season-high nine rebounds, while Bailey Zimmerman finished with a career-high 11 points. Jackson has scored in double figures in every game this season, including two 20-point games. Defensively, Arkansas held Tulsa to season lows in field-goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage and scoring.

Texas Tech is the third different opponent that Arkansas has faced in the three years of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Arkansas defeated Oklahoma in North Little Rock during the 2014-15 season and fell to No. 5 Texas in Oklahoma City this past season.

The Lady Raiders, picked to finish tied for seventh in the Big 12, are off to a 4-2 start, with their only losses coming on the road against Texas A&M and No. 21 Miami. They most recently defeated Prairie View A&M 85-43 on Tuesday night.

GAME NOTES | LISTEN LIVE

The Opponent
Arkansas will face Texas Tech for the 27th time in school history. Arkansas leads the all-time series 17-9 and has won all 10 games played in Fayetteville. The teams last met during the 2008-09 season, with Texas Tech winning 75-60. The teams last met in Fayetteville during the 2007-08 season, with Arkansas winning 80-57.

Texas Tech has played in 20 NCAA Tournament, most recently in 2013, and has advanced to 11 Sweet 16s, four Elite Eights, one Final Four (1993) and one national title (1993). The Lady Raiders went 13-18 overall and 3-15 in league play to finish ninth in the Big 12 regular-season standings this past season.

Texas Tech has home wins over North Dakota, New Mexico and Prairie View A&M, a neutral-site win over Fordham and road losses to Texas A&M and No. 21 Miami this season.

The Lady Raiders have three players averaging double figures, led by Recee Caldwell, a transfer from UCLA, who averages 18.0 points per game. Ariella Guirantes (15.0 points/game), who earned Big 12 Freshman of the Week honors earlier this season, and Jada Terry (14.5 points/game), a transfer from Texas A&M, are also averaging double figures.

Notable
• Arkansas is 23-10 in home games under head coach Jimmy Dykes. That mark includes a 4-0 record this season and a 13-4 record in nonconference home games.
• Arkansas is 1-1 all-time in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge that began in the 2014-15 season, defeating Oklahoma in 2014 (North Little Rock) and falling to Texas in 2015 (Oklahoma City).
• Arkansas is 87-69 all-time against Big 12 opponents, including 49-17 in games played in Fayetteville. Texas Tech is the second-most played Big 12 opponent behind Baylor (28 games).
• Arkansas is one of four remaining undefeated teams in the SEC and one of 26 remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division I. The other undefeated SEC teams are Mississippi State (7-0), Alabama (5-0) and South Carolina (5-0).
• Arkansas has used the same starting five for each of the first seven games: Malica Monk, Jailyn Mason, Jessica Jackson, Bailey Zimmerman and Alecia Cooley.
• Jessica Jackson has scored in double figures in each of the first seven games this season. She is averaging a team-best 16.7 points per game, which also ranks eighth in the SEC.
• Jessica Jackson has scored in double figures in the first half three times this year, including two games with 10 points in the first quarter (Stetson and Tulsa).
• Jessica Jackson scored a season-high 22 points in the 57-50 win at Tulsa. It was her second 20-point game of the season and her 22nd career 20-point game.
• Bailey Zimmerman scored a career-high 11 points at Tulsa, her first career game in double figures. Her previous career high was nine points.
• Arkansas ranks fourth in the SEC and 23rd nationally in field-goal percentage (47.3 percent) and second in the SEC and 32nd nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (37.8 percent).
• Arkansas is shooting 49.0 percent (48-of-98) in the fourth quarter through the first seven games and holding opponents 43.1 percent (44-of-102), while also outrebounding opponents 49-30 in the period.
• Arkansas is off to 7-0 start for the first time under head coach Jimmy Dykes and the first time since the 2013-14 season, when the Razorbacks won each of its first 13 games, completing a 13-0 nonconference in the regular season.

Quotable – From Jimmy Dykes about Texas Tech
“They have size. They have scoring ability. Recee Caldwell leads the Big 12 in scoring right now with 18 points a game. Their post player in the inside, Jada Terry, averages 14 points and seven rebounds and they have maybe the best freshman in the Big 12 right now, Ariella Guirantes, who averages 15 points as well. We will absolutely have to play our best. We have to do a good job rebounding the ball because their size could get to us if we don’t.”

“We have to have a consistent scoring effort in all four quarters. We can’t have scoring lapses like we did at Tulsa. Texas Tech is too good and they will make you pay. We have to have consistent offense and our defense is going to have to be really good.”

Looking Ahead
Arkansas hosts Butler on Wednesday, Dec. 7 and travels to Missouri State on Sunday, Dec. 11, before wrapping up nonconference play with three straight home games against Northwestern State (Dec. 18), Oral Roberts (Dec. 21) and Houston Baptist (Dec. 28).

Arkansas begins SEC play on the road against Ole Miss on New Year’s Day.

Tickets are just $5 for adults and $3 for youth 17 and under. To order tickets for the 2016-17 season, click here or call the Razorback Ticket Center at 800-982-HOGS (4647) or 479-575-5151. Fans can email the Razorback Ticket Center at raztk@uark.edu.

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