Preview – Arkansas Travels to Little Rock for In-State Showdown

kylie magar November 19, 2022

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas women’s basketball team (4-0) is set to wrap up its stint of three games in seven days with a trip to Little Rock (1-1) on Sunday afternoon. Arkansas is looking to remain perfect against in-state schools since the ban of playing other schools in Arkansas was lifted prior to the 2020-21 season. Tipoff from Joe Foley Court at the Jack Stephens Center is set for 1 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Sunday, Nov. 20
Time: 1 p.m.
Opponent: Little Rock
Location: Jack Stephens Center
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Razorback Sports Network from Learfield
Tickets: Click HERE
Arkansas Game Notes
Little Rock Game Notes
Live Stats

STORYLINES

Arkansas has started the season 4-0. The last time that happened was in 2019 when the team eventually began the year 5-0
The team will look to improve its record against in-state schools to 3-0 this season and 10-0 since the ban was lifted prior to the 2020-21 season
A win on Sunday would lead Arkansas to begin the season 5-0, marking the fourth time in the last 10 years a Razorback team has been able to do so
Playing on the road at the Jack Stephens Center will be another tough test for the Razorbacks, as Little Rock has only suffered one loss at home against an in-state opponents in the Jack
The Razorbacks won quite convincingly against Kent State, 80-59, on Thursday to wrap up their home stretch 3-0
The win marked head coach Mike Neighbors’ 100th win at Arkansas. He becomes the fourth coach in program history to surpass 100 wins
Sunday’s game at Little Rock features a matchup against two Arkansas native head coaches. Neighbors is now coming up on 200 career wins as a collegiate coach and Foley, one of the winningest coaches in collegiate basketball history, had the court at the Jack Stephens Center named after him last week, becoming the sixth women’s basketball coach to have a court named in their honor
After four games, Erynn Barnum is leading Arkansas with 20.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. She is the second leading scorer in the SEC and eighth in rebounds. Her .638 field goal percentage is also fifth in the league
Samara Spencer paces the team with 18 assists and Makayla Daniels has the most steals on the team with nine
The team leads the SEC in least turnovers committed in a game (10.5) and is third in rebounding. Arkansas also boasts the best defensive rebound percentage in the league (.786)
With Neighbors in charge, the Hogs are coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (should be back-to-back-to-back had the COVID-19 pandemic have not cancelled the 2020 tournament) and four consecutive winning seasons. Neighbors also has the most wins of any collegiate coach with 10 years of experience
The Razorbacks were projected to finish fourth in the SEC Preseason Media Poll and tied for fifth in the SEC Preseason Coaches Poll. Daniels represents Arkansas on the Preseason Second Team (Coaches poll)
Mike Neighbors is coming into Sunday’s game with 100 wins on The Hill and is just two more victories away from 200 career wins as a collegiate coach

SCOUTING LITTLE ROCK

Little Rock has started the year 1-1 following a 60-56 opening-game win against UAPB and a 58-40 loss in what was a defensive slugfest against Ole Miss
Head coach Foley has not been shy of scheduling SEC opponents with five on their non-conference schedule (Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas A&M)
After two games, Tia Harvey paces the team with 12.5 points per game. Faith Lee is also averaging double digits with 11.0 PPG
Jaiyah Smith pulls down 9.5 rebounds per game and has 13 assists across two games. She was named OVC Newcomer of the Week
New to the Ohio Valley Conference this season, Little Rock was projected to finish third in the 10-team league after picking up four first-place votes and 129 points
Last season, Little Rock finished their final year in the Sun Belt with a 17-10 record, which included SEC wins over Vanderbilt (56-40) and Auburn (57-49). The Trojans made it to the SBC Semifinals before losing to Troy, 62-59
Foley is one of the winningest coaches in NCAA women’s basketball history. He has an 834-296 all-time coaching record in 36 seasons and 378-215 mark at Little Rock. He has the third most collegiate wins among active coaches, just trailing Tara VanDerveer (Stanford) and Geno Auriemma (UConn)
Coach Foley had the court at the Jack Stephens Center named after him during the pregame ceremony of the Ole Miss game last week. Foley became the sixth women’s basketball coach to have the court named after them. He joins Pat Summit (Tennessee), Gary Blair (Texas A&M), Kay Yow (NC State), Doug Bruno (DePaul) and C. Vivian Stringer (Rutgers)

HISTORY AGAINST THE TROJANS

Arkansas is 4-0 against Little Rock in the all-time series
These two teams met on Dec. 9, 1977 in Little Rock, as the Razorbacks won 74-54
The Razorbacks have gone 3-0 since the ban of playing other Arkansas teams was lifted with the last win being a 73-39 rout. Arkansas saw four players in double-digits in that game with Sasha Goforth putting up a solid stat line of 14 points and eight rebounds

LAST TIME OUT

Arkansas delivered a solid win over Kent State, 80-59, to close out the Razorbacks’ three-game homestretch
That win signified Neighbors’ 100th win at Arkansas
Two players found their way with 20+ points. Spencer tied her career-high of 22 points, while also delivering seven rebounds and seven assists. Barnum also had 20 points with six rebounds and a block
Chrissy Carr went 4-of-7 from the field to register 12 points and four rebounds
Saylor Poffenbarger led the team in efficiency with +29. Three players were at 20+ in +/- with Spencer (25) and Barnum (21) up there as well
The team tallied 19 assists, which was a season high, and outrebounded its opponent for the fourth straight game, doing so 45-35

UPCOMING

Arkansas will travel to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands to play in the Paradise Jam next week. The Razorbacks will play Northern Arizona (Nov. 24), Clemson (Nov. 25) and Kansas State (Nov. 26) with coverage of the tournament being streamed on ESPN3.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about Arkansas Women’s Basketball, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @RazorbackWBB and on Facebook at Facebook.com/RazorbackWBB. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel, “Kickin’ It In The Neighborhood” for an inside look at the Razorback women’s basketball program and check out The Neighborhood podcasts at CoachNeighbors.com.