Preview – Women’s Basketball Hosts Kentucky for We Back Pat Game

kylie magar January 24, 2024

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas women’s basketball team (14-6, 2-3 SEC) is back in Bud Walton Arena for the first time in two weeks, as the Hogs will host Kentucky (9-10, 2-3 SEC) on Thursday night. These two teams squared off in the SEC opener on Jan. 4 and Arkansas is looking for revenge at home. Tipoff is set at 7 p.m. on SECN+ and will serve as the We Back Pat game, which supports a weeklong initiative by the SEC to bring awareness in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

GAME INFORMATION

Date: Thursday, Jan. 25
Time: 7 p.m.
Opponent: Kentucky
Location: Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Promotions: We Back Pat, first 500 fans get a free bag of Stuffed Puffs
Gameday Sponsor: The Graduate Hotels
Watch: SECN+
Listen: Razorback Sports Network from Learfield
Arkansas Game Notes
Kentucky Game Notes
Live Stats

STORYLINES

Arkansas women’s basketball returns back to Bud Walton Arena for the first time in two weeks following two straight road games with a bye in between
The Hogs played in front of a crowd of 12,873 at No. 10/9 LSU, and was defeated by the Tigers, 99-68 in a game where the Hogs never led
Arkansas is looking to get back in the winning column, as the Hogs have commenced SEC play 2-3, which is a three-way tie for seventh
The Hogs will host Kentucky, a squad Arkansas opened the SEC slate with, as Kentucky is one of three home-and-away opponents on Arkansas’ schedule this year with Alabama and Missouri being the other two
Arkansas is looking for revenge on Kentucky, as the Hogs opened league play with a 73-63 loss at Rupp Arena. The Hogs are also looking to get back in the win column in league play
Taliah Scott leads the Hogs in scoring with 22.3 points per game and is the only player in the SEC to average 20.0+ points per game, while also leading the SEC in minutes with 36.3 per game. She is ninth in points per game in the NCAA, but has been out the last four games with a day-to-day back injury
Saylor Poffenbarger is one of the top defensive rebounders in the country and is coming off surpassing 500 career rebounds in just 57 career games. She leads the team and the league in rebounds/game (12.30) and defensive rebounds/game (9.9). Poffenbarger is second in the NCAA in both categories and has pulled down 246 boards in just 20 games this season
Poffenbarger broke the school record for individual game rebounds with 23 against Florida State. She has had four games with 19+ boards this year, which is the only time an Arkansas player has had that many 19+ rebound games in their career
Samara Spencer leads the team with 69 assists. Her 319 career assists is No. 14 on the career list and her 1,193 points is No. 24 on the all-time scoring list at Arkansas
Maryam Dauda has been a big contributor in the post, pacing the team with 49 blocks. Her 10 blocks vs. Alabama broke a 35-year single-game record at Arkansas (prior record held by Robyn Irwin in 1987) and is tied for the second most by a player in the NCAA this season. She also logged the first double-double through blocks and rebounds in school history
Makayla Daniels is an elite defender and leads the team with 36 steals. She is the highest scoring point guard in school history with 1,682 points, which is the seventh most in school history, while holding a program’s most starts and games played records with 142. Daniels was selected on the All-SEC Preseason Second Team, as chosen by the league’s coaches
The Hogs lead the league in 3-pointers per game (9.25), which is 12th in the NCAA, and 3-point attempts per game (30.6), a number that paces the country

SCOUTING KENTUCKY

Kentucky is 9-10 and 2-3 in the SEC, which is tied with Arkansas for seventh in the league
The Wildcats are coming off a 76-71 win over Missouri at home on Sunday
In the SEC Preseason Polls, Kentucky was chosen to finish 13th in the media and 14th in the coaches poll. Kentucky was 12-19, 2-14 in SEC play last season, and as the 14th seed in the SEC Tournament, became the lowest seed to make it to the quarterfinals after upsetting Florida (W, 72-57) and Alabama (W, 71-58) before dropping its game to Tennessee (L, 80-71)
Ajae Petty leads Kentucky with a double-double average, logging 15.5 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, while pacing the Wildcats with 18 blocks
Maddie Scherr leads Kentucky with 58 assists and 25 steals, while also averaging 14.8 points per game
Saniah Tyler has made 36 3-pointers this season to pace the Wildcats
Kyra Elzy is in her fourth season at the helm of Kentucky, accumulating a 58-50 record
A Kentucky native, Elzy was an assistant coach and associate head coach for the Wildcats from 2008-20 before being named the eighth head coach in program history in 2020

HISTORY AGAINST THE WILDCATS

Kentucky leads Arkansas in the all-time series, 27-15
In the last five games played against the Wildcats, Arkansas is 2-3
With games played in Fayetteville in the series, Arkansas is 10-8 against Kentucky
Head coach Mike Neighbors is 3-6 in his head coaching career against the Wildcats
Starting out the game slow with just 14 points in the first half, Arkansas fell at Kentucky 73-63 in the SEC opener at Rupp Arena. Spencer led the Hogs with 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Scott had 11 points (was her last game on the floor since being sidelined with injury) and Carly Keats registered 10 points. Poffenbarger tallied nine points, 15 rebounds and three blocks

LAST TIME OUT

Arkansas lost to No. 10/9 LSU in a game where the Tigers led wire-to-wire, 99-68. The Hogs were down 18-0 to begin the game and could not stop LSU’s hot shooting, in which the Tigers shot just below 50 percent (48.6)
Spencer recorded her fifth 20+ point game of the season with 20 points, five rebounds, a season-high matching seven assists and three steals
Dauda recorded 16 points, four rebounds and four blocks
Daniels logged 13 points, six rebounds and three assists
Surpassing 500 career rebounds in 57 games, Poffenbarger was limited to 15 minutes, logging two boards and three blocks
Keats finished with eight points and four boards, while Karley Johnson finished with a career-high six points
The Hogs made 12 3-pointers, while attempting a program record 47 triples

UPCOMING

Arkansas will hit the road to face Missouri for the first of two times this season on Sunday, Jan. 28. The game will tipoff at 2 p.m. at Mizzou Arena and will be broadcast on SECN+.

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.