Preview – Women’s Basketball Ready for West Palm Beach Classic

kylie magar December 19, 2023

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas women’s basketball team (9-3) is in the Sunshine State for the third time in less than one month, as the Hogs will participate in the West Palm Beach Classic at Massimino Court at Keiser University. Arkansas will play Illinois on Wednesday, Dec. 20 and UIC on Thursday, Dec. 21, both at 10 a.m. CT. Coverage of both games will be streamed on FloHoops.

GAME INFORMATION

Dates: Wednesday, Dec. 20 and Thursday, Dec. 21
Time: 10 a.m. CT (for both)
Opponents: Illinois (Wednesday) and UIC (Thursday)
Location: Massimino Court at Keiser University
Tournament Central: HERE
Listen: Razorback Sports Network from Learfield
Watch: FloHoops
Arkansas Game Notes
Illinois and UIC Game Notes will be uploaded HERE
Live Stats vs. Illinois
Live Stats vs. UIC

STORYLINES

The Hogs are 9-3 through 12 non-conference games with three left to play before SEC season
Arkansas is making its way to Florida for the third time in less than a month, as the Hogs will play in the West Palm Beach Classic to play Illinois and UIC
The Hogs are coming off defeating Samford, 68-54, at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock to elevate its record played at Simmons Bank to 10-5, 8-1 in regular season games
In Arkansas’ last tournament at the Elevance Health Fort Myers Tip-Off, the Hogs went 1-1, while Makayla Daniels earned a spot on the All-Tournament team
Freshman Taliah Scott has led the SEC in scoring since the first game of the season, as she averages 23.2 points per game and is the only player in the league to average 20.0+ points per game. Her 278 total points just trails Caitlin Clark, and she is sixth in the country in points per game. Scott is also leading the country in free throw attempts (82) and is second in free throw makes (66)
Saylor Poffenbarger is still one of the top rebounders in the country, leading the league with 9.7 defensive rebounds/game and 11.8 rebounds per game, which is second and fifth, respectively in the NCAA
Poffenbarger broke the school record for individual game rebounds with 23 against Florida State. Those 23 boards is the most pulled down by an NCAA DI men’s or women’s player this season
Samara Spencer leads the team with 41 assists. Her 291 career assists is No. 15 on the career list
Makayla Daniels leads the team with 24 steals and is now No. 6 on the all-time steals list with 216
Maryam Dauda has a team’s most 21 blocks
Daniels is the highest scoring point guard in school history with 1,604 points, which is the seventh most in school history, while holding a program’s most starts (134) and most games played (134). Daniels was selected on the All-SEC Preseason Second Team, as chosen by the league’s coaches

SCOUTING TOURNAMENT FIELD

ILLINOIS

Illinois is 5-4 on the season, 0-1 in Big Ten play
The Fighting Illini were picked to finish fifth in the 2023-24 Coaches Big Ten Preseason Poll after a memorable 22-10, 11-7 in Big Ten last year. Illinois made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003 as a No. 11 seed, dropping to Mississippi State, 70-56, in the play-in round
Makira Cook was selected on the Coaches and Media Preseason Team after leading the Fighting Illini with 18.3 points per game and 125 assists
This season, Genesis Bryant leads Illinois with 15.3 points per game, 30 total assists and 15 total steals
Kendall Bostic paces the team on the boards with 8.9 per game
Brynn Shoup-Hill has a team’s most 10 blocks
Shauna Green helped the Fighting Illini turnaround from a 7-win team in 2021-22 to a 22-win, NCAA Tournament team in just one season. She was one of 10 WBCA NCAA DI National Coach of the Year finalists

UIC

UIC has started the season 6-3, going into West Palm after defeating Chicago State, 74-46
The Flames were picked to finish sixth in the Missouri Valley after ending the season 19-17, 9-11 in the MVC. UIC played in the WBI, beating Northern Illinois, 71-56, but dropping its games to New Mexico State, 51-41, and FIU, 68-65
Jaida McCloud earned a spot on the Preseason All-MVC Second Team. Last season, she logged 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game
This season, Dais’ja Trotter paced the Flames with 13.6 points per game
Off the glass, McCloud leads the way with 6.8 rebounds per game and six total blocks
Sanda Frau-Garcia has logged 46 assists and Keimari Rimmer has tallied 20 steals, which both lead the team
Ashleen Bracey is in her second season at the helm of the Flames after coming off her first year guiding UIC to a 19-win season and a postseason appearance in the WBI. She also tied for the second-most wins by a head coach in school history

HISTORY AGAINST TOURNAMENT FIELD

ILLINOIS

Illinois leads in the all-time series, 2-0
The two teams faced off in 1996 and 1997, both games in Champaign. In the last matchup vs. the Fighting Illini in 1997, Arkansas lost, 100-81

UIC

Thursday’s game will mark the first of the series

LAST TIME OUT

Arkansas defeated Samford, 68-54 at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock, and the team was led by Spencer, who tied a season-high 20 points off 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. She also added five rebounds and four assists and was +17
Daniels registered 14 points behind three 3-pointers. She added three boards, two assists and three steals
Dauda is coming off a great game where she had 11 points off a perfect 6-of-6 showing from the line with nine rebounds and three blocks with playing a career-high 37 minutes
Poffenbarger logged her 17th career double-digit rebounding game with 13 boards and Scott logged nine points, two assists and one block
Arkansas outscored Samford in the paint, 28-12, while its bench contributed 12 points and limited the Bulldogs’ bench to zero. Carly Keats had seven of those bench points, shooting 3-of-6 from the field

UPCOMING

Arkansas will take some time off for the holiday break and will be back at Bud Walton Arena on Sunday, Dec. 31 to play Incarnate Word for a 1 p.m. tipoff. Coverage of that game will be streamed 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.