Preview – Women’s Basketball Set for Road Matchup at Missouri

kylie magar January 27, 2024

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas women’s basketball team (15-6, 3-3 SEC) is set to face Missouri (11-9, 2-5 SEC) for the first of two times in the regular season, seventh in the last 25 months, on Sunday afternoon in Columbia, Missouri. Arkansas and Missouri will tipoff at 2 p.m. from Mizzou Arena on SECN+.

GAME INFORMATION

Date: Sunday, Jan. 28
Time: 2 p.m.
Opponent: Missouri
Location: Mizzou Arena (Columbia, Mo.)
Watch: SECN+
Listen: Razorback Sports Network from Learfield
Arkansas Game Notes
Missouri Game Notes
Live Stats

STORYLINES

Arkansas women’s basketball is back on the road after avenging their SEC opening loss to Kentucky by defeating the Wildcats 88-61 on Thursday
The Hogs were limited to eight available players on Thursday, but were able to get a victory behind balanced scoring with all five starters in double digits
Arkansas and Missouri will face off for the first of two times during the regular season, as the Tigers serve as Arkansas’ permanent home-and-away opponent. The Hogs other home-and-away opponents this season are Kentucky and Alabama
The Hogs and Tigers have gone head-to-head 16 times in Mike Neighbors’ seven years as the head coach at Arkansas. Drawing one another in the SEC Tournament each of the past two seasons, Arkansas and Missouri have faced off six times in the past two years
Arkansas has a 21-12 edge over the Tigers in the all-time series as winners in each of the past 10 matchups
This game features the top two 3-point shooting teams in the league, as Arkansas is No. 1 with 9.3 per game and Missouri follows with 8.6 per contest
The Razorbacks are in a three-way tie for sixth in the SEC standings with a 3-3 record
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 five games with a day-to-day back injury
Saylor Poffenbarger is one of the top defensive rebounders in the country and just recently surpassed 500 career rebounds in just 57 career games. She was unavailable for an Arkansas game for the first time in the Kentucky game Thursday. Poffenbarger leads the team and the league in rebounds/game (12.30) and defensive rebounds/game (9.9), which are both second in the NCAA, 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 73 assists. Her 323 career assists is tied for No. 13 on the career list and her 1,206 points is No. 24 on the all-time scoring list
Maryam Dauda has made a big jump this season, pacing the team with 51 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 40 steals. She is the highest scoring point guard in school history with 1,704 points, which is the seventh most in school history, while holding a program’s most starts and games played records with 143. 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, which is 10th in the NCAA, and 3-point attempts per game (30.4), a number that is second in the country, as well as least turnovers committed per game (12.6)

SCOUTING MISSOURI

Missouri enters Sunday’s game with an 11-9 record and a 2-5 mark in SEC play
After two big league wins at Vanderbilt (W, 65-63) and vs. Georgia (W, 69-57), the Tigers are on a two-game losing streak after two close losses, including vs. Texas A&M Thursday (L, 69-67)
In the SEC Preseason Polls, Missouri was picked to finish 11th in both the media and coaches polls. The Tigers finished last season 18-14 and ninth in the league with a 6-10 record. Missouri qualified for the Postseason WNIT, defeating Illinois State in the first round at home (W, 61-51) before losing at Kansas (L, 75-47) in the second round with that Border War matchup
Fifth-year Hayley Frank was picked to the SEC Preseason First Team by the league’s coaches after being named to the First Team in 2022-23 during a season where she paced the team in scoring with 15.4 points per game and 19 total blocks
Frank continues to lead the team in more ways than one, leading Missouri with 17.7 points per game, 6.8 rebounds per game and 12 total blocks. She also has an impressive .923 (60-65) free throw percentage
Mama Dembele is having a fantastic season as the team’s floor general, logging 136 assists through 19 games for a league-leading 7.2 assists per game along with 60 total steals with her 3.2 swipes per game being second in the league
Ashton Judd averages 13.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while freshman Grace Slaughter logs 11.6 points per game
Robin Pingeton is in her 14th season at the helm at Missouri as the second longest tenured coach in the SEC. She is in year No. 29 as a head coach with 571 career wins
At Missouri, Pingeton has led the Tigers to four NCAA Tournament berths and 10 overall postseason appearances

HISTORY AGAINST THE TIGERS

Arkansas holds the 21-12 edge over the Tigers in the all-time series, 14-8 in SEC regular season games as league opponents
The Hogs have won 10 straight against Missouri after previously dropping the prior seven contests against the Tigers from 2016-19
The Hogs are 8-7 in games played in Columbia
Neighbors is 11-4 in his head coaching career against Missouri
Arkansas and Missouri played three times last season with the Hogs winning each of the three matchups. In the first game, which was played in Columbia, Arkansas defeated the Tigers, 77-55. Poffenbarger put up a career-high 24 points at her mother’s alma mater, Spencer pulled down nine defensive boards and Daniels had nine points and five rebounds
The Hogs broke a school record in the second matchup by holding Missouri to just 33 points in the 61-33 home victory. Those 33 points allowed marked the least amount of points Arkansas had ever given up in an SEC game. Daniels had 11 points in that game
Arkansas’ third game of the season against Missouri came at the SEC Tournament in a thrilling game, which saw the Hogs overcome an 11-point deficit late in the third quarter. The Hogs went on to win the SEC Tournament contest, 85-74, thanks to that late 16-0 scoring run. Spencer registered 19 points and four assists, Daniels logged 17 points and Poffenbarger pulled down 11 boards and had five assists

LAST TIME OUT

Arkansas avenged its SEC opening loss at Kentucky by defeating the Wildcats, 88-61 on Thursday with eight available players
Daniels stuffed the statsheet with a game-leading 22 points, six rebounds, a career-high matching seven assists compared to one turnover and four steals, while drawing six fouls
Dauda was big for the Hogs with 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks
In her first career start Karley Johnson registered a career-high 14 points and six rebounds in nearly 36 minutes
Carly Keats played almost the full 40 on the court, delivering 14 points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals
With all five starters in double digits, Spencer logged 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists
Off the bench, Emrie Ellis had five points and two blocks and Jenna Lawrence logged five boards, both playing 14+ minutes
The Hogs forced 21 turnovers and had 24 points off those mistakes. Arkansas also registered 40 points in the paint

UPCOMING

Arkansas will hold a two-game homestand next week, starting with hosting Alabama for the second matchup vs. the Crimson Tide this season. The Hogs and Crimson Tide are set to play on Thursday, Feb. 1 for an 8 p.m. tipoff. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.

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.