Women ready for SEC road opener

ABOUT THE WILDCATS: Matthew Mitchell starts a young lineup, led by sophomore Victoria Dunlap (12.4 ppg, 8.4 rpg) and Amani Franklin (10.6 ppg, 5 rpg). The Cats are strong on the inside, with Elia Roddy averaging 8.8 rpg and the team 44.1 rebounds and a +7.5 margin. Senior Carly Ormerod, a player who has given Arkansas fits in the past is coming off the benchREGIONAL TV AT UK: Sunday’s game will air as a part of Kentucky’s Big Blue Network package. It will also be on Fox Sports Network South. Garry Gupton will provide the play-by-play with Christi Thomas. Carl Nathe will work the sidelines. Check local cable listings for availability of the game.SPEED VS. POWER?: Cursory looks at the team’s respective stats shows strong differences in rebounding and ball handling. Both Arkansas and UK have comparable offensive shooting numbers. On the boards, UK is pulling down 44.1 per game and a +7.5 margin compared to Arkansas’ 38.8 per game and -0.7 indicating a power advantage for the Cats. On the flip side, Arkansas as a 0.9:1 assist-to-turnover ratio, a +5.5 turnover margin and 13.9 assists per game. The Wildcats are in a serious deficit on turnovers with a 0.5:1 A-T and a -1.2 TO margin. Kentucky is only averaging in single digits for assists with 9.6 per game.JONES SHOWS THE POWER DOWN LOW: Whitney Jones tied the UA record for rebounds in a half for SEC play with 11 against LSU. That equals the mark set by Lauren Ervin against Florida in 2007. (FYI — the school record was 14.) Jones finished with a new career high 15 rebounds in the game. For the past two games, Jones is averaging 11.5 rpg.MILLIONTH FAN FOR AUBURN?: In 33 years of women’s basketball at Arkansas, to date, 997,179 fans have attended Razorback games in Fayetteville. Arkansas entered the season with 984,206 total recorded fans (attendance records prior to 1985 are incomplete), and have registered 12,973 so far in 2008-09 for 10 home games. Next Sunday’s game with Auburn should bring the 1,000,000th fan to a Razorback women’s basketball game. There are 2,803 to go.TALE OF TWO GAMES: Arkansas had a lead with LSU into the first half for the first time in years, and the Kentucky Wildcats had Tennessee on the ropes in Knoxville. The second halves, however, saw both games turn. Arkansas suffered a pair of LSU runs to trail by 20 midway through the half on the way to a 20-point loss. The Wildcats held a 35-27 halftime lead which evaporated in the opening minutes of the second half. The teams traded leads into the closing minutes as the Lady Vols eked out a home win by five points.NO, NO, NO: The LSU game was a season low for points scored (42), field goal percentage (25%), points in a half (18) and assists in a game (4) for the year.THE OFFENSIVE DASHBOARD: Two stats stick out in the LSU game, but they have some common indicator for the rest of the season. When the offense produces less than 10 assists, Arkansas is 1-3 on the year, with five of the six losses below 12 assists. Every single digit assist game (at Kansas State, LSU) were losses. Similarly, with less than five made three-pointers the Razorbacks are 1-3.TREY HORRIBLE: Lyndsay Harris has struggled the past two games, going 0-of-7 against LSU in a 1-of-11 evening. At Texas Tech — the previous game, she was treyless to give the freshman a 1-of-14 streak heading to Kentucky.SHE’S NOT ALONE: Take out Brittney Richardson’s 5-of-7 at Texas Tech, and since the turn of the new year Arkansas as a team is 5-of-43. Even with Richardson, the two game total is 12-of-52 for .231.SILENCE OF THE HAMS: Arkansas likes to get on a run, but not this kind. The Razorbacks went scoreless for 4:14 while LSU went from a 29-29 tie on a 12-0 run. After a field goal broke the streak, Arkansas embarked on another 6:11 without scoring to allow an 8-0 run.RAZORBACKS IN CONFERENCE ROAD OPENERS: Arkansas has been extremely unlucky in the first SEC game on the road — a 1-16 mark during the past 17 attempts.