Arkansas
Arkansas hopes to make Bud Walton Arena magic vs. No. 2 UCLA
FAYETTEVILLE — You don’t have to look back too far to see that seventh-year Arkansas women’s basketball coach Mike Neighbors has experience taking down juggernauts.
On their home court during the 2020-21 season, the Razorbacks upended No. 3 UConn and No. 4 Baylor.
The victories tripled Arkansas’ all-time wins against top-five teams. Neighbors joined legendary coach Gary Blair as the second coach to lead the Razorbacks to such a win.
Arkansas (7-1) will look to create another memorable upset Sunday at 2 p.m., when it faces No. 2 UCLA in Bud Walton Arena.
“We’ve had some success when highly ranked teams have come into Bud when we get good crowds for them going back to Baylor and UConn,” Neighbors said. “But [UCLA is a] really good team. I think it’s [Coach Cori Close’s] best team.
“If you follow kind of the national landscape, most people have UCLA as a Final Four contender or lock, depending on who you look at.”
The Bruins (6-0) defeated then-No. 6 UConn 78-67 last Friday in the Cayman Islands Classic.
“They took it to UConn down there in the Cayman Islands,” Neighbors said. “If South Carolina hadn’t played a great schedule preseason, I think UCLA would be coming in here No. 1. But South Carolina has gone out and earned it, for sure.”
The Bruins are ripe with talent. All five starters are double-digit scorers and each were rated top-25 prospects in their class out of high school by ESPN.
In the class of 2022, Lauren Betts was the No. 1 recruit, Kiki Rice was No. 2, Gabriela Jaquez was No. 19 and Londynn Jones was No. 22. Graduate guard Charisma Osborne, who is the program’s fourth-highest scorer and a projected high 2024 WNBA Draft pick, was rated the No. 22 player in the class of 2019.
A couple offseason decisions led to the barrage of talent on the Bruins’ roster.
Osborne chose to return for a fifth season despite the fact she would have likely been selected in the first round of the 2023 WNBA Draft. Betts, a 6-7 center, transferred from Stanford, where she averaged just 9.6 minutes as a freshman.
Gabriela Jaquez (16.2 points per game), Betts (15.5), Osborne (15.2), Londynn Jones (13.7) and Rice (13.5) form a dynamic starting lineup. Betts leads the nation with a field goal percentage of 78% this season.
“I know that I sound like a broken record because this is about the fifth [press conference] I’ve mentioned this,” Neighbors said. “But we scheduled that game with UCLA as a home-and-home about a year ago when Charisma Osborne was going to be a top-five pick in the WNBA Draft. And at that point in time, [Lauren] Betts played for Stanford.
“Now Osborne comes back — it gives them a fifth-year kid who’s still going to be a top pick in the WNBA [and a] potential All-American — and Betts transfers from Stanford, which is rare. Most kids don’t ever leave Stanford, but she’s at UCLA.”
The Razorbacks aren’t deprived of talent, either. They are headlined by freshman star Taliah Scott, who is seventh in the nation averaging 23.3 points.
Saylor Poffenbarger set the program single-game rebounding record with 23 against Florida State and is in her second year after transferring from UConn. Maryam Dauda, a 6-4 forward from Bentonville, was the No. 13 player in the class of 2021.
Guards Makayla Daniels and Samara Spencer are the SEC’s No. 3 and 9 active scoring leaders, respectively.
Arkansas is fresh off a road victory over No. 15 Florida State in the ACC-SEC Challenge. It came five days after a poor start against Marquette that paved way for a 16-point loss, the team’s first of the season.
Neighbors said there was “a little pissed off-edness” within his team after the loss and that it “embarrassed them a little bit.” He credited the loss for leading to good preparation for the Florida State game.
The Razorbacks responded with a decisive victory over the Seminoles. They now look to keep momentum rolling.
“I think we’ll play with more confidence,” Neighbors said. “I can’t tell you we’ll play better than that. I’m not sure we can play better than that yet. But I have a lot of confidence that we can play that hard again.”
It will be the second meeting between Arkansas and UCLA.
The Razorbacks defeated the Bruins 90-80 in overtime during the first round of the 1990 NCAA Tournament in Fayetteville. Arkansas eventually made the Elite Eight that season under John Sutherland.
Sunday’s game will be televised on SEC Network+.
Team Comparisons
Points for — UCLA 88.0, Arkansas 75.1,
Points against — UCLA 71.0, Arkansas 75.1,
Rebound margin — UCLA -1.8, Arkansas 75.1,
Turnover margin — UCLA +6.8, Arkansas 75.1,
FG% — UCLA 42.3, Arkansas 75.1,
3PT FG% — UCLA 37.1, Arkansas 75.1,
FT% — UCLA 75.9, Arkansas 75.1,
Probable Starters
UCLA
G Kiki Rice (5-11, So.) —13.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg
G Londynn Jones (5-4, So.) — 13.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg
G Charisma Osborne (5-9, Gr.) — 15.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg
F Gabriela Jaquez (6-0, So.) — 16.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg
C Lauren Betts (6-7, So.) — 15.5 ppg, 8.7 rpg
Arkansas
G Makayla Daniels (5-8, Gr.) — 11.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg
G Samara Spencer (5-7, Jr.) — 11.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg
G Taliah Scott (5-9, Fr.) — 23.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg
G Saylor Poffenbarger (6-2, R-So.) — 10.3 ppg, 11.1 rpg
F Maryam Dauda (6-4, R-So.) — 7.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg
Arkansas Children’s, a private, non-profit paediatric care organisation, has partnered with Press Ganey to improve paediatric patient experience.
Beginning 1 January 2025, this collaboration is aimed at bolstering the paediatric care organisation’s commitment to improving service and care for patients and their families.
Arkansas Children’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer Jamie Wiggins said: “We believe that every interaction with our patients is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
“By leveraging Press Ganey’s expertise and industry-leading pediatric benchmarks, we will gain valuable insights that will empower our teams to continuously improve and innovate in delivering compassionate care.”
Press Ganey will offer its patient experience and provider star-rating solutions to help Arkansas Children’s monitor feedback and enhance care quality.
The partnership will enable Arkansas Children’s to leverage Press Ganey’s AI-powered text analytics.
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This will help analyse open-ended feedback from online reviews and post-visit surveys, providing an understanding of patient and family perspectives.
The goal is to gain actionable insights that can further improve the patient experience.
Press Ganey provides experience measurement, data analytics and insights to health systems and caters to more than 65% of all freestanding paediatric hospitals.
This partnership will allow Arkansas Children’s to benefit from shared learning and innovation within Press Ganey’s network of institutions.
Press Ganey CEO and chairman Patrick Ryan said: “Families trust Arkansas Children’s to provide the highest quality care for their children.
“This partnership reflects their dedication to listening to families, responding to their needs, and innovating to create a world-class paediatric healthcare experience.”
Arkansas Children’s network includes two paediatric hospitals, a nursery alliance, statewide clinics, a research institute, a USDA nutrition centre, and numerous education and outreach programmes.
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PHILLIPS COUNTY, Ark. — A suspect in a Helena-West Helena homicide caused a barricade situation Tuesday as he was being processed in the Phillips County Detention Center.
Authorities said a prisoner who was being processed at the jail was able to get hold of some type of instrument and cause harm to himself.
He barricaded himself in the processing area and pepper spray was used to subdue him.
The prisoner was taken to the local emergency room for treatment. No one else was injured.
Helena-West Helena Police Chief Vincent Bell said he doesn’t know much more about what happened at the jail, but said the inmate is connected to a fatal shooting Tuesday afternoon.
The suspect was being held in connection to an incident where a man was shot dead in the doorway of O’Reilly Auto Parts in West Helena.
The shooting was the result of a disagreement that started in front of a motel, and the victim ran to the front of O’Reilly’s where he was fatally shot.
Chief Bell offered no details on a motive or the name of the victim.
Arkansas QB Taylen Green, OL Addison Nichols, DT Cam Ball and DB Doneiko Slaughter, preview press conference ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the No. 24 Missouri Tigers at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and the game will air on SEC Network. Check out our homepage for more coverage of the Hogs.
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