Arkansas
Arkansas’ Nugent in loaded hurdles group at SEC Outdoors
FAYETTEVILLE — Athletes from SEC teams have the top marks nationally in 14 of 42 men’s and women’s track and field events this outdoor season, but the women’s 100-meter hurdles is especially loaded.
It’s the only event in which the top three in the NCAA rankings all come from the same conference with Kentucky senior Masai Russell No. 1 (12.36 seconds), University of Arkansas junior Ackera Nugent No. 2 (12.52 seconds) and LSU junior Alia Armstrong No. 3 (12.56).
The trio will be competing against each other at this weekend’s SEC Outdoors Championships at LSU’s Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge.
“It’s always competitive in this event at the SEC meet,” said Arkansas assistant Chris Johnson, who coaches the sprinters and hurdlers. “But we don’t shy away from the competition. We’re looking forward to it.”
Nugent, who in August transferred to Arkansas after two years at Baylor, finished second in the 60-meter hurdles at this year’s SEC Indoor meet in 7.81 to Russell, who won in 7.77.
Nugent got payback at the NCAA Indoor meet, where she won in 7.73 with Russell taking second in 7.75.
“In the SEC, you know what to expect when you go to nationals,” said Nugent, who is from Kingston, Jamaica. “I want to be in a conference that will push me to stay on top of my A-game every time and not to be comfortable or complacent.”
As a freshman at Baylor, Nugent won an NCAA title in the 60 hurdles and outdoors took third in the 100 hurdles, but as a sophomore she didn’t earn All-American honors in either event.
“It was time for me to take a step forward and make a new journey for myself,” Nugent said. “I do want to be great, so I wanted to make that transition from Baylor to Arkansas.
“I did like the environment [at Baylor], but I felt like I needed to leave. I was doing good, but I wasn’t as consistent as I am now.”
Nugent also wanted to train with Johnson, who is in his 12th season at Arkansas and will become the Razorbacks’ head coach in July when Lance Harter retires.
Numerous transfers have thrived under Johnson’s guidance, most recently Arkansas junior Britton Wilson, an NCAA champion in the 400-meter hurdles last year after moving on from Tennessee.
Payton Chadwick, from Springdale, won the NCAA 60 hurdles title at Arkansas in 2018 after transferring from Oklahoma.
“I looked at Coach Johnson’s history with athletes and I talked to my coaches back at Baylor and they felt like Coach Johnson would be the perfect fit for me,” Nugent said. “But I think I needed more maturity [to be coached by Johnson]. You have to be mature to understand what he’s trying to get you to do.
“And if you’re not at that level, it’s not going to work out. So going to Baylor first was good for me.”
Johnson praised Nugent for deciding to step out of her comfort zone at Baylor.
“She ran fast before she got to Arkansas, but she has that ability to want more, and know there’s more out there, and to go get it, that was a risk on her part,” Johnson said. “I think she’s just a go-getter, and she’s determined to be the best.”
In addition to the 100 hurdles, Nugent will run the 100 and on the 400 relay at the SEC meet.
“I feel like I’m going to be fine with the workload,” Nugent said. “It’s basically like coming to practice.
“I feel like Coach Johnson has been setting me up training-wise for having the amount of endurance to do it.”
Nugent ran 11.13 to win the 100 at Arkansas’ John McDonnell Invitational on April 21 and set a meet record.
“Ackera has that great sprint speed, but she also has the skills to get over 10 barriers,” Harter said. “That combination makes her very special.”
Nugent is running in Baton Rouge for the second time this season.
Two weeks ago at the LSU Invitational, Nugent won the 100 hurdles in 12.52 to rank No. 2 on Arkansas’ all-time list behind Janeek Brown’s 12.40 in 2019 when she won the NCAA title.
Nugent, who ran a personal-best of 12.45 at Baylor in winning the Big 12 title last year, beat Armstrong — last year’s NCAA champion — on her home track at the LSU Invitational. Armstrong was second.
“That was my season opener for the hurdles,” Nugent said. “Now I’m focused on my start and my speed along the way.”
Before Nugent won this year’s NCAA 60 hurdles title, she ran 7.72 in the prelims to set the collegiate record and Jamaica’s national record. She broke the previous Jamaican record of 7.74 by Michelle Freeman in 1998.
“That wasn’t something I was focused on,” Nugent said of breaking a Jamaican record that stood for 25 years. “But it shows I’m going in the right direction.”
Arkansas
New address, same issues: Why John Calipari's dismal start at Arkansas mirrors his fall from favor at Kentucky
Give John Calipari credit for stumbling upon a foolproof way to avoid extending his streak of early-round NCAA tournament flameouts.
You can’t get Gohlked again if you’re watching from the couch.
Arkansas is in major jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament in Calipari’s highly anticipated debut season after an unremarkable non-league showing and a nightmare start to SEC play. The preseason No. 16 Razorbacks lost 78-74 at previously struggling LSU on Tuesday night to fall to 11-6 overall and 0-4 in the SEC.
It was concerning when then-No. 1 Tennessee outclassed Arkansas by 24 in Knoxville on the first Saturday of January. The warning signs grew more ominous when the Razorbacks followed that with back-to-back home losses against nationally ranked Ole Miss and Florida last week. Now it’s full-blown panic time in Hog Country after Arkansas went to Baton Rouge for an apparent get-right game against one of the SEC’s only non-NCAA tournament contenders and somehow lost that too.
Despite playing without its third- and fourth-leading scorers due to injury, LSU erased deficits of 12 points late in the first half and eight points a few minutes into the second half. The Tigers (12-5, 1-3) built a nine-point lead of their own with less than five minutes to go, then withstood full-court pressure and a late scoring flurry from standout Arkansas freshman Boogie Fland to close out the victory.
Calipari’s postgame news conference Tuesday night was reminiscent of many that he delivered after losses late in his Kentucky tenure. He shouldered the blame for not preparing his team well enough yet offered few specifics regarding adjustments he intended to make.
Twice, Calipari told reporters in Baton Rouge, “I’ve got to do a better job with my team.” Later, he described himself as disappointed he’s “not getting through to these guys” and claimed he “may have to drag them to the finish line in some of these close games.”
There’s still time for Arkansas to dig its way out of this midseason hole, but the Razorbacks’ road to the NCAA tournament is uphill and obstacle-laden. A neutral-court victory over Michigan is Arkansas’ lone Quadrant 1 or 2 victory this season in seven opportunities. The Razorbacks’ second-best win of the season is … Lipscomb? Troy? Maybe 4-13 ACC doormat Miami?
The historic strength of the SEC could be Arkansas’ salvation or demise. On one hand, plenty of chances for marquee victories remain in a league with nine teams in the current AP Top 25. On the other hand, per Ken Pomeroy, the Razorbacks will only be favored in five of their remaining 14 conference games. At this point, Arkansas is more likely to finish in the bottom third of the SEC than to make the NCAA tournament.
That Calipari’s former program is flourishing in his absence only highlights Arkansas’ struggles. Kentucky coach Mark Pope didn’t inherit a single returning player from Calipari, yet the roster he rebuilt on the fly via the transfer portal is 14-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. Fueled by its sleek, modern offense, Kentucky boasts impressive victories over Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Florida, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. If the season ended today, the Wildcats would be no worse than a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Deep-pocketed Arkansas boosters envisioned a similar outcome when they plunked down big money to lure Calipari from Kentucky last spring. The fresh start appeared to be a win-win for both parties with Calipari in need of an offramp out of Lexington and Arkansas in search of a jolt of excitement.
Calipari’s tenure at Kentucky was perfect, until it wasn’t. For almost a decade, he fulfilled Big Blue Nation’s wildest dreams. The revolving door of one-and-done talent he recruited won SEC titles, made deep NCAA tournament runs and even captured the 2012 national title. But the program that was two wins away from a historic 40-0 season in 2015 never approached those heights again. The atmosphere in Lexington turned especially toxic after Calipari’s Wildcats lost to 15th-seeded St. Peters in the first round of the 2022 NCAA tournament and to 14th-seeded Oakland last year.
What observers have since learned is that a fresh start requires more than a change of address and an influx of red blazers and quarter-zip pullovers. You can’t hire a 65-year-old coach, allow him to bring over an assortment of longtime assistants and then expect different results.
Armed with a war chest of NIL money that few other programs could match, Calipari assembled a roster that doesn’t mesh well with one-another or fit the modern game. Fland and fellow perimeter players DJ Wagner, Johnell Davis and Karter Knox can all hit a 3-pointer but are best with the ball in their hands attacking downhill. The spacing gets worse with forward Adou Thiero and center Jonas Aidoo in the frontcourt together, as neither are a threat from 3-point range.
Arkansas is shooting 33.7% from behind the arc as a team and is 248th nationally in percentage of points scored from 3-point range. Opposing defenses can afford to clog driving lanes, pack the paint and dare the Razorbacks to hoist contested jumpers early in the shot clock.
The hallmark of Calipari’s best Kentucky teams were long, athletic defenses that aggressively hounded 3-point shooters yet surrendered nothing easy at the rim. This Arkansas team is better defensively than some of Calipari’s most recent Kentucky teams, but it commits too many fouls and surrenders too many second-chance points to make up for the Razorbacks’ offensive woes.
Against LSU, it also didn’t help that a tough call went against Arkansas at a key juncture of the second half. LSU led 53-52 when referees called this a flagrant foul on Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile. The Razorbacks trailed 58-52 by the time they got the ball back.
How will Arkansas respond to a dismal SEC start made worse by the LSU loss? With effort and energy, Calipari says, despite a difficult upcoming schedule. Arkansas visits Missouri on Saturday, then hosts Georgia and Oklahoma. Matchups with Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, Texas and Texas A&M await in February.
“I told them after the game, ‘I’m not cracking so let’s just keep going,’” Calipari said Tuesday.
The Razorbacks have no choice.
Either they turn their disappointing season around now, or Calipari’s debut campaign in Fayetteville will end shy of the NCAA tournament.
LAFAYETTE — The Louisiana women’s basketball team is off to its best Sun Belt Conference start since 2020, holding a 4-1 record as they aim to replicate the success that led them to a regular-season title just three years ago.
However, the Cajuns face a critical 11-day stretch as the team will take on Arkansas State and Troy twice, both teams boasting potent offenses ranked second and fourth in the conference, respectively.
Head coach Garry Brodhead emphasizes that defense will be the key to weathering this challenging stretch.
“Anytime that you have any type of system, if the kids believe in it, it seems like it works a little bit better or a lot better,” Brodhead said. “On the road, that’s one of the things that we really, really preach. You know, we may not be making shots like we’re capable of… but you can always defend.”
The coach acknowledged the difficulties posed by Arkansas State and Troy, pointing out changes in the Red Wolves’ system, which now prioritizes a faster pace, three-point shooting, and relentless pressing.
“Troy is a tough team to play,” Brodhead added. “Both games will be tough. Can we withstand that, especially from the first game to the second game?”
The Cajuns’ pivotal run begins Wednesday in Jonesboro, where they’ll face Arkansas State at 7 p.m. A strong showing could position Louisiana for second place in the standings, trailing only James Madison.
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