Arkansas
Boogie Alleges Fakery When Recalling Arkansas Days before Anthony Black Deletes Comment
Boogie Fland knows he still isn’t as strong as he needs to be.
He’s getting closer, though, after packing on 13 pounds of muscle from last season, when he averaged 13.5 points and 5.1 assists for the Razorbacks but struggled against more physical SEC teams. The freshman’s slight frame took its toll alongside an undisclosed hernia injury and more public thumb injury.
On Monday night against No. 13 Arizona, Boogie Fland made his Florida basketball debut in a newly retooled Gators backcourt. The thumb issue was all gone; the strength shortcoming wasn’t. The 6’2” guard made an impressive and-one fastbreak bucket through contact in second half surge but still had trouble finishing in the teeth of a stout interior defense, at one point seeing an attempt near the paint obliterated by swarming Wildcats.
Fland finished with 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals but alongside fellow guard Xavian Lee struggled to convert from the field. Fland shot 3-of-9, Lee made 5-of-17 and if the No. 3 Gators have any hope of repeating as national champions, those two must do better.
The backcourt duo’s shooting cost them dearly on Monday against Arizona in a 6-point loss. Despite missing both three-point attempts, expect Fland to improve his outside shooting as the season goes on. Adding weight now the season’s underway will be much harder.
The 19-year-old is still about five or so pounds under his target of 190 pounds. As he described it to The Gainesville Sun’s Kevin Brockway, is the weight threshold for a “real SEC guard.”
Anthony Black Couldn’t Pass On Saying This
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Anthony Black would agree.
The 6’7” point guard played at over 200 pounds in his single spectacular season for the Razorbacks in 2022-23, racking up 12.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.1 steals per game and leading the Hogs to the Sweet 16.
Black stood out as Arkansas’ clear-cut floor general, something the program has lacked for the following two seasons.
That’s something he pointed out to Arkansas basketball fans on Monday night while watching Darius Acuff stake his claim as the best point guard the Hogs have had since Black. Acuff racked up 23 points on hyper efficient shooting but, more importantly, has in the last few weeks played in a way that spread the love and consistently made his teammates better.
Black, who now lives with down the road from Fland while playing for the Orlando Magic, took notice:
It didn’t take long for Black to delete this point guard assessment as he likely realized folks were taking it the wrong way. Black didn’t mean this as a specific slight against Fland as a Razorback last year playing alongside “TB,” or Trevon Brazile. More likely than that, Black wasn’t criticizing anybody in particular but simply pointing out the obvious: none of Arkansas’ primary ballhandlers through the last two seasons have also looked fully comfortable as a distributor.
That includes El Ellis, Devo Davis, DJ Wagner and Johnell Davis, too.
Still, none of those others entered the program with as lofty of a reputation as a “real” point guard.
As a freshman, Fland actually surpassed Black from an individual standpoint when averaging 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists in his freshman season. But then went through a similarly frustrating episode of injury/trying-to-play-through-injury/getting indefinitely sidelined as Nick Smith Jr., Black’s backcourt mate at Arkansas.
Both Fland (thumb) and Smith (knee) both suffered persistent injuries that kept them out for many weeks at Arkansas. Both players suffered slings and arrows from some fans who felt they were sitting out to preserve their draft stock instead of putting on the line for their teams.
Both talented guards tried to come back at the end of the season, playing limited roles in big upsets of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament. But neither looked anywhere close to their normal selves.
Smith, a central Arkansas native, never publicly vented about the negativity he got while sitting out for so long. “He knows he’s not delivering,” sportscaster Mike Irwin posted. “He’s hurting. He’s an Arkansas kid and he loves that Hog as much as any of you. Give him some space and he might just find himself before this season is over.”
Fland, meanwhile, didn’t grow up as a Razorback fan. He didn’t have lifelong friends around him in Fayetteville, nor a family he could easily visit just down the interstate.
Still, Fland recalls, things started well in Fayetteville.
“When I was on the court, everybody loved me,” said on his YouTube channel. “Everybody calling and texting me saying, ‘Oh you’re gone [to the NBA draft] this year,’ ‘Keep going’ and this and that.”
Temperature Plummets around Arkansas Basketball
Then, in January, things turned cold.
“As soon as I got hurt and wasn’t able to do what I do in the court, nobody checked in. Nobody texted me like ‘You good? How’s your hand?’”
A bit later, he added: “I didn’t get that same love and support that I got when I was on the court than when I was off the court. I feel like that was one of the toughest lessons for me, because it just goes to show the love wasn’t real.”
Here’s where Fland, frankly, probably would have felt more supported attending St. John’s closer to his home. In that scenario, even if he’d suffered the same injury, he’d have been surrounded by friends and family.
As it was, he felt somewhat betrayed by certain Arkansas basketball fans and hangers on who only wanted to be around in the good times.
Just like with Nick Smith Jr., though, all of that is behind him now.
Smith, despite that single, rough season in college and getting cut by the NBA team which drafted him, is now bouncing back in a big way. He racked up 25 points to play the hero in the Los Angeles Lakers’ Monday night win vs Portland.
Fland, too, may be on the cusp of a turnaround coming out of Florida’s loss to Arizona.
“God has a time for me,” he said on his channel. “He has a different journey for me.”
“I just learned to embrace it and try to understand where He’s coming from and try to look at the different picture, try to look at things in a different way instead of in a negative way.”
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Boogie Fland talks about the fake love at 13:30 below:
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More coverage of Arkansas basketball and Boogie Fland from BoAS…
Arkansas
Report: Boise State transfer receiver Chris Marshall signs with Arkansas football | Whole Hog Sports
Kentucky had a need at wide receiver entering the only transfer portal window of the offseason. The Wildcats addressed the position again on Day 10. UK has added a second transfer to the room. This is a familiar name to those who follow recruiting.
Arkansas transfer Ja’Kayden Ferguson committed to the Wildcats after his visit to Lexington over the weekend. The wide receiver was a former UK commit who flipped to the Hogs during the 2025 recruiting cycle. Now Ferguson has flipped back to the Big Blue.
Ja’Kayden Ferguson was a three-star recruit out of Metro Houston who picked Kentucky following a June official visit ahead of the 2024 season. However, Ferguson decided to open up his recruitment five months later and flipped to Arkansas. The 6-foot-2 receiver appeared in six games for the Razorbacks as a true freshman and burned his redshirt. Ferguson played just 20 offensive snaps.
The SEC transfer becomes the eighth current full-time scholarship player in Kentucky’s current wide receivers room. Some more additions are expected.
Kentucky transfer commits
| Player | Position | High School | Former School | Year |
| Olaus Alinen | G/T (6-6, 322) | Windson (Conn.) The Loomis Chaffee School | Alabama | Redshirt Junior |
| Jesse Anderson | S (6-0, 180) | Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons | Pittsburgh | Redshirt Junior |
| Max Anderson | iOL (6-5, 311) | Frisco (Texas) High | Tennessee | Redshirt Sophomore |
| Elijah “Bo” Barnes | LB (6-1, 244) | Dallas (Texas) Skyline | Texas | Redshirt Freshman |
| Jovantae Barnes | RB (6-0, 211) | Las Vegas (Nev.) Desert Pines | Oklahoma | Redshirt Senior |
| Ahmad Breaux | iDL (6-3, 278) | Ruston (La.) High | LSU | Junior |
| Jordan Castell | S (6-2, 213) | Winter Garden (Fla.) West Orange | Florida | Senior |
| Xavier Daisy | WR (6-3, 210) | Norcross (Ga.) Greater Atlanta Christian School | UAB | Junior |
| Ja’Kayden Ferguson | WR (6-2, 187) | Missouri City (Texas) Thurgood Marshall | Arkansas | Sophomore |
| Aaron Gates | Nickel (6-0, 198) | Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian | Florida | Redshirt Junior |
| Jamarrion Harkless | iDL (6-3, 315) | Lexington (Ky.) Frederick Douglass | Purdue | Redshirt Junior |
| Lance Heard | T (6-6, 330) | Monroe (La.) Neville | LSU | Tennessee | Senior |
| Mark Manfred III | CB (6-1, 175) | Marietta (Ga.) Sprayberry | Missouri | Redshirt Freshman |
| Kenny Minchey | QB (6-2, 208) | Hendersonville (Tenn.) Pope John Paul II | Notre Dame | Redshirt Junior |
| Antonio O’Berry | EDGE (6-6, 240) | Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne | Tiffin (D-II) | Gardner-Webb | 6th-Year Senior |
| Coleton Price | iOL (6-3, 318) | Bowie (Texas) High | Baylor | Redshirt Senior |
| Spencer Radnoti | LS (6-3, 230) | Canton (Ga.) Cherokee | Georgia State | Redshirt Sophomore |
| Cyrus Reyes | S (6-1, 200) | Taylor (Texas) High | Mississippi State | Junior |
| Hasaan Sykes | CB (6-0, 185) | Tuckert (Ga.) High | Western Carolina | Junior |
| Tavion Wallace | LB (6-1, 239) | Baxley (Ga.) Appling County | Arkansas | Sophomore |
| Dominic Wiseman | iDL (6-2, 300) | Davenport (Iowa) High | South Alabama | Redshirt Senior |
| Adam Zouagui | K (5-11, 188) | Herndon (Va.) High | Davidson | South Florida | Senior |
Arkansas
No. 20 Lady Vols Basketball vs. Arkansas: How to Watch, Prediction, More | Rocky Top Insider
Lady Vols basketball is back in Knoxville for a matchup with Arkansas after a two-game road stand. Tennessee is not only looking to stay perfect in SEC play, but is hosting its annual ‘We Back Pat’ game.
Here’s everything to know about the matchup, from broadcast details to a prediction.
More From RTI: Everything Lady Vols HC Kim Caldwell, PG Mia Pauldo Said After Road Win At Mississippi State
How to Watch — No. 20 Lady Vols (11-3, 3-0 SEC) vs. Arkansas (11-7, 0-3 SEC)
- Start Time: 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
- Location: Food City Center (Knoxville, Tenn.)
- Watch: SECN+ | PxP: Andy Brock, Analyst: Kamera Harris
- Online Streaming: Watch ESPN
- Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App
- Vol Network radio crew: PxP: Brian Rice, Studio Host: Jay Lifford
Betting Odds
None listed yet
ESPN Matchup Predictor
Lady Vols – 98.3%
Arkansas – 1.7%
What Kim Caldwell Said After Mississippi State
“Good to get a win on the road. We know it’s a tough environment and we know that we got to win on the road in the SEC. It was good to do that. I wasn’t really proud of the rebounding, but I thought we looked a lot better in a couple different categories so that was good.”
Last Five Games
Lady Vols:
- at Mississippi State, 90-90 W
- at Auburn, 73-56 W
- vs. Florida, 76-65 W
- vs. Southern Indiana, 89-44 W
- vs. Louisville (Brooklyn), 89-65 L
Arkansas:
- vs. South Carolina, 93-58 L
- at Alabama, 77-48 L
- vs. Vanderbilt, 88-71 L
- vs. Arkansas State, 81-72 L
- vs. Stephen F. Austin, 82-73 W
Where They Land In Rankings
Lady Vols:
AP Poll – No. 20
Coaches Poll – No. 22
Bart Torvik – No. 13
Arkansas:
AP Poll – Unranked
Coaches Poll – Unranked
Bart Torvik – No. 107
Stat Leaders
Lady Vols:
- Points: Talaysia Cooper – 14.9
- Rebounds: Zee Spearman – 7.3
- Assists: Talaysia Cooper – 4.3
Arkansas:
- Points: Taleyah Jones – 16.9
- Rebounds: Bonnie Deas – 9.7
- Assists: Bonnie Deas – 2.6
Prediction
It’s been a rough start for Arkansas’ new coach, Kelsi Musick. The team is 0-3 in SEC games, and though it’s been against three good teams, the Razorbacks haven’t been competitive in any.
While neither side has been strong, Arkansas’ defense has been the weakest point. Not only is it coming off a game in which it gave up 93 points to South Carolina, but Arkansas State hung 81 in its win over the Razorbacks on the road.
If the Lady Vols don’t get in their own way, then they should be fine. It hasn’t been perfect, and against three teams not necessarily in the mix to win the league, but Tennessee has looked much improved in the SEC slate compared to the lumps it took in the out-of-conference schedule.
I’d think UT jumps on Arkansas in the first quarter and takes a comfortable lead into the second quarter. From there, the lead should continue to grow behind forced turnovers in the press and easy baskets on the other end.
Lady Vols 85, Arkansas 61
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