Familiar faces coming to town as Arkansas looks to end 3-game skid

FAYETTEVILLE— The College of Arkansas girls’s basketball group will look to finish a three-game shedding streak and knock off a projected NCAA Event group when it hosts Ole Miss at 4 p.m. immediately.

Arkansas (17-6, 4-4 SEC) is on the heels of a three-point dwelling loss to Alabama on Thursday. It was a sport through which the Razorbacks dedicated 20 turnovers and shot 37% from the ground.

“They’re going to attempt to take it from us,” Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors stated of the Rebels. “If we play with that looseness tonight, I could also be on the lookout for 20 [turnovers] to be the low finish of it. That’s why I believe it’s so essential that we get higher at that space as a result of they’re going to come back in and attempt to take it from us. They’re actively making an attempt to steal it from you.”

The Rebels sit alone at fourth place within the SEC standings by means of eight video games. Ole Miss (17-4, 6-2) most lately defeated Mississippi State 78-63, notching its first season sweep over its in-state rival since 2004.

“They’re forward of us within the standings,” Neighbors stated. “It’s a group that we haven’t crushed the final two occasions we’ve performed them. They’ve sort of had our quantity.”

The Razorbacks’ loss to Alabama adopted back-to-back defeats in a span of three days by the hands of No. 4 LSU and top-ranked South Carolina. Arkansas senior ahead Erynn Barnum, who leads the group in scoring and posted 20 factors and 9 rebounds towards the Crimson Tide, stated the powerful stretch of video games wore on the Razorbacks.

“Talking on behalf of my entire group, we really feel that means,” Barnum stated. “But it surely’s no excuse to only come out right here and play unhealthy. I believe we’re going to scrub it up throughout the subsequent couple of video games.”

Angel Baker leads Ole Miss scoring with 15.3 factors per sport, whereas Madison Scott provides 11.9 factors and a team-high 8.8 rebounds. Baker transferred to Ole Miss from Wright State, the place she scored 26 factors in the course of the 2021 NCAA Event opening-round upset of the Razorbacks. 

Scott has been a mainstay within the Rebels’ lineup since her freshman season and is 2-1 towards Arkansas.

“Madison Scott has been one of many higher gamers in our league ever since she acquired on campus,” Neighbors stated. “She continues to do this. Angel Baker, who we’re aware of at two colleges, , she damage us within the NCAA Event when she was at Wright State, and she or he’s been a very good participant for them towards us the final couple years. So will probably be a very good matchup, but when we play like we did [against Alabama], it gained’t be a very good matchup.”

Two acquainted faces shall be returning to Walton Enviornment, because the Rebels’ Marquesha Davis and Elauna Eaton each transferred to Ole Miss from Arkansas. The 2 have been a part of the Razorbacks’ opening day roster for the 2021-22 season. Davis performed seven video games in 2021 earlier than getting into the switch portal, whereas Eaton transferred in the course of the offseason.

“I believe it’s sort of commonplace now with the switch portal like it’s,” Neighbors stated. “Enjoying towards youngsters that effectively and have been a teammate [of] and , [they are] not going to want instructions getting across the constructing. You recognize, they’re going to know. So I hope it focuses our youngsters.”

It’s an important sport for each groups for SEC Event positioning. The highest 4 convention finishers earn a double bye within the bracket, one thing Arkansas has by no means performed. The Razorbacks enter immediately’s sport tied with Mississippi State for sixth within the standings.