Neighbors hoping fans are elsewhere
FAYETTEVILLE — University Arkansas women’s basketball coach Mike Neighbors may have cheered for the Kansas City Chiefs last weekend when they played the Buffalo Bills in the NFL divisional playoffs.
With life on the road in the SEC being difficult and his team amid a critical stretch of its schedule, Neighbors will take any advantage his Razorbacks (15-6, 3-3 SEC) can get entering their game today at Missouri.
His hope is when Arkansas tips off against the Tigers at 2 p.m. Central in Columbia, Mo., the AFC Championship Game — which starts at the same time — will have the home fans’ attention.
“I think we’ve played them every Super Bowl Sunday since I’ve been back,” said Neighbors, who is in his seventh season coaching Arkansas. “It’s not Super Bowl Sunday, but it’s playoff Sunday. I think the Chiefs play, so maybe that’ll hurt their crowd.”
Missouri (11-9, 2-5) will look to snap a long losing streak to the Razorbacks. Arkansas has won 10 consecutive games in the series, which includes victories in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals in back-to-back seasons.
None of the players on Arkansas’ current roster has lost to the Tigers. Fifth-year guard Makayla Daniels has been with the Razorbacks since the winning streak began in 2019-20.
Neighbors said he does not want his team to sense any comfort from the recent success against Missouri because the Tigers are “way different.”
Missouri has four players in its starting lineup who stand 6-1 or taller, and its 36.3% clip from three-point range ranks 24th nationally.
“Our familiarity just is going to know where to go eat and watch [Arkansas’ men’s game against Kentucky on Saturday],” Neighbors said. “We’re going to have some matchup issues. We’re going to have some things that we’re going to have to work on.”
Senior forward Hayley Frank, who ranks fourth on Missouri’s career scoring list, was a preseason All-SEC firstteam selection who has averaged 20.6 points per game in conference play, which ranks second in the league.
Senior guard Mama Dembele is one of the quickest players in the SEC and is an elite passer. She leads the conference with 7.2 assists per game, which ranks fourth in Division I. She is second in the SEC with 3.2 steals per game.
“You know that they’re always going to be offensively really, really hard to guard,” Neighbors said. “They stretch you, and now they can score around the basket at multiple spots, too.”
Two of the Razorbacks’ best players are questionable for the game.
Freshman guard Taliah Scott (22.3 points per game) has not played since Jan. 4 due to a back injury, but returned to practice Tuesday.
Sophomore combo guard Saylor Poffenbarger (12.3 rebounds per game) played limited minutes last Sunday at LSU due to soreness in her right foot and did not play during the Razorbacks’ 88-61 victory over Kentucky on Thursday.
“I’m not hopeful for Sunday, but we’ll start to look forward there,” Neighbors said of Scott after Thursday’s game. “The plan with Saylor will be to play as tolerated. She just couldn’t tolerate it today. I made an error in trying to let her play at LSU. I should have not, and maybe rested her down there.
“Looking back at it in hindsight, everything happens probably for a reason…. Saylor is just one of those kids that’s never going to tell you she’s hurt. I have to do a really good job of monitoring whether she’s injured or whether she’s hurt.”
In conference play, junior guard Samara Spencer has led Arkansas with 19.5 points per game, which ranks fifth in the SEC.