Conflicting styles set for Arkansas, UALR
Numbers don’t always tell the story, but in central Arkansas on Saturday, they set the stage for an eye-catching early season meeting of in-state women’s basketball programs.
Under coach Mike Neighbors, No. 12 Arkansas is averaging 93.3 points per game, which ranks seventh best in the country. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and its stingy defense under coach Joe Foley is allowing 62.7 points, holding opponents to less than 60 points three times in six games.
At 2 p.m., those contrasting styles will clash at Little Rock’s Jack Stephens Center when the Trojans host the University of Arkansas for the first time in the third-ever contest between the programs.
“We’ve got two different philosophies,” Foley said Friday. “That’s always fun.”
UALR (4-2) heads into the game winners of four of its past five, following a 60-50 victory over the University of Central Arkansas on Wednesday. The Razorbacks (7-1) roll in boosted by a Dec. 6 victory over then
No. 4 Baylor, with the only loss coming at a neutral site defeat to No. 14 Maryland.
Saturday’s meeting marks the second in as many years following the cooling of the Razorbacks’ longstanding policy against facing other in-state teams. Arkansas cruised to a comfortable 86-53 win last December at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.
But earlier this week, Neighbors said the Trojans are “way ahead of where they were this time last year,” and the 51-year old Greenwood native and longtime friend of Foley said he is all too familiar with the challenges the Trojans present.
“It’s like going to the dentist and the proctologist (on) the same day,” Neighbors said of playing a Foley-led team. “It’s just a bad day trying to play against them on offense and defense.”
Foley agreed that UALR is further along this season than it was a year ago.
UALR has been bolstered by the introduction of transfers Bre’Amber Scott (18.7 points per game), Brianna Crane and Mayra Caicedo, and faces the
Razorbacks with an 82-74 victory over Vanderbilt from the SEC on Dec. 4 already under its belt.
“We’re a much better ball club than we were at this time last year,” Foley said.
UALR’s hands will be full in attempting to contain a Razorbacks’ starting five that featured four double-digit scorers in its last outing, a 105-58 victory over UCA on Dec. 13. Guards Chelsea Dungee (19 ppg) and Destiny Slocum (16.1) power an Arkansas squad that not only scores in bunches, but also pounces on the 21.3 turnovers per game it produces.
Entering their fourth game in nine days, Foley and the Trojans have been pressed for time in their preparation for the Razorbacks with little other reference to work from.
“You just try to get your kids to understand how fast the game is going to be played and how they‘re going to try to spread you out with their three-point shooting,” Foley said. “Not many teams can duplicate what Mike (Neighbors) does.”
Despite the production Scott, Crane, Maicedo and seniors Teal Battle and Krystan Vornes
offer in the starting lineup, Foley said he knows his bench will be crucial against Arkansas, which runs the floor from start to finish.
Operating with a deeper rotation may offer a chance for guard Tia Harvey. The freshman made her mark in 31 minutes against Western Kentucky on Dec. 13, recording 11 points and six rebounds. Foley may also look to sophomore Angelique Francis, who scored a career- high 15 points against Arkansas last December and has length and athleticism as a defender.
“You’ve got to have some depth when you play against Mike,” Foley said.
On the other bench, Neighbors said he is aware of the physical and frustrating defenses his Razorbacks are set to face.
In addition to Dungee and Slocum, Arkansas has impact scorers in Makayla Daniels and Amber Ramirez, both scoring in double-digits, and fueling an offense shooting 45.5%. But last season, Neighbors saw his players pushed around — albeit in a 33-point win — by a Trojans defense that made Arkansas work for every cut, drive and shot.
The Trojans stand out among the most difficult teams to prepare for, he said.
“You can’t simulate it,” Neighbors said. “Not everybody can coach it like (Foley) does and demand it and then get it out of his players. It’s really hard to simulate it (in practice), whether you’re doing it with your scout team or your guys’ practice team, your managers or
your old, washed up, has-been staff. We can’t create that.”
A week of final exams have kept the Razorbacks out of game action since Sunday, leaving time for practice and film study. Neighbors also said the returners who battled with UALR last season have been key, speaking
to the program’s newcomers “about what it means to play against a team that he coaches and how his players embody their style of play.”
“We’ll see (his defense) some in the SEC, but that’s not ’til later on,” Neighbors said. “So it’s a unique thing.”