Letdown avoided
No. 19 Arkansas shakes off slow start, takes care of Auburn.
FAYETTEVILLE — Coming off one of the biggest victories in program history, even University of Arkansas women’s basketball Coach Mike Neighbors wasn’t surprised his team got off to a slow start Sunday afternoon against Auburn.
But the No. 19 Razorbacks shook off an early 13-point deficit and put the game away late to claim a 77-67 SEC victory over the Tigers in Walton Arena.
Neighbors wanted the Razorbacks (13-6, 3-5 SEC) to soak up all the notoriety after knocking off 11-time national champion Connecticut on Thursday. But even he saw the possibility of early struggles with the combination of emotions from the win and dealing with some players in covid-19 protocol, not to mention a pesky Auburn team.
“The most predictable thing that happened in sports today, I would say,” Neighbors said. “Coming off of emotion, big, listening to how good you are and reading it all over social media. And that’s fine, I wanted them to hear it. And we took the extra day to hear it.
“Part of it is false positives that kept us from being able to prepare as much as we needed to. … I think it’s a combination of lots of things but very, very predictable. These guys are kids. It’s hard to do and Auburn is a hard, hard team to try to simulate in practice because of the multiple looks they can give you and how aggressive they are trying to turn you over.”
The eight players that were available Thursday practiced on Saturday, but the others were cleared before game time on Sunday, Neighbors said.
Neighbors said the team regrouped after the first quarter.
“Got ’em over there and said, ‘OK, do they have your attention now?’ Neighbors said. “And they said, ‘Yep, they got it coach.’ I said ‘Well, let’s go out there and act like it.’”
The Razorbacks did just that.
Arkansas wiped out a 13-point deficit with a 17-2 second-quarter run. Four different Razorbacks contributed in the flurry, but it was a pull-up jumper by Amber Ramirez that gave Arkansas the 28-26 lead. Auburn countered to tie it on Kira Lowery’s basket with 1:43 left in the first half. But Arkansas answered with Erynn Barnum’s basket inside and never trailed again.
Auburn (5-11, 0-8) got within four points early in the fourth quarter, but an 11-3 Arkansas run put it away. Ramirez’s three-pointer gave Arkansas a 69-55 lead with 5:17 left and the Razorbacks coasted from there.
Ramirez led the way with a game-high 19 points, including five three-pointers. Chelsea Dungee, coming off a huge 37-point night against UConn, added 16 and Destiny Slocum chipped in 14 for the Razorbacks.
Ramirez acknowledged the Razorbacks were affected by Auburn’s defensive pressure early, committing five first-quarter turnovers. But they settled down and finished with just nine.
“I think a couple of the plays we did panic a little bit and we got too rushed,” Ramirez said. “Once we started slowing down, getting into what we do, we ran our offense and got easy looks.
Auburn Coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said Arkansas can score in so many different ways and that makes them tough to handle. The Tigers limited Dungee to 5-of-14 shooting, but Slocum had 10 in the third quarter and Ramirez hit timely shots when Auburn tried to rally.
“It’s real tough to defend because they have the threepoint shooters, they can dribble drive, they can just get you in so many ways,” Williams-Flournoy said. “You’ve gotta just hope they miss some shots like they did and just pray the next one doesn’t go in either. They’re tough. They’re a veteran team and they shoot the ball with extreme confidence.”
The Razorbacks, who led 33-28 at halftime, won despite a huge night from 6-foot-3 Unique Thompson. The first-team All-SEC selection finished with her 11th double-double in 13 games this season. The senior had a team-high 18 points to go with a game-high 19 rebounds.
Honesty Scott-Grayson added 17 and Keya Patton added 10 for the Tigers, who have now lost nine in a row.
The Razorbacks continue SEC play at Missouri on Thursday. That game is slated to tip off at 7 p.m. Central.