The headline says upset. Let’s say Arkansas’ 90-87 win Thursday night over the previously undefeated UConn women’s basketball team was a mild upset. The Razorbacks entered the game ranked No. 19 and had already beaten Baylor, which was No. 4 at the time, at home, so Mike Neighbors’ team is no slouch. However, whenever UConn is beaten, it’s big news. After all the Huskies were riding a 19-game winning streak entering the game.
This is a victory that will resonate through the Arkansas women’s program for some time. Here are five reasons why this was a gigantic victory for the Razorbacks.
1. Momentum: Arkansas rode a two-game losing streak and had lost four of its last five games entering the rescheduled game with UConn. I wouldn’t say the Hogs were desperate for a win, but after a two-point, last-second loss at Georgia Monday night, things weren’t exactly going well for Neighbors’ club. Many years the SEC schedule has been a bear for Arkansas. Sometimes they cruised through the regular season only to be smacked by league opponents.
This year, Arkansas has been competitive with a tough early SEC slate, beating Florida and losing a close game to league juggernaut Texas A&M. Tradition-rich Tennessee took an 88-73 home win and SEC South Carolina routed Arkansas at home 104-82.
Thursday’s win is the kind that can right a season. Now, Arkansas goes into its Sunday home game with Auburn with a lot of confidence. After the game with the Tigers and a road game at Missouri, the schedule gets dicey again with a home game against Mississippi State and a road game at Texas A&M and former Hogs Coach Gary Blair, Neighbors’ mentor. Maybe the UConn win can catapult the Hogs to a nice run to finish the conference schedule.
2. NCAA Tournament Seeding: Wins over Baylor and UConn will loom large on Arkansas’ March Madness resume. The committee also will consider the rugged SEC schedule. If Arkansas struggles down the stretch in the SEC, the two Top 5 wins probably keep the Hogs around an 8 or 9 seed. If the Hogs can win some of these key SEC showdowns, they could climb to a 3 or a 4. Either way, this win is key in the NCAA Tournament selection process. I stand by my prediction that the Razorbacks will make a deep run in March.
3. Recruiting: One of the reasons UConn traveled to Fayetteville was Little Rock native Christyn Williams. If UConn Coach Geno Auriemma was going to reschedule a game lost due to COVID-19, he might as well reward his star with a homecoming. The Central Arkansas Christian standout was the top recruit in the nation in high school and is considered one of the top women’s collegiate players.
If Neighbors had been at Arkansas, maybe Williams would have been in a Hogs uniform. There is no doubt that wins like this will give the next Arkansas superstar recruits pause when possibly deciding to leave the state.
Fort Smith Northside senior Jersey Wolfenbarger, a four-star recruit and Arkansas signee, is leading that trend. She’s spreading the word to younger players in the state that Arkansas is the place to be. It’s turning out to be a no-brainer – play for a winning program in a premier league, with a great players’ coach at home. Look for Neighbors to build a bigger fence around the state.
4. Marketing: Let’s be honest. There are many sports fans that just won’t watch women’s basketball, let alone pay money for a ticket and drive to the arena. Like I tweeted Thursday night, though, if you watched Thursday night’s game and still don’t like women’s basketball, there is something wrong with you. The Arkansas women play an exciting brand of hoops, running and gunning and bombing three-pointers. The game with UConn was as thrilling as any of the Arkansas men’s games I’ve watched this season. It’s games like this that convince fans to take a chance.
It won’t hurt if Arkansas can continue to win and make deep NCAA Tournament runs. Like Blair, Neighbors is charismatic and great with the media and is growing a presence, not just as a basketball coach, statewide. With Neighbors leading the charge, Arkansas basketball has a chance to have more crowds like the 4,000 (the largest this season in women’s college basketball with COVID-19 restrictions) in the future garnering large support from the Hogs fans base that hasn’t always supported women’s basketball.
5. Putting respect on Chelsea Dungee’s name: Dungee, an Oklahoma transfer, proved why she is among the top players in the country. Dungee exploded for 37 points and on Thursday night was the best player on the court which included Williams and Huskies freshman Paige Bueckers, who poured in 27 points after not playing against Georgetown Sunday due to an ankle injury.
Dungee hit some big buckets down the stretch.
On a court full of the nation’s best women’s players, Dungee dominated. If Dungee wasn’t considered as one of the nation’s or SEC’s best, she will be now. Good publicity for Dungee is good publicity for the Hogs as they try to snag more high-level players.
Image courtesy of University of Arkansas Athletics Department and UA Women’s Basketball Team