FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas women’s basketball team (14-6, 2-3 SEC) is back in Bud Walton Arena for the first time in two weeks, as the Hogs will host Kentucky (9-10, 2-3 SEC) on Thursday night. These two teams squared off in the SEC opener on Jan. 4 and Arkansas is looking for revenge at home. Tipoff is set at 7 p.m. on SECN+ and will serve as the We Back Pat game, which supports a weeklong initiative by the SEC to bring awareness in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, Jan. 25Time: 7 p.m.
Opponent: Kentucky
Location: Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Promotions: We Back Pat, first 500 fans get a free bag of Stuffed Puffs
Gameday Sponsor: The Graduate Hotels
Watch: SECN+
Listen: Razorback Sports Network from Learfield
Arkansas Game Notes
Kentucky Game Notes
Live Stats
STORYLINES
- Arkansas women’s basketball returns back to Bud Walton Arena for the first time in two weeks following two straight road games with a bye in between
- The Hogs played in front of a crowd of 12,873 at No. 10/9 LSU, and was defeated by the Tigers, 99-68 in a game where the Hogs never led
- Arkansas is looking to get back in the winning column, as the Hogs have commenced SEC play 2-3, which is a three-way tie for seventh
- The Hogs will host Kentucky, a squad Arkansas opened the SEC slate with, as Kentucky is one of three home-and-away opponents on Arkansas’ schedule this year with Alabama and Missouri being the other two
- Arkansas is looking for revenge on Kentucky, as the Hogs opened league play with a 73-63 loss at Rupp Arena. The Hogs are also looking to get back in the win column in league play
- Taliah Scott leads the Hogs in scoring with 22.3 points per game and is the only player in the SEC to average 20.0+ points per game, while also leading the SEC in minutes with 36.3 per game. She is ninth in points per game in the NCAA, but has been out the last four games with a day-to-day back injury
- Saylor Poffenbarger is one of the top defensive rebounders in the country and is coming off surpassing 500 career rebounds in just 57 career games. She leads the team and the league in rebounds/game (12.30) and defensive rebounds/game (9.9). Poffenbarger is second in the NCAA in both categories and has pulled down 246 boards in just 20 games this season
- Poffenbarger broke the school record for individual game rebounds with 23 against Florida State. She has had four games with 19+ boards this year, which is the only time an Arkansas player has had that many 19+ rebound games in their career
- Samara Spencer leads the team with 69 assists. Her 319 career assists is No. 14 on the career list and her 1,193 points is No. 24 on the all-time scoring list at Arkansas
- Maryam Dauda has been a big contributor in the post, pacing the team with 49 blocks. Her 10 blocks vs. Alabama broke a 35-year single-game record at Arkansas (prior record held by Robyn Irwin in 1987) and is tied for the second most by a player in the NCAA this season. She also logged the first double-double through blocks and rebounds in school history
- Makayla Daniels is an elite defender and leads the team with 36 steals. She is the highest scoring point guard in school history with 1,682 points, which is the seventh most in school history, while holding a program’s most starts and games played records with 142. Daniels was selected on the All-SEC Preseason Second Team, as chosen by the league’s coaches
- The Hogs lead the league in 3-pointers per game (9.25), which is 12th in the NCAA, and 3-point attempts per game (30.6), a number that paces the country
SCOUTING KENTUCKY
- Kentucky is 9-10 and 2-3 in the SEC, which is tied with Arkansas for seventh in the league
- The Wildcats are coming off a 76-71 win over Missouri at home on Sunday
- In the SEC Preseason Polls, Kentucky was chosen to finish 13th in the media and 14th in the coaches poll. Kentucky was 12-19, 2-14 in SEC play last season, and as the 14th seed in the SEC Tournament, became the lowest seed to make it to the quarterfinals after upsetting Florida (W, 72-57) and Alabama (W, 71-58) before dropping its game to Tennessee (L, 80-71)
- Ajae Petty leads Kentucky with a double-double average, logging 15.5 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, while pacing the Wildcats with 18 blocks
- Maddie Scherr leads Kentucky with 58 assists and 25 steals, while also averaging 14.8 points per game
- Saniah Tyler has made 36 3-pointers this season to pace the Wildcats
- Kyra Elzy is in her fourth season at the helm of Kentucky, accumulating a 58-50 record
- A Kentucky native, Elzy was an assistant coach and associate head coach for the Wildcats from 2008-20 before being named the eighth head coach in program history in 2020