Preview – Hogs Set for NCAA WBIT at Tulsa

FAYETTEVILLE – The Arkansas women’s basketball team (18-14) is ready for postseason, as the Hogs are set to play at No. 3 seed Tulsa in the inaugural NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament. Including 2020 when postseason was cancelled due to COVID-19, this year marks six straight postseasons for Arkansas, which ties a school record. Arkansas and Tulsa will tipoff on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Coverage of all WBIT games will be broadcast on ESPN Networks, with Thursday’s game streamed on ESPN+.

The WBIT, owned by the NCAA, is a new event in 2024, to ensure equitable postseason opportunities for women’s basketball similar to that of men’s basketball. The WBIT replaces the WNIT as the secondary tournament for 32 teams that just miss the cut for the NCAA Tournament. All WBIT games will be broadcast on ESPN networks and the Final Four teams will be invited to Indianapolis from April 1-3 at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

GAME INFORMATION

Date: Thursday, March 21
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Opponent: Tulsa
Location: Donald W. Reynolds Center (Tulsa, Okla.)
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Razorback Sports Network from Learfield
Arkansas Game Notes
Tulsa Game Notes
Live Stats

STORYLINES

• The Hogs qualified for the inaugural NCAA’s WBIT, receiving one of 25 at-large bids. Arkansas will travel west on 412 to face No. 3 seed Tulsa in the first round
• Arkansas finished the season 18-14 with a 6-10 SEC record, which has secured a winning season for head coach Mike Neighbors for the sixth straight year
• The Hogs have made six straight postseasons, all under Coach Mike Neighbors, which matches a school record with his mentor Gary Blair for most consecutive postseason berths
• Tulsa is coming off winning the American Athletic Conference regular season behind a 23-9 record and 13-5 mark in league play. The Golden Hurricane were one of seven automatic qualifiers into the WBIT
• The Hogs and Hurricane have a rich history, as Thursday’s game will mark the 28th of the all-time series. Arkansas has the 24-3 edge, as well as a five-game winning streak over Tulsa. These two teams squared off last season, resulting in a 79-70 win for the Hogs in Fayetteville
• Coach Neighbors will make his return to Tulsa after serving as an assistant for four seasons from 2002-05. Tulsa head coach Angie Nelp was a graduate assistant at Arkansas from 2007-08
• Samara Spencer leads the team with 13.9 points per game and logged 15.9 points per game in SEC contests. She also paces the team with 111 assists
• Maryam Dauda has made a big jump this season, pacing the team with 6.3 rebounds per game and 73 blocks, which is third in the league (2.3 per game) and top 20 in the NCAA. Her 2.8 blocks per game in SEC contests paced the SEC this season. She is No. 3 on the individual season block list at Arkansas
• Makayla Daniels leads the team with 53 steals and 56 made 3-pointers. She is the highest scoring point guard in school history with 1,846 points, making her a top five scorer in school history, while holding a program’s most starts and games played records with 154, as well as career minutes (4,558). 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 (8.8), which is 13th in the NCAA, 3-point attempts per game (29.4), a number that is fifth in the country, as well as turnovers per game (12.7), 22nd in the country

POSTSEASON HISTORY

• Arkansas has earned its sixth straight postseason qualification
• This year marks Arkansas’ 27th overall appearance in school history
• Additionally, this is the first year of the WBIT, created and owned by the NCAA this season to feature 32 teams. With the addition of the WBIT, the NCAA now has 100 postseason opportunities available for DI women’s basketball teams
• The WBIT appearance is Arkansas’ 14th time qualifying for the WBIT/WNIT/NWIT/AIAW
• In first round postseason games, Arkansas is 18-6 (8-4 in NCAA, 7-0 in WNIT, 2-0 in NWIT and 1-2 in AIAW games)
• Coach Neighbors is 5-4 in postseason games at Arkansas
• The Hogs are coming off a trip to the Postseason WNIT Great 8 last season. Arkansas defeated Louisiana Tech (W, 78-64), SFA (W, 60-37) and Texas Tech (W, 71-66) all at home before losing at Kansas (L, 78-64)

SCOUTING TULSA

• Tulsa shared the regular season American Athletic Conference championship, entering Thursday with a 23-9 record and 13-5 mark in league play
• Some key wins for Tulsa include ones vs. Florida (W, 72-64), Texas Tech (W, 66-58), Rice (W, 70-65) and North Texas (W, 79-74)
• The Hurricane finished the regular season on a five-game winning streak to become the No. 1 seed at the AAC Championship before falling to No. 9 seed East Carolina in the quarterfinals, 75-71
• Temira Poindexter was named the American Conference Player of the Year and was an All-Conference First Team choice. She leads the Hurricane with 21.1 points per game
• Delanie Crawford was tabbed the American Conference’s Most Improved Player and an All-Conference Second Team selection, entering the postseason having averaged 19.1 points per game with a team-leading 87 assists
• Hadley Periman pulls down a team’s most 7.1 rebounds per game and has a team-leading 47 blocks, while Mady Cartwright leads the Hurricane with 38 total steals
• Tulsa leads the American with the most 3-pointers/game (8.8) and defensive rebounds/game (28.8)
• Head coach Angie Nelp is in her third season at the helm and has turned the program back around with 57 wins in three years. Coach Nelp guided her first two teams at Tulsa to back-to-back 17-win seasons, and with this year, a 20-win campaign with a share of a regular season conference title

HISTORY AGAINST THE GOLDEN HURRICANE

• The Hogs have the 24-3 edge over Tulsa in the all-time series with Thursday’s game marking the 28th in the all-time series
• Arkansas is 13-1 in games played in Tulsa in this series
• This year marks the first these two teams will meet up in the postseason
• Coach Neighbors is 4-0 in his head coaching career vs. Tulsa
• The Hogs and Hurricane squared off last season, resulting in a 79-70 win for Arkansas in Fayetteville. Daniels finished just shy of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds with three assists, while Spencer registered 13 points and four assists. Arkansas made 11 3-pointers in that game

LAST TIME OUT

• Limited to eight players and with two starters out, No. 10 seed Arkansas fell to No. 7 seed Auburn in the SEC Tournament, 67-48
• In her first career start, Jenna Lawrence registered a career-high 13 points off 5-of-7 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. She added five rebounds and one block in 35 minutes
• Spencer logged 13 points, including 11 in the first half, with five rebounds and one steal in 33 minutes. She also played in her 100th game as a Razorback in Greenville
• Daniels finished with 13 points, six rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes in her final SEC Tournament game
• Carly Keats tallied three rebounds and a career-high four assists and Emrie Ellis had two points, five rebounds and one block in 21 minutes off the bench

UPCOMING

Thursday’s winner will advance to the second round of the WBIT to face the winner of Washington vs. Georgetown on Sunday, March 24 on ESPN+. Location of the game is TBD.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about Arkansas Women’s Basketball, follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @RazorbackWBB and on Facebook at Facebook.com/RazorbackWBB. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel, “Kickin’ It In The Neighborhood” for an inside look at the Razorback women’s basketball program and check out The Neighborhood podcasts at CoachNeighbors.com.