against #7 Oregon St, down three starting fourth quarter

[flippinhogmana]

Despite what the announcers described as unusual substitutions and starting two freshmen again, the razorbacks were down 12 at half (played pretty decent first quarter).  They out scored the other team (OSU) by nine in the third quarter to close the gap to three points.  The lineup that came back was the lineup that started the season for the hogs.

[flippinhogmana]

In case you dont remember, it was Jackson, Wolff, Brooks, Cooley and Danberry with Cosper off the bench. Jimmy is still substituting five at a time.  Cooley's height is helping inside especially against OSU who has 6-6, 6-6 and 6-6 inside at times (she helps with rebounding and defense, scoring too).

[flippinhogmana]

I am glad that they are showing some grit and resiliency (that they didnt show nearly as much of the last three games).

[flippinhogmana]

women falling behind now, down eight.

[flippinhogmana]

Danberry is living up to advanced billing this game;  she is the top scorer for Arkansas (score btw is 52-44 now) with 13 I believe, Jackson has nine.

Oregon State has a six six post, who has seven blocks.

[flippinhogmana]

Danberry now with 14 (not 13), 54-44 now.

[flippinhogmana]

Oregon State's height is now wearing the hogs down.

[flippinhogmana]

56-44 now.  Just under five minutes to go in the game.

[flippinhogmana]

AC is the only hog who has scored this quarter, OSU has eleven and shooting foul shots.  They hit two of two, hogs down fourteen.

[flippinhogmana]

jackson shooting foul shots, hits one of two, now with eleven points

[flippinhogmana]

60-45 now. another block, somewhere about ten.

[flippinhogmana]

63-45.  This team is a very, very good three point shooting team.  But the main thing is the hogs only have three fourth quarter points (Cooley with two, jj one) with just over three minutes left.  A lot of blocks, but just went cold from the field, probably lost their legs too, but then they are also playing a senior laden team that is taller than them, and ranked number seven in the nation.  Still proud of their effort.

[flippinhogmana]

hogs have a chance to score some points with thirty seconds to go.  Keiryn Swenson is two for two from the line, 63-47 or something like that is the final.  There are some things to build of this game is the brain trust will just see them for what they are.  You are going to get inconsistent play from freshmen, especially if they are point guards.  Me and other have said this a long, long time ago.  But this was easily Jordan Danberry's best game.  I think the other four starter (or starters in the second half) played well.  Devin Cosper is one of the top six players on this team, she needs playing time.

Play those six and let the others come along as they mature and spell those six for brief minutes (along with West who has improved this year), then by conference time we can have a capable team despite what their record might be.  I have not complaints about the team's play in this game and not as many complaints about the management of the players and game.  Like i said, some things occured this game that were good and can be further applied.

[jseinfeld50]

I listened online. The first 3 qtrs were pretty decent. Still up and down with scoring (subpar 2 & 4 Qtrs). I have not seen the box score.  I thought I heard one announcer mention T Smith in the game but I might have misunderstood his reference to her.

[flippinhogmana]

T Smith would have definitely helped today, but no, she didnt play and thanks for posting on the two subpar quarters.  I didnt want to post anything more that might come across as criticism.  I am trying to be patient with the coaching staff.  Those two quarters either started with or cascaded after a wholesale five for five sub with freshmen and players who were less experienced against OSU who wasnt substituting. 

When it happened in the second quarter (which the hogs lead a couple of minutes into up by three) OSU got cranking and outscored the hogs the rest of the quarter by fifteen to take a twelve point lead at the half.  JD did rotate back in the starters plus Cooley (who he wisely subsequently started the second half) but by that time OSU had momentum and the hogs couldnt recover their scoring touch.

In the fourth quarter, Cooley scored fairly early and the hogs were down six, then after another bucket (then down eight I believe) another five for five subsitution and the hogs were quickly down 14, the lead grew to over twenty at one point even though the starters were brought back in. 

It wasnt all about 'questionable' subbing, those two quarters the scoring also went cold as it has done in the past.  Part of the problem is that the hogs two top scorers are streak shooters (JJ and KB) and so is Devin Cosper.  Devin Cosper and Alecia Cooley just flat need more playing time.  By years end I hate to say it, Jordan Danberry may be our best or next to best player.  She showed me something today.  She showed me she can be a big game player and she is willing to be more than just a highly touted freshman. 

That being said, JJ has to carry this team like she did last year late.  MW will always be the heart and soul of the team and despite what some of you might protest, she is not 100 per cent that is part of the problem.  She played like a tigress today as she did last year though.  I dont think Jordan Danberry is a streak shooter though.  However, she is a freshman even if she didnt play like it today.  Again, I am proud of them. 

[flippinhogmana]

Took them a while but the write up on the game and the box score is now up on arkansasrazorbacks.com

[flippinhogmana]

I listened online. The first 3 qtrs were pretty decent. Still up and down with scoring (subpar 2 & 4 Qtrs). I have not seen the box score.  I thought I heard one announcer mention T Smith in the game but I might have misunderstood his reference to her.

I clearly heard JD say in a post game presser that Tat Smith wasn't going to be eligible until next semester (there had been some rumors about that, and I commented on that being the first official mention of the subject, I believe it was after the first game or exhibition game). 

I didnt hear her mentioned as you did J, nor is she shown as having played at all in the box.  But this is where it gets interesting.  Whole hog sports in their write up has a photo attached that appears to show her (and lists her by name in the photo) as playing against clearly Oregon State.  The player is question's number is definitely (last digit) a five, and the first number appears to be a two, (Tat's roster number is 25) perhaps they just looked at the roster and said it was Tat Smith.  It may have been Alecia Cooley by the way (35).  I also think the stats are wrong for some reason on the amount of time that Alecia played.  It showed her with only 13 mintues and I believed she played more than that.

The other possibility is that one of the girls had a problem with their uni and wore Tat's.

[Hogtied85]

Every major d-1 program are having issues of some sort except for UCONN.  You know the major difference between UCONN and other schools is that Geno's girls play with no fear. They are ruthless and thuggish with the basketball. They know who they are and make no apologizes for who they are. They play like they have nothing to lose so they play tight defense and capitalize on mistakes made by the other team. If more teams played fearless like they do the battle at the top would be more interesting to watch. With that being said, Jimmy's girls are young and it will take sometime. Jimmy says that he is patient but his patience is not like everyone else's. My hope is that he can rally his troops and get it together because we need a strong showing to get into the tournament this year in SEC play in order to get in. Can he do it?

[flippinhogmana]

Every major d-1 program are having issues of some sort except for UCONN.  You know the major difference between UCONN and other schools is that Geno's girls play with no fear. They are ruthless and thuggish with the basketball. They know who they are and make no apologizes for who they are. They play like they have nothing to lose so they play tight defense and capitalize on mistakes made by the other team. If more teams played fearless like they do the battle at the top would be more interesting to watch. With that being said, Jimmy's girls are young and it will take sometime. Jimmy says that he is patient but his patience is not like everyone else's. My hope is that he can rally his troops and get it together because we need a strong showing to get into the tournament this year in SEC play in order to get in. Can he do it?

Right now our record puts us right next to Ole Miss unless they win this weekend.  That is to say that we are 13th of 14 teams when I last looked on Friday.  Most of the team in conference are 5-0 or better.  They havent played any weaker schedule that us.  Of the games coming up, say ORU, things are likely to improve unless we do.  ORU has as one of their top players Bria Pitts, who is apt to be pretty well motivated against us.  They beat Tulsa who beat us.  Just saying.   At present our non conference schedule is not apt to do us any good, quite the contrary.  Our best hope (realistically) is to turn it around before conference time and to (unlikely as that might look now or in most years) do very well in conference and in the conference tournament or build the team for next year.

[jdlittle]

flippin, always appreciate your posts.   Glad we have more players to work with,  hope rotations get sorted out before long.    Appreciate Coach Dykes.

[flippinhogmana]

flippin, always appreciate your posts.   Glad we have more players to work with,  hope rotations get sorted out before long.    Appreciate Coach Dykes.

ty bro (or sis) little, ghg!