Basketball Arkansas women host Tulsa

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas women's basketball team will try to remain unbeaten at home when it plays host to Tulsa this afternoon at 2 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks (6-3) used a late surge to rally past Charlotte 73-72 on Thursday. Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said his team will face a somewhat similar foe in Tulsa. There's also some familiarity among the coaching staff since Tulsa assistant Tari Cummings was on the Razorbacks staff last season.

Today’s Ticket

Tulsa at Arkansas

WHEN 2 p.m.

WHERE Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville

RECORDS Tulsa 4-5; Arkansas 6-3

SERIES Arkansas leads 20-3.

RADIO KABZ-FM 103.7 in Little Rock; KQSM-FM 92.1 in Fayetteville; KFPW-AM 1230 and KFPW-FM 94.5 in Fort Smith; KURM-AM 790 and KURM-FM 100.3 in Rogers.

ONLINE ArkansasRazorbacks.…

TELEVISION SEC Network Plus

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

ARKANSAS

POS^NAME^HT.^YR.^PPG^RPG

G^Malica Monk^5-5^Jr.^18.7^4.3

G^Devin Cosper^5-10^Sr.^18.8^7.4

G^Jailyn Mason^5-9^So.^8.9^4.0

F^Bailey Zimmerman^6-0^Jr.^2.1^2.7

P^Kiara Williams^6-1^So.^7.8^7.9

COACH Mike Neighbors (5-3 in first season at Arkansas)

TULSA

POS^NAME^HT.^YR.^PPG^RPG

G^Erika Wakefield^5-4^Sr.^7.0^3.6

G^Tatyana Perez^5-6^Jr.^7.3^2.9

F^Kendrian Elliott^6-2^So.^9.9^7.4

F^Rebecca Lescay^6-2^So.^3.0^3.0

F^Crystal Polk^6-2^Jr.^10.4^6.3

COACH Matilda Mossman (86-107 in his seventh season at Tulsa)

TEAM COMPARISON

Tulsa^Arkansas

62.9^Points Scored Per Game^70.8

60.6^Points Allowed Per Game^66.1

40.4^Rebounds Per Game^41.2

14.1^Turnovers Per Game^10.1

.375^FG pct.^.366

.303^3-pt FG pct.^.279

.732^FT pct.^.636

CHALK TALK The first 300 fans will receive a ‘Happy Holidays’ T-shirt. … Fans 12-and-under get in free with a paying adult admission. … Bring a teddy bear that will be donated to Salvation Army and get in free. … There will be a postgame autograph session with the Razorbacks following the game on the court.

In addition, Tulsa coach Matilda Mossman coached at Arkansas for three seasons from 1981-84 and posted a record of 67-27. Neighbors also served as an assistant at Tulsa from 2001-04. But nine different players have started at least one game for Tulsa, which brings about some uncertainty, Neighbors said.

"They've played more lineups than anybody in the country," said Neighbors, whose team has won all four home games this season. "So we don't really know who to anticipate.I know their style of play and what they try to do. They'll be very similar to the way Charlotte likes to play without their bigs. Her teams are always guard-oriented."

Arkansas was dominated on the boards in the first half against Charlotte as the 49ers held a 34-16 advantage. But the Razorbacks out-rebounded Charlotte 29-24 in the second half. Both Neighbors and senior Devin Cosper said effort was the key.

"We'll look at 10 or 12 clips of a shot going up and us just turning around and expecting it to come to us," Neighbors said.

That changed in the second half though, which helped Arkansas rally for the win. Cosper registered the fourth double-double of her career with 25 points and 14 rebounds. She also scored 16 points in the second half. That was a career-high in both points and rebounds for Cosper.

Cosper drilled a huge 3-pointer to give Arkansas a six-point lead with 53 seconds left in the fourth quarter against Charlotte. She said the play was part of something they on in practice every day.

"That's part of our transition offense, the dragon three," Cosper said. "I got a good pass and Kiara (Williams) had a great effort in going and getting the rebound. Everything just worked out the way it was supposed to. It's basically second nature to us."

Cosper and junior guard Malica Monk lead the team in scoring, both averaging a shade under 19 points per game. Monk also contributed to the Razorbacks' strong second half with 13 of her 15 points in the final two quarters.

Tulsa (4-5) snapped a three-game losing streak earlier this week with an 87-37 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Arkansas will be off this week for final exams, before playing host to Texas-Arlington a week from Sunday again with a 2 p.m. tip off.

Sports on 12/10/2017

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