Dykes: Arkansas will put up fight

Arkansas head coach Jimmy Dykes responds to a question during a news conference for the second round of the NCAA women's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 21, 2015, in Waco, Texas. Arkansas plays Baylor on Sunday. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Second-seeded Baylor will take a lopsided set of advantages into today’s game against Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Bears (31-3) will have a more talented and deeper roster, a home-court advantage and a considerable edge in recent NCAA Tournament experience when the teams tip off at 1:35 p.m. Central at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

"I don't know if we have any advantage over Baylor," Arkansas Coach Jimmy Dykes said. "But I will tell you that the strength of our team is our resiliency, toughness, fight, togetherness, will to win and will to compete."

The Bears, the NCAA champions in 2005 and 2012 under Coach Kim Mulkey, have won 20 consecutive games at the Ferrell Center, considered by many as one of the toughest places to play over the past decade. Baylor has won 151 consecutive home games against unranked opponents since losing to Auburn in the 2003 WNIT finals.

"Baylor's just a good organization altogether," Arkansas' Jhasmin Bowen said. "We're just excited. We're not going to back down from the challenge they're going to bring to us."

Arkansas (18-13), the No. 10 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional, had to fight to the buzzer to outlast Northwestern 57-55 on Friday while No. 2 seed Baylor coasted to a 77-36 victory over Northwestern (La.) State.

"I know Baylor's good enough to get to the Final Four, if not win the whole thing," said Dykes, who is in his first season as the Razorbacks' coach.

"We're excited to play in front of a big crowd," Arkansas guard Calli Berna said. "Our team looks at it as an opportunity, and we're going to go in there and give them our best game."

Arkansas will need to squeeze every bit of offense it can out of its shorthanded roster, which features only nine players. The Razorbacks' bench failed to score in 15 combined minutes against the Wildcats.

Baylor's bench contributed 37 points and 25 rebounds in a combined 104 minutes in its victory over Northwestern State.

"I play more players than I've ever played because they've demanded that," Mulkey said. "They've all earned it."

The Bears are led by sophomore forward Nina Davis, who averages 20.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, and quick point guard Niya Johnson.

"They'll challenge us because they're a great defensive team," Davis said.

Arkansas had four players with at least 10 points against Northwestern, led by Melissa Wolff's 15 rebounds and 13 points. Kelsey Brooks had 15 points, Jessica Jackson added 14 and Bowen scored 12.

Wolff had nine offensive rebounds, including a critical one in the final minute, and Arkansas outrebounded the Wildcats 20-6 on the offensive end.

"I thought they got their hands on a lot of 50-50 balls and were quick with their hands when Northwestern would get rebounds," Mulkey said. "They've played in the SEC, so they've seen the best teams out there. They beat Oklahoma in our league. They beat Iowa, who is a three seed in our region."

The Arkansas-Baylor winner will take on the winner between No. 3 seed Iowa and No. 11 seed Miami on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Arkansas holds a 21-6 edge over Baylor in the overall series, which includes their days as Southwest Conference rivals. The Razorbacks also won the last meeting 68-59 over the No. 24 Bears in the first round of the 2001 NCAA Tournament in Durham, N.C.

Mulkey has built Baylor into a national power since that loss, with a 34-11 record in NCAA Tournament games, 8 appearances in the Sweet 16, 3 Final Fours and the first 40-0 record in major college basketball in 2012.

The Bears would advance to their seventh consecutive Sweet 16 with a victory over Arkansas, while the Razorbacks have two Sweet 16 appearances, in 1990 and 1998, and one Final Four appearance in 1998.

Sports on 03/22/2015