UA women banged up entering league play

Arkansas guard Chelsea Dungee dribbles up the floor during a game against Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 19, 2020, at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas women’s basketball team heads into SEC play riding a six-game winning streak and ranked in the top 10 for the first time in 18 seasons.

But the No. 10 Razorbacks are not firing on all cylinders entering tonight’s game at No. 13 Kentucky in Lexington, Ky.

Chelsea Dungee, Destiny Slocum and Amber Ramirez, three of the team’s top four scorers, have been limited in practice because of health issues not related to covid-19, Coach Mike Neighbors said.

“Slocum’s been day-to-day with some stuff during the break,” Neighbors said. “All three of those kids have been limited in practice. They’ll all be on the plane headed with us.

“It’s all 10-game related. We got some bruises. We got some dings. We got some bangs. We pushed them pretty hard and got a few things. I’ll tell you none of them will be 100%, but they’ll give us 100%.”

Dungee, the team’s leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, did not play because of a sore knee in the Razorbacks’ last game, an 86-52 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 21. She banged knees with an opponent in the second half against Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 19.

Ramirez’s minutes were limited against UAPB, but Neighbors didn’t specify her issue.

Arkansas (9-1) heads into league play with plenty of momentum, and Neighbors believes his team is ready for the challenge.

“If you’d said we’re going to have nine wins and picked who they were against, things like that, we’ll obviously take what happened,” Neighbors said. “The styles of play we had to play against. The challenges of playing back-to-back-to-back, four games in five days.

“I feel prepared in all those areas. I think that nonconference did exactly what we hoped it would do.”

The Razorbacks will travel today to Lexington, rather than the day before the game, to limit covid-19 exposure. It’s something the team’s done already this year, but a change in the players’ natural routine nonetheless, Neighbors said.

“It’s a major difference for our kids in how two days are spent leading up to a game,” Neighbors said. “It feels like a business trip. You get on it, you get up there and you get back.”

There’s already been covid-19-related issues as six different SEC games have been postponed this week. In addition, Duke and SMU — a team Arkansas defeated 79-47 on Dec. 9 — recently decided to end their seasons because of pandemic concerns.

The Razorbacks are not having film sessions together or pre-game shoot-arounds. The team also has not entered the locker room at halftime together on several occasions.

Players are now seeing the benefits of the precautions, Neighbors said.

“We know that every program’s different,” he said. “We’re not trying to put ourselves in their shoes because we can’t. But I do think it drives our kids to be very, very focused on doing what we can control.

“When they see these other programs maybe not doing those things on TV, they say, ‘That’s why we’re doing this.’ It kind of validates the things they are sacrificing, the things they are giving up.”

Neighbors put no restrictions on his players during the holiday break.

“Every player got to do exactly what they needed to do for their particular case,” Neighbors said. “We told them, ‘Do what you need to do to come back healthy, happy and safe.’”

The Wildcats, led by preseason All-American guard Rhyne Howard, present plenty of problems for the Razorbacks.

Senior Chasity Patterson leads the country with 40 steals, and 6-2 Dre’una Edwards, a transfer from Utah, shares the team lead with Howard at 15.5 points per game. She also has a team-high 8.9 rebounds per game.

Patterson, who averages 15.4 points, torched the Razorbacks for 32 in last year’s game at Bud Walton Arena, which Arkansas won 103-85.

“They can beat you a lot of different ways this year, I think,” Neighbors said. “The addition of Dre’una Edwards, offensively, defensively around the basket, all the things she brings them. Four or five [position] players always cause concern for us, and she’s one of the better one’s in our league.”