FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas women’s basketball Coach Mike Neighbors gets plenty of attention for his functionally fast offense, but his Razorbacks turned up the defense in a dominating 85-33 season-opening victory over Tarleton State on Wednesday evening in Walton Arena.
Arkansas limited the Texans to single digits in each of the first three quarters and no field goals in the third quarter alone, making them uncomfortable from the outset. Neighbors definitely took notice.
“I thought we got them off their spots … we put enough pressure on the ball they couldn’t function,” Neighbors said. “And this is a team with four starters back and their sixth man coming back. And they’ve played together a lot. I thought we were disruptive.
“Our kids have taken some pride in getting stops … that goes with just having kids who we have recruited are a little bit more defensive-minded as well, more well-rounded, not just one side of the ball.”
Arkansas (1-0) trailed for less than a minute against a Tarleton State team in just its second season in Division I. Malaya Kendrick’s driving layup gave the Texans a 4-3 lead, but the Razorbacks responded with a 14-0 run and cruised from there.
Tarleton State was limited to just eight points in each of the first two quarters and five in the third as Arkansas led 68-21 heading into the fourth quarter. The Razorbacks pushed the lead to as many as 53.
Junior Makayla Daniels led five Razorbacks in double figures with a game-high 15 points, while Erynn Barnum and freshman Samara Spencer added 12 each. Redshirt freshman Elauna Eaton chipped in 11 and freshman Jersey Wolfenbarger had 10.
Daniels said the communication is improving with six newcomers on the 13-person roster and Barnum saw that as the game progressed.
“I think we started to find the open player when someone’s man would come double,” Barnum said. “I think we had a lotta wide open layups on last-minute passes. I think we did very good finding the open player.”
Daniels said they are also getting more comfortable going deeper into the shot clock.
“At the beginning of practice we kinda panicked when the shot clock was winding down, but now we kinda got it under control, know what play to run and know who needs to take the shot,” Daniels said.
Neighbors said the offensive execution was up and down at times, but that’s something that will get better with time with all the new faces. But he was pleased with the defense that limited Tarleton State to 7-of-38 (18%) shooting through three quarters and 0 for 12 in the third quarter.
“Defensive effort was really, really good. Offensive execution was really good at times and a little sloppy in others,” Neighbors said. “Again, offense takes time. Defense is about effort and communication and I think we’re starting to kinda show that we could be a defensive team that’s gonna be able to stop some people.”
Barnum and Daniels each finished with a team-high six rebounds, while Barnum added a game-high three steals.
Tyler Jackson led the Texans with eight points, while Kendrick finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Razorbacks continue a string of three games in five days as they host Arkansas-Pine Bluff at noon on Friday. They travel to No. 2 Connecticut on Sunday.