Monk gets redemption in Tennessee win, Hogs enjoying turnaround
FAYETTEVILLE — Malica Monk had a chance to be the hero against Tennessee last season, but committed a costly turnover. She got her Stoerner moment Monday night.
Two decades after Clint Stoerner followed up his fumble with a game-winning touchdown pass the next year, the senior knocked down a jumper with 3.6 seconds remaining to lift Arkansas to an 80-79 win.
“Just the number of times she’s had to see that thing replayed and seen it, it’s got to be good as a senior to have that happen and then to do it on the road,” head coach Mike Neighbors said. “I know she felt responsible last year.”
Even though the Lady Vols are struggling, now on a five-game losing streak for the first time since 1970, beating them is still a big deal. It was the fourth time the Razorbacks have won in the 35-game series and just the second time in Knoxville.
The reaction was immediate. Players received hundreds of text messages and countless tweets, including a shoutout from Daniel Gafford, the star of the men’s team. Neighbors said he was also getting recognized in public more.
“I walked into a high school game last night, a small group started calling the Hogs,” Neighbors said. “That was a big Monday game. There was only like four games in women’s basketball going on the entire night, so…everybody was literally watching it, and it was Tennessee.”
Sitting at 14-5 overall and 3-2 in conference play, Arkansas has already exceeded last year’s total wins and matched its SEC wins. With a three-game stretch against Alabama (10-9, 2-4 SEC), Florida (5-13, 1-4) and Georgia (12-7, 3-3) coming up, postseason play - whether it’s the NCAA Tournament or WNIT - is not outside the realm of possibility.
That would be a huge step in Neighbors’ second year at the helm because the Razorbacks have finished with a sub-.500 record each of the last three seasons with combined winning percentages of .418 overall and .250 in SEC play.
“You go from having a little chip on your shoulder of people calling us underdogs to now you’re expected to win,” Neighbors said. “It’s new for some of these kids.
“Some of these kids haven’t had this since they were in high school, some of them haven’t had it since they played for U.S.A. Basketball or wherever. … It’ll change how we feel, there’s no question about it. It’s just human nature, so we’ll see how we handle it.”
A big key in Arkansas’ turnaround has been its ability to win the close games. The Razorbacks were 2-4 in games decided by five points or less last season, but are 5-1 in such games so far this year.
In four of those victories, Arkansas made the game-winning basket in the final 10 seconds. Monk hit the clutch shots against Wisconsin, Tulsa and Tennessee and Alexis Tolefree made one to beat UT-Arlington, with none of them at Bud Walton Arena - the Wisconsin win was at on a neutral court and the other three were true road games.
Neighbors credits a closed scrimmage against their men’s practice team - made up of student volunteers - on a Sunday night just before the season started as the turning point. For the first time, his team managed to close out a tight win and they’ve carried it into real games.
“I think it’s one of those things you have to experience it,” Neighbors said. “I don’t think you can talk about it. You can try it in practice, you can try to simulate al the drills, but it doesn’t have the same impact as that buzzer going off and that genuine joy of jumping off the bench. … You can’t manufacture that or create that.”
Although they don’t have a particularly good record, the Crimson Tide will present some challenges for the Razorbacks on Thursday.
Three of their starters are at least six feet tall, with two of them - Ariyah Copeland and Jasmine Walker - checking in at 6-foot-3. Kiara Williams is Arkansas’ tallest starter at 6-foot-1 and the other four are less than six feet. In fact, Alabama’s starters have an average height advantage of three inches.
The good news is that the Razorbacks just handled a Tennessee squad that had a four-inch advantage and they had an eight-day break leading up to the game that allowed them to sneak some Alabama prep into practice.
“We’re going to be giving up size and strength at every position, so you try to turn them into speed rebounds again, make them take threes, don’t let them drive it,” Neighbors said about the keys to beating the Crimson Tide. “Then when they do bring that thing down, we swarm it like we did with Tennessee.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena and it will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus, which means it can be watched on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.