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HawgBeat's coverage of Arkansas' journey in the 2021 NCAA tournament is presented by Wright's Barbecue. Already serving up the best meats in Arkansas, you can now also find Wright's meat rub and sauces at Walmart and Walmart.com.
One of the best seasons in school history came to a disappointing end for the Arkansas women on Monday.
Angel Baker made a three-pointer with 29.1 seconds remaining to put Wright State up for good in the Horizon League champion’s 66-62 first-round upset of the Razorbacks at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.
It is the first time a 13 seed has knocked off a 4 seed in the NCAA Women’s Tournament since Marist beat Georgia in 2012 and just the seventh time in 108 tries since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1994.
In a year that featured monumental wins over Baylor and UConn, Arkansas finished with back-to-back early exits from the SEC Tournament - against 11 seed Ole Miss - and Big Dance, after which head coach Mike Neighbors took full responsibility.
“I did a really poor job the last two weeks and probably the last three weeks of getting us to peak at the right time,” Neighbors said. “I think we peaked too early. I asked so, so much of these kids in the middle part of the year trying to get to this point that I forgot to focus on the finish line.
“I apologized to them for that, for not having a better plan for them and better preparation going into the SEC Tournament and also for this game.”
Arkansas found itself in a hole almost immediately, trailing for all but about two minutes in the first quarter and falling behind by as much as 14 points in the second quarter. The Raiders led 38-26 at halftime, limiting the Razorbacks to their lowest first-half total of the year.
Coming into the NCAA Tournament as the nation’s fourth-best three-point shooting team in the country, the Razorbacks really struggled from beyond the arc against Wright State.
They were just 2 of 12 from deep in the first half and finished the game 7 of 22. It was similar to their poor shooting night against the Rebels in Greenville, S.C., when they went 7 of 31 from deep. After shooting 40 percent during the regular season, Arkansas made just 26.4 percent in those two games.
When asked for a reason behind the sudden drop off from three, Neighbors said he didn’t think his team had its legs like it normally does, which he accepted blame for because of his decision to travel to road games the day of throughout the season. He also credited Ole Miss and Wright State for their preparedness.
“I thought we rushed a few,” Neighbors said. “When we got down, we all wanted to kind of help our team get back into this thing. They wanted to help us win so badly that I think we took some shots that maybe we haven’t practiced enough, so that’s what I attribute it to.”
In the second half, Arkansas changed its philosophy and started attacking the basket more. That resulted in a lot of free throws and it made 15 of 20 to claw back into the game.
The Razorbacks pulled within three late in the third quarter before a 5-0 spurt by Baker - who finished with a team-high 26 points - pushed it back out to 49-41.
First-team All-SEC guard Chelsea Dungee knocked down a three-pointer with 1:51 left to give Arkansas its first lead since early in the first quarter, but the Raiders didn’t roll over.
Alexis Stover made her lone shot attempt in the game by making a three from the corner with about a minute remaining and then Baker made the aforementioned dagger.
However, that shot was made possible thanks to a tough turnover by the Razorbacks. Erynn Barnum came up with a steal to give them the ball with a 62-21 lead and about 50 seconds left, but dribbled the ball off her foot to give it right back.
“I almost called a timeout as soon as she got it,” Neighbors said. “I should have, but it was our last one. This is going to be a summer of woulda, coulda, shouldas. … She did the right thing and I did the wrong thing - I should have called the timeout and got a set play called.”
Arkansas had another chance to tie it or take the lead, but Amber Ramirez couldn’t draw contact on a missed layup and Wright State secured the rebound with 11.2 seconds left. It iced the game with a pair of free throws by Jada Roberson.
In the losing effort, Dungee scored 27 points, which was the most by an Arkansas player in the NCAA Tournament since Shameka Christon had 36 against Clemson in 2002. She didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, going 5 of 15 from the floor, but did make 14 of 18 free throws.
During her three years with the Razorbacks, Dungee scored 1,903 points, which ranks third on the UA’s all-time list behind only Bettye Fiscus (2,073) and Christon (1,951) - both of whom played four years at Arkansas. Only three men have cracked 1,900 points with the Razorbacks - Todd Day (2,395), Sidney Moncrief (2,066) and Lee Mayberry (1,940) - and each of them also did it in four seasons.
Arkansas ends the season with a 19-9 record and earned its highest NCAA Tournament seed since 1991.
“I hate it for our kids because they did so many things right this year,” Neighbors said. “I just don’t want us to be judged by how we finished. I know that’s the nature of the game when we sign up for this, that you get judged by how you finish, and this year we didn’t do too good of a job of that.”
