FAYETTEVILLE — A trip to New York for two preseason NIT games, road games at Wake Forest and Dayton and a home game against Texas Tech highlight Arkansas’ finalized nonconference schedule announced Monday.
ARKANSAS NONCONFERENCE SCHEDULE
DATE OPPONENT
Nov. 13 Southern (La.)
Nov. 18 Akron*
Nov. 20 Charleston Southern*
Nov. 26 vs. Georgia Tech**
Nov. 27 vs. Villanova/Stanford**
Dec. 1 NW (La.) State
Dec. 4 at Wake Forest
Dec. 8 Evansville
Dec. 12 Tennessee Tech
Dec. 19 Mercer (NLR)
Dec. 22 North Florida
Dec. 30 at Dayton
Jan. 30 Texas Tech***
(*) Preseason NIT, games to be played at Walton Arena
** Preseason NIT, games to be played at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y
*** (SEC-Big 12 Challenge)
The Razorbacks open the season against Southern (La.) University Nov. 13 in Walton Arena, then play four consecutive NIT games. They play Akron Nov. 18 and Charleston Southern Nov. 20 in Walton Arena, then go to New York to play Georgia Tech Nov. 26 (Thanksgiving Day) and either Stanford or Villanova Nov. 27.
Arkansas plays Mercer Dec. 19 at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. The Razorbacks play at Wake Forest Dec. 3 and at Dayton Dec. 30. They play Texas Tech Jan. 30 at Walton Arena as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
GOLF
Cook to play in Wyndham Championship
Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Arkansas Razorbacks) earned a spot in this week’s Wyndham Championship during Monday qualifying at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
The event is the PGA Tour regular-season finale, representing Cook’s last chance this year to earn a PGA Tour card for the 2015-2016 season.
Cook has earned $519,288 in six PGA Tour events this year and ranks 159th on the PGA money list. According to Cook, he needs to earn more money than the 125th person on last season’s PGA Tour money list. Last year, Andres Romero earned $782,184 to finish 125th on the money list. To equate a top-five finish, Cook would have to earn $262,896 this week.
His best finish was a tie for sixth at the Barbasol Championship on July 19 in Opelika, Ala.. That top-10 finish got him into the Canadian Open a week later, where he finished tied for seventh. That finish got him into the Barracuda Championship, where he finished tied for 22nd.
Cook opened the season with a tie for 11th at the Houston Open on April 5. He also finished tied for 22nd at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis on June 14.
VOLLEYBALL
UALR tabbed to repeat as Sun Belt champions
UALR earned seven first-place votes and was picked as the favorite in a poll of Sun Belt Conference coaches, the conference announced Monday.
UALR, which won the Sun Belt last year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, earned 114 points to edge Texas State, which earned 108 points and three first-place votes. Arkansas State was picked third with 95 points.
UALR’s senior outside hitter Sonja Milanovic was named preseason offensive player of the year, while Arkansas State junior libero Markie Schaedig earned preseason defensive player of the year.
Milanovic was joined on the preseason all-Sun Belt team by teammate Edina Selimovic, a junior middle blocker.
UALR opens its season Aug. 28 against Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis in the Bluegrass Battle at Lexington, Ky. ASU opens Aug. 28 against Southeast Missouri in the Redhawk Invitational at Cape Girardeau, Mo.
FOOTBALL
Ouachita Baptist, Harding to play on ASN
The only teams from the Great American Conference ranked in the preseason NCAA Division II coaches poll will get a national television stage when they meet Oct. 3 in Arkadelphia.
Ouachita Baptist will host Harding at 11 a.m. on Oct. 3 at Cliff Harris Stadium, a game that will be televised on American Sports Network, the GAC office announced Monday. It can be viewed locally on KATV-2 (Channel 7.2). A live stream of the game will also be available on NCAA.com.
“This partnership will provide great exposure for the division, conference, and the schools involved to be a part of this rapidly growing platform,” GAC Commissioner Will Prewitt said in a statement.
OBU is ranked No. 12 and Harding No. 21 in the preseason American Football Coaches Association Division II poll, which was released Monday. Henderson State received 28 points in the poll.
OBU was picked in a poll of league coaches to win the GAC for the second consecutive season, while Harding was picked to finish second. OBU was 10-1 last season, with its only loss coming to Minnesota-Duluth in the Division II playoffs, while Harding went 9-2, with losses to OBU and Pittsburg State in the playoffs.
Lyon hires former Razorback Curtis
Lyon College has hired former University of Arkansas football player De’Anthony Curtis as its running backs coach.
Curtis had served as a running back consultant at Camden Fairview. At Arkansas, where he played as a wide receiver, running back and cornerback, Curtis finished with 198 rushing yards, 168 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Scots also hired Del Howard as their new defensive backs coach.
Howard was the defensive special teams and academic coordinator for OD Prep in Oklahoma last year. He was also the cornerbacks coach at Wisconsin-Stout in 2013 and had previously served as a defensive graduate assistant at Memphis and Missouri.
SEMI-PRO BASEBALL
Pine Bluff Braves lose to England
The Pine Bluff Braves lost 16-6 at England in seven innings Sunday.
Pine Bluff (17-6-1) committed six errors in the loss. The Braves had three errors in the bottom of the first that led to six England runs.
Brian Bryles, who played at North Little Rock and in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, allowed 3 hits and struck out 6 in 5 innings for England.
Percy Arnold homered for the Braves. Also for Pine Bluff, Will Harris and Lane Chapman each drove a run.
Jaleel Tyler hit a home run for England.
Pine Bluff will play a four-game series at home Aug. 29-30 against the Alexandria (La.) Hurricanes.