Women home to host Tulsa

Arkansas head coach Jimmy Dykes signals to his team Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, at Bud Walton Arena during action between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. Students from Northwest Arkansas elementary schools attended the annual Elementary School Day basketball game on the campus. The Razorbacks won 97-53.
Arkansas head coach Jimmy Dykes signals to his team Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, at Bud Walton Arena during action between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Southeastern Louisiana Lions. Students from Northwest Arkansas elementary schools attended the annual Elementary School Day basketball game on the campus. The Razorbacks won 97-53.

Arkansas could have picked a cupcake for its first road opponent, but coach Jimmy Dykes said his team learned a lot about itself following the 76-69 loss to South Dakota State last Wednesday.

"Our first true road game this season could have been easy, but it wouldn't have done us any good," Dykes said in his news conference on Friday. "Now we know what out weaknesses are. They exposed them."

Tulsa women at Arkansas

WHEN 7 p.m. Central

WHERE Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville

RECORDS Tulsa 0-3; Arkansas 2-1

SERIES Arkansas leads 19-2

RADIO KABZ-FM 103.7 in Little Rock; KQSM-FM 92.1 in Fayetteville; KFPW-AM 1230 and KFPW-FM 94.5 in Fort Smith; KURM-AM 790 and KURM-FM 100.3 in Rogers.

ONLINE ArkansasRazorbacks.…

TELEVISION SEC Network Plus

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

ARKANSAS

POS^NAME^HT.^YR.^PPG^RPG

G^Kelsey Brooks^5-9^Jr.^11.0^2.7

G^Devin Cosper^5-10^So.^5.0^3.0

F^Jessica Jackson^6-3^Jr.^19.0^10.7

F^Meslissa Wolf^6-0^Sr.^2.0^3.3

P^Alecia Cooley^6-3^Jr.^7.0^5.3

COACH Jimmy Dykes (20-15 in second season at Arkansas)

TULSA

POS^NAME^HT.^YR.^PPG^RPG

G^Kelsee Grovey^5-8^Sr.^10.7^3.0

G^Erika Wakefield^5-4^So/^13.3^2.7

G^Ashley Clark^5-11^Sr.^7.7^10.3

F^Te’era Williams^5-11^Jr.^5.7^5.7

F^Crystal Polk^6-2^Fr.^9.7^4.3

COACH Matilda Mossman (60-65 sixth year at Tulsa, 207-158 overall in 13 years)

TEAM COMPARISON

Tulsa^Arkansas

64.3^Points Scored Per Game^77.7

72.0^Points Allowed Per Game^56.0

41.3^Rebounds Per Game^50.3

16.0^Turnovers Per Game^11.7

.414^FG pct.^.396

.304^3-pt FG pct.^.286

.500^FT pct.^.649

CHALK TALK Arkansas opened the season with three straight home wins at Walton Arena before dropping its first road game at South Dakota State. … Arkansas junior Jessica Jackson hit a scoring milestone in the loss, scoring her 1,000th career point. … Tulsa is winless in its first three games. … Arkasas defeated Tulsa 64-53 last season. … Tulsa has three starters back from last season. … Tulsa has two players with more than 1,000 career points in Ashley Clark and Kelsee Grovey.

— Chip Souza

The Razorbacks (2-1) fell behind by 16 points to start the fourth quarter, but rallied to close the gap to three points twice before coming up short.

Despite the loss, Dykes saw plenty of positives the team can take into its home game at 7 p.m. today against Tulsa in Bud Walton Arena.

"We gave up 76 points, where last year we never gave up 76 points in a regular season game," Dykes said. "But we scored 69 points on the road. We never did that last year. We scored 69 points, but it wasn't enough to win the ballgame."

One bright spot in the loss was junior Jessica Jackson scoring her 1,000th career point, the second-fastest Arkansas women's player to reach that milestone. Jackson is averaging a double-double at 19 points and 10.7 rebounds per game.

"Really proud of Jessica, and really happy at where she is right now offensively," Dykes said. "She's a better player in so many areas from when I got here. We need her to continue to be that 16, 17, 18 points per game player for us every night."

Tulsa comes into the game winless in three starts, but Dykes said the Golden Hurricane is a big rivalry game with its close proximity to Fayetteville.

"They'll be ready for us," Dykes said. "We battle with them in recruiting because of how close they are. They are in a tough conference with UConn, so they are used to playing at a high level. We beat them last year, but they have a strong nucleus back. We'll need to play one of our best games in order to win."

Tulsa is led by a pair of players who each have scored more than 1,000 career points in 5-foot-11 senior guard Ashley Clark and 5-8 senior guard Kelsee Grovey. Sophomore Erika Wakefield, a 5-4 guard from Moore, Okla., leads the Golden Hurricane in scoring at 13.3 points per game.

Arkansas will head to San Juan, Puerto Rico for two games in the San Juan Shootout on Friday and Saturday. The Razorbacks take on Louisiana-Lafayette at 1:30 p.m. Friday, then meet Oregon State at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the two-day event.

The Razorbacks will return home on Dec. 2 to host Missouri State.

Chip Souza can be reached at csouza@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAChip.

Sports on 11/23/2015

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