No. 23 Arkansas women at Ole Miss

WHEN 2 p.m. today

WHERE The Pavilion, Oxford, Miss.

RECORDS Arkansas 19-5, 7-4 SEC; Ole Miss 7-17, 0-11 SEC

SERIES Ole Miss leads 26-19

RADIO KQSM-FM 92.1 and KYNG-AM 1590 in Fayetteville; KFPW-AM 1230 and KHGG-AM 1580 in Fort Smith; KURMAM 790 and KURM-FM 100.3 in Rogers

ONLINE ArkansasRazorbacks.com CHALK TALK The Razorbacks (19-5, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) jumped two spots in this week’s Associated Press poll to No. 23 following their win over then-No. 15 Kentucky. Arkansas, which sits in a four-way tie for fourth, now travels to last-place Ole Miss but coach Mike Neighbors said he has fodder to keep his team focused since Vanderbilt picked up its first Southeastern Conference win by beating co-leader LSU on the men’s side.

“I’m glad that the LSU-Vanderbilt men’s game happened,” Neighbors said. “Because it’s an easy parallel for our kids to draw. We’ve only won once or twice at Ole Miss ever so there’s plenty of us that can talk about reasons to not be overlooking an 0-11 team coming off a big win with Tennessee on the other side of that.

“Definition of the trap game or whatever people want to call it. But I don’t think we’ll fall for that one.”

The Razorbacks lead the country in transition points, which lines up perfectly with the pace Neighbors likes to play. “That’s gotta happen for us to win and beat good teams,” Neighbors said. “To put 103 on a Kentucky team that was averaging giving up only in the 50s or low 60s, that’s some evidence that it tends to work for us. We can beat a good team. If we don’t have that we don’t have a chance to beat the best teams. “Our losses have come to teams that can protect the rim. You can look at it. They all had somebody around the rim that could block shots, keep us off the foul line, keep us from getting back in transition. We’ve got to find a formula to beat teams that have that.”

Arkansas is now within one win of a couple of targets that Neighbors pointed out historically should put them in the NCAA Tournament. There’s never been an SEC team which won 20 games during the regular season and also picked up eight SEC wins. It’s something the team knows about, too, Neighbors said.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t be the first team to never do that,” Neighbors said. “With the RPI where it’s at and with eight wins and 20 overall going into the SEC Tournament, those teams have gotten into the NCAA Tournament. And we talk about it. It’s on the side of our practice schedule. It is updated every single time we have a practice. They look at it and they know.

“The first hurdle is eight. The next hurdle becomes nine, 10 and now you’re playing for seed in the SEC Tournament and then you’re playing for seed in the NCAA Tournament after that point and beyond. The next week just means something new to look forward to.”