Arkansas Game Info

[sportdawg]

Look on the schedule for link to radio broadcast and Live Stats. The Game will be televised on the Arkansas Razorbacks Sports Network (KATV-Little Rock and KAIT-Jonesboro). If anyone knows if this game will be on TV in Shreveport, Ruston, or Monroe, please let me know.

Go Dawgs!

[sportdawg]

Arkansas Basketball Game Notes - La. Tech

UA Sports Information- Monday, December 09, 2002 ---

THE GAME: Arkansas (1-4) tries to break a four-game losing streak when the Razorbacks entertain a talented Louisiana Tech squad. LTU is 1-2 with both losses to Southeastern Conference teams. The Bulldogs lost at Florida in the first round of the Preseason NIT, 76-55, and lost at Mississippi State in their last game on Dec. 7, 78-38.



RADIO/TV INFORMATION: The game is being televised by the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network on KPBI (Fox 46) in Fayetteville and Fort Smith, KATV in Little Rock and KAIT in Jonesboro. Paul Eells handles the play-by-play and Jimmy Dykes is the analyst.

The game is being broadcast on radio over the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network, which includes 69 affiliates. Mike Nail handles the play-by-play with former Razorback and NBA veteran Joe Kleine working as the analyst.



THE SERIES: Arkansas and Louisiana Tech have met just twice before with Arkansas winning both meetings. In 1987, UA beat Tech, 90-64. In 1991, the Razorbacks won 114-97. Both games were played in Little Rock. In the 1987 game, Tim Scott hit nine of 17 shots and scored a game-high 23 points. Andrew Lang had 14 points and 10 rebounds. In the 1991 game, Todd Day scored 23 points, Oliver Miller had 20 and Ron Huery had 19.



TOURNAMENT TESTED: Louisiana Tech is one of five teams on Arkansas’ schedule to earn a bid to the National Invitation Tournament last year. Tech reached the quarterfinals, going 2-1. UA’s other opponents to advance to the NIT include Memphis, LSU, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.



A LITTLE ABOUT THE BULLDOGS: Louisiana Tech is 1-2 after going 22-10 last year. LTU is a member of the Western Athletic Conference and finished third in the league at 14-4. Three starters and eight lettermen return for head coach Keith Richard, who is in his fifth season as LTU’s head coach. He has an 80-51 career record. The top returnees for the Bulldogs are 6-8 senior forward Antonio Meeking, who averaged 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds last year, and 6-5 senior guard Darrian Brown, who averaged 9.9 points and 6.3 boards. Meeking, who played high school ball with former Razorback Teddy Gipson at Farmerville (La.) High, is averaging 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds a game while shooting 54.5 percent from the field. LTU’s only win is a home victory over Millsaps, 77-49. Two players on Louisiana Tech’s roster are from Arkansas – senior guard Darrian Brown is from West Memphis and junior guard Brian Martin is from Greenwood.



ILLINOIS GAME RECAP: For the second time this season, Arkansas pushed a nationally-ranked opponent to the limit before coming up short as No. 20 Illinois held off the Razorbacks, 62-58, Saturday in a game played in Alltel Arena. On Nov. 30, Arkansas (1-4) missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer in a 61-60 loss to No. 22 Tulsa in Fayetteville.

Against Illinois, UA shot a season-high 42 percent from the field, a season-high 76.9 percent at the free throw line and out-rebounded the defending Big Ten champions, 36-21. The Hogs turned the ball over 22 times and Illinois shot 50 percent from the floor, including 56.5 percent in the second half. The Illini (5-0) led by four at the break and by 14, 44-30, with 14:30 remaining. Jonathon Modica made two free throws and Kendrick Davis a layup to get the Razorbacks within 57-56 with 5:03 left. It was 59-58 following a Dionisio Gomez layup at the 2:45 mark, but neither team scored again until the final 10 seconds. Brian Cook made a free throw with 8.4 seconds to go. Modica rebounded the miss on his second free throw, but Ferguson overthrew Gomez at the other end of the floor. With 1.9 seconds to play, Dee Brown made two free throws to seal the win for Illinois. Cook had 18 points for the Illini, followed by Roger Powell and James Augustine with 10 points each. Gomez recorded the third double-double of his career and his second of the season for Arkansas with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Davis had 14 points, and Ferguson and Modica 11 each. Modica also had six rebounds.



SEASON HIGHS: In several areas, Arkansas had its best game of the year in Saturday’s 62-58 loss to No. 20 Illinois. The Razorbacks shot a season-high 42 percent from the field (21-50) and a season-best 76.9 percent at the line (10-13), and tied for their second-best rebounding margin of the year (+15, 36-21), but Illinois shot 50 percent from the field, the best percentage the Hogs have allowed this season.



GOMEZ DOUBLES HIS DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Senior forward Dionisio Gomez entered the season with one double-double for his career, his career-high 18-point, 12-rebound effort in last year’s 79-75 victory at Tulsa. He has doubled that total with two double-doubles this season. He had 13 points and a career-high matching 12 rebounds in the 61-60 loss to No. 22 Tulsa and is coming off a 15-point, 11-rebound effort in Saturday’s 62-58 setback to No. 20 Illinois.



GOMEZ GOT IT GOING: In addition to recording double-doubles in two of the last three games, senior forward Dionisio Gomez has been solid in each of the last three contests. Over that time, he’s made 17 of 28 shots (.607) and five of seven free throws (.714), is averaging 13.3 points and 10.0 rebounds a game, 2.0 assists and 1.0 blocked shot.



DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORERS: Senior forward Dionisio Gomez and freshman guard/forward Jonathon Modica have each scored in double figures in the last three games, but freshman point guard Eric Ferguson has the longest current streak on the team at four. Ferguson reached double-digits at Oral Roberts (11), against Tulsa (14), against Troy State (15) and against Illinois (11.). Gomez had 13 against Tulsa, 12 against TSU and 15 against Illinois. Modica had 12 against Tulsa, 10 against TSU and 11 against Illinois. Freshman guard Kendrick Davis has also been in double figures four times in the first two games against Jackson State (13) and ORU (23), and in the last two against TSU (10) and Illinois (14).



BREAK FOR FINALS: Following the Louisiana Tech game, Arkansas is off for eight days for semester exams. The Razorbacks return to action Dec. 18 with a home game against Sam Houston State.

BAD START: Arkansas’ 1-4 start is the worst for the Razorbacks in 31 years. The last time Arkansas had just one win through the first five games was 1970-71 when the Hogs began the year 1-5 on the way to a 5-21 finish. UA’s current four-game losing streak matches its longest skid of last year when the Hogs lost at LSU, to South Carolina and Ole Miss, and at Georgia. The last time Arkansas lost five straight was 1985-86 when the Hogs dropped games to SMU, at TCU, at Texas, Texas Tech and Houston during a 12-16 season.



MODICA MAKING A MOVE: Freshman Jonathon Modica has played well for the Razorbacks and ranks among team leaders in several categories. He’s fourth on the club in scoring (9.6 ppg), second in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and first in shooting percentage (.562, 18-32). Over the last three games, Modica has made 12 of 17 shots (.706) and seven of 13 free throws (.538), and is averaging 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.



EDDINS ONLY REGULAR IN SEC WITHOUT A TURNOVER: Senior guard/forward Blake Eddins is leading the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio with a perfect mark of 1.000. He has two assists, both in the game against Troy State, and no turnovers. Eddins is the only player in the SEC to play in all of his teams games without recording a single turnover this season.



CRASHING THE BOARDS: Arkansas again won the battle of the boards in its last outing, out-rebounding Illinois, 36-21. Arkansas has won the battle of the boards in four of five games this year. In the other game, at Oral Roberts, UA and the Golden Eagles were tied with 38 boards each. Arkansas had a one-rebound adavantage against Troy State, 36-35, but dominated the boards against No. 22 Tulsa, claiming a 41-26 rebounding edge. In the season-opener against Jackson State, Arkansas set a school single-game record with 77 rebounds. That total is also a Bud Walton Arena record, as is UA’s 48 defensive boards against the Tigers. The Razorbacks had 29 offensive rebounds, just one short of matching the arena record in that category. Through five games, Arkansas is averaging 45.6 rebounds a game while holding opponents to 30.0, an advantage of 15.6 per game. Last year, UA’s rebounding high for a game was 40 and the Hogs were out-rebounded 24 times in 29 games last year. UA tied its opponent in rebounding twice.



DAVIS OPENS UA CAREER WITH CONSECUTIVE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES: Freshman guard Kendrick Davis opened his collegiate career with consecutive double-digit outings. He had a game-high 13 points in the opener against Jackson State and a game-high 23 at Oral Roberts.

Davis is the first Razorback freshman to reach double digits in his first two games since Joe Johnson in 1999-00. Johnson began his career with four straight double-figure scoring games: 16 against Alcorn State, 12 against Centenary, 10 at Memphis and 17 against Ole Miss.

Davis is the first UA newcomer to be the game’s top scorer in his first two games since junior Jesse Pate in 1995-96. Pate had game highs of 23 points against Northeast Louisiana, 29 against Arizona, a game-high tying 20 against Michigan State and a game-high 20 against North Carolina A&T in his first four contests.



DOUBLE-DOUBLE DEBUT FIRST FOR UA IN 20 YEARS: Freshman Jonathon Modica began his Razorback career in fine fashion with a double-double of 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds against Jackson State. He was four of nine from the field, had five offensive rebounds and added three steals in only 18 minutes of playing time.

Modica is the first Razorback to begin his career with a double-double since current UA radio analyst Joe Kleine hit six of nine shots and three of five free throws to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first game of his career, a 74-57 win over Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 27, 1982.



TRAIL OF THREES: With six three-pointers against Illinois, the Razorbacks have now made at least one three-pointer in 464 consecutive games. UA made at least one trey in every game it played in the 1990s. The last time UA failed to make a three was in a 99-92 win at Texas in January 1989, and the Hogs attempted just two three-pointers in that contest. Arkansas has played 528 games since the three-pointer was added to college basketball and failed to make a three in only six games. UA won those six games.



NEW FACES: In addition to the five freshman newcomers on this year’s squad, the Razorback roster features two additional first-year players.

Senior forward Billy Pharis has trasnferred to Arkansas from SMU. The Van Buren native must sit out this season but can practice with the team. He can’t play in the exhibition games, but played in the Red-White Game and had five points and three rebounds in 27 minutes for the Red squad. He will have one season to play with the Hogs in 2004.

Another newcomer is walkon point guard Brandan Hudspeth of Benton, Ark. A senior, Hudspeth was added to the team following walkon tryouts

[sportdawg]

Bulldogs Play Arkansas On The Road
Posted Dec 9, 2002 13:23:10

Louisiana Tech will play its third Southeastern Conference team of the season when the Bulldogs travel to play Arkansas on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Bulldogs (1-2) dropped both games they have played this season against SEC opponents, falling on the road to No. 7 Florida and No. 24 Mississippi State.

Meanwhile, the Razorbacks (1-4) have also dropped a pair of games to ranked teams, losing 61-60 to No. 19 Tulsa and 62-58 to No. 20 Illinois.

"Arkansas is a team with a new coach who is trying to lay the groundwork for his program," said Louisiana Tech head coach Keith Richard. "They are 1-4 but all their losses have been close. They play very hard and may be the best rebounding team that we've played against."

Arkansas has three players averaging in double-digits. Kendrick Davis leads the team with 13.0 points per game while Eric Ferguson and Dionisio Gomez score 12.0 and 10.0 points per game respectively. Gomez also tops the team with 7.6 rebounds per contest.

The Razorbacks have struggled offensively in their first five games, averaging 65.8 points per game. As a team, Arkansas is shooting 38.9 percent from the floor and just 30.7 percent from three-point range.

"They too, like us, have been struggling to find points night in and night out," Richard said. "It's going to be an interesting matchup to see which team can figure things out on the offensive end of the floor."

The Bulldogs hope to recover from a poor offensive outing in their last game against Mississippi State. Tech shot just 23.1 percent from the field, including just 17.6 percent from three-point range.

"We're trying to get this thing moving in a better direction," Richard said. "Our kids are a little lost right now, confidence-wise. We're being very positive with them and helping them work through this period of the season."

After three games, Louisiana Tech is averaging just 56.7 points per game, nearly 17 points below last season?s average.

"We don't have an identity on the offensive side of the floor right now," Richard said. "We're trying to figure out who we are offensively and I feel that once we do that, then I think we'll be a better offensive basketball team."

Senior forward Antonio Meeking leads Louisiana Tech with 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

The game will be broadcast on the Louisiana Tech Sports Network on KXKZ 107.5 FM (Ruston), KYLA 106.7 FM (Shreveport) and KBYO 104.5 FM (Tallulah/Vicksburg). The game can also be heard worldwide via the Internet on www.z1075fm.com