Arkansas suffers historic loss to UCLA Bruins

LOS ANGELES – Arkansas suffered a 101-52 loss to No. 5 UCLA as part of a return trip for the Razorbacks in a home-and-home between the two schools after the teams faced each other in Fayetteville last year.

Arkansas stayed with the Bruins, who had a significant lead over 6-foot-10 Lauren Betts and 6-foot-2 Angela Dugalic, for the first five minutes of the game. The Bruins used that extra length to get a total of 65 rebounds and 29 boards on the offensive glass. Arkansas was held to just 27 rebounds.

After Arkansas cut the deficit to just six at 20-14 in the first quarter, UCLA closed the half on a 37-11 run to lead 57-25 at the break.

It’s the worst loss for a Mike Neighbors-coached team in Arkansas. The final losing margin of 49 points breaks the previous record of 46 (89-43) set in Neighbors’ first year against Arizona State. The Razorbacks narrowly avoided the worst loss in program history (54, 82-28, vs. Louisiana Tech in 1978).

UCLA was led by Timea Gardiner, whose seven threes led to a game-high 23 points. The Bruins had four players with more than 15 points, including Gardiner, Dugalic, Betts and Janiah Barker.

The Razorbacks were led by Izzy Higginbottom with 15 points on 5-of-18 shooting. The team shot just 29% from the field overall (18-for-63), including 19% from beyond the arc (7-for-39).

The Hogs return to Bud Walton Arena to take on Oral Roberts on Thursday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.

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