2020 SEC schedule for Arkansas' women's basketball announced
Texarkana Razorback basketball fans can start getting preparing their travel schedule for 2020.
Arkansas Women’s Basketball’s 16-game 2020 Southeastern Conference slate has officially been released, the league office announced today.
The Hogs will tip off the new conference season against Texas A&M, who they bounced out of the SEC Tournament with one of, if not the most, dramatic comebacks in the history of the program. That game is slated for Thursday, January 2, and will be played at Bud Walton Arena.
“Finding out your SEC schedule kind of feels like setting up 16 dentist appointments over a nine-week period,” Head Coach Mike Neighbors said. “None of them will be easy, but you know that’s part of what comes with playing in this conference. You have to know as a team there are stretches in there that can define your season if you look at it as a challenge rather than an opportunity. Our roster is experienced from last season to know losing eight of nine late in the year can sharpen you up for a postseason run rather than grind you down. Our team embraces that and is working to make sure we do our part to make the SEC a great women’s basketball conference.”
The Razorbacks will open SEC play at home for the third year in a row, where they are 1-1 over that stretch. Following the rematch with the Aggies, Neighbors’ crew will head out on the road, as they will visit The Plains to play Auburn (Jan. 5) followed by a trip to Colonial Life Arena for a road showdown with the Gamecocks (Jan. 9), another team the Hogs eliminated from the 2019 SEC Tournament.
Following the season’s opening stretch, Neighbors’ team has a favorable two weeks lined up, as they will get three out of their next four games in front of the Razorback faithful. The stretch begins with a matchup against Missouri (Jan. 12), followed by the Hogs’ first bye of the season. Arkansas will come off its bye and hit the road for a quick trip to take on Vanderbilt (Jan. 19), followed by back-to-back home games against Georgia (Jan. 23) and Florida (Jan. 26).
The homestand ends as the Razorbacks head onto the road for the third time in 2020, as they will head to Tuscaloosa to tangle with the Tide (Jan. 30) followed by a trip to Columbia, Missouri for a rematch with Mizzou (Feb. 2). That two-game road trip will be followed by two more games at home, as the Gamecocks head to Fayetteville (Feb. 6) for the second matchup of the teams in 2020, followed by a home showdown against Kentucky (Feb. 9).
Following its second and final bye of the SEC slate, Arkansas will finish the regular season with a five-game stretch that sees the Hogs on the road three times with two home games mixed in, including the 2020 regular season finale.
As the Razorbacks make their final push towards the postseason, they will head to Oxford for a showdown with Ole Miss (Feb. 16), followed by a home game against the Volunteers of Tennessee (Feb. 20), who Arkansas downed last season in the final moments of their lone regular season matchup.
Arkansas will go on the road twice more in the regular season, as they will face Florida in Gainesville (Feb. 24) before heading to Starkville to face Mississippi State (Feb. 27) in a rematch of the 2019 SEC Tournament Final. The Hogs will close the season at home for the first time since 2017, as LSU (March 1) will come to Fayetteville for the Razorbacks’ final regular season contest.
2020 SEC Schedule:
Thursday, Jan. 2 – Texas A&M
Sunday, Jan. 5 – @ Auburn
Thursday, Jan. 9 – @ South Carolina
Sunday, Jan. 12 – Missouri
Sunday, Jan. 19 – @ Vanderbilt
Thursday, Jan. 23 – Georgia
Sunday, Jan. 26 – Florida
Thursday, Jan. 30 – @ Alabama
Sunday, Feb. 2 – @ Missouri
Thursday, Feb. 6 – South Carolina
Sunday, Feb. 9 – Kentucky
Sunday, Feb. 16 – @ Ole Miss
Thursday, Feb. 20 – Tennessee
Monday, Feb. 24 – @ Florida
Thursday, Feb. 27 – @ Mississippi State
Sunday, March 1 – LSU
Photo courtesy of Arkansas Athletics.
