Razorback Report: Arkansas fends off late rally by Drake at Music City Classic

Your daily briefing on what's going on with Arkansas Razorbacks' athletics

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Kelsi Musick on the sidelines during game against UCA Sugar Bears at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. | Munir El-Khatib-allHOGS Images

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Arkansas women’s basketball won its first game at the Music City Classic Tuesday, setting itself to be thankful for a lot of things on Thanksgiving Day.

The Razorbacks (5-1) defeated Drake, 79-72, at the Trojan Fieldhouse in Nashville. Arkansas never trailed, scoring its first points in the opening minute of play and never looking back.

Kelsi Musick's squad had four players score at least 10 points or more, with Taleyah Jones leading the way with 15 points. Jenna Lawrence was second with 14 points, followed by Wyvette Mayberry with 12 and Maria Anais Rodriguez had 10.

Freshman Bonnie Deas led Arkansas with 13 rebounds and was one point shy of another double-double performance. Quinn Vice had a team-high 21 points for Drake.

Arkansas built a 17-point lead with 3:33 left to play, but Drake outscored the Razorbacks 12-2 in the final minutes of action to indicate the contest a lot closer than it actually was.

“We should have closed the game better,” Musick said. “We had built a pretty good lead and we allowed them to cut into our lead. We have to better about that because if it’s a close game, that changes things.”

The defense for Arkansas played a big role in securing the win. The Razorbacks forced 22 Drake turnovers while scoring 26 points off those turnovers.

“I loved our defensive effort to start the game,” Musick said. “I thought we did a good job of covering all that motion, those split screens and all that action. I thought my team did a good job of applying pressure and forcing them to make poor decisions.”

The Razorbacks will continue play at the Music City Classic Wednesday against Southern Illinois. Tipoff is set for 5:45 p.m. and BallerTV.

Yesterday’s Results

• Women’s Basketball: Arkansas 79, Drake 72

Today’s Schedule

• Women’s Basketball: Arkansas vs. Southern Illinois, 5:45 p.m., BallerTV

Did You Notice?

• Arkansas senior women’s  runner Syndey Vaught was named the 2025 USTFCCCA South Central Region Athlete of the Year in cross country via voting by coaches. This marks the third consecutive year for a Razorback to receive the women’s honor. Vaught recently earned her second All-America honor in cross country by placing 13th in the NCAA Championships with career-best time of 18:59.6.

• Arkansas junior men’s runner Timothy Chesondin was named 2025 USTFCCCA South Central Region Athlete of the Year in cross country via voting by coaches. He’s the sixth-straight Razorback to earn the men’s accolade. Chesondin completed his season with an All-America performance in the NCAA Championships as he placed 19th with a time of 28:52.6

• Arkansas softball senior infielder Atalyia Rijo is competing for the Dominican Republic in the XX Juegos Bolivarianos Ayacucho – Lima 2025 in La Molina, Lima, Peru this week. Rijo and the Dominican Republic are facing Bolivia, Venezuela, and Peru in the five-day event. The Dominican Republic is currently 1-2 overall after falling to host Peru (3-1) and Venezuela (11-4) on Sunday before run-ruling Bolivia, 11-0 on Monday morning.

We’ll Leave You With This

Arkansas athletics director Hunter Yurachek's brain fries having to answer for the problems going on at Ole Miss.

The worst part about this answer from CFP chair Hunter Yurachek was that you know he had that one ready to go when asked about Ole Miss potentially not having Lane Kiffin.

Don’t act as if this is some joke. There’s a lot at stake, including over $50 million to Oxford economy pic.twitter.com/WlO3gslf2I

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) November 26, 2025