MBB Preview: Arkansas vs Duke

Who: #21/21 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1, 0-0 SEC) vs #4/4 (7-0, 0-0 ACC)
What: For the second year in a row, Arkansas plays in the CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic.
When: Thursday – Nov. 27 – 7:00 pm (CT)
Where: Chicago, Ill. • United Center (21,000)
How (to follow):
– TV/Stream: CBS/Watch Paramount+ (Ian Eagle, Bill Raftery, Jon Rothstein)
– Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
– Sirius/XM: Sirius: 280 || XM: 190 || SXM App/Online Channel 960
– Arkansas Live Stats
– Razorback Gameday App

– Arkansas Game Notes   
– Duke Game Notes
– SEC Men’s Basketball Release/Stats

FAYETTEVILLE – The #22/21 Arkansas men’s basketball program will once again play in the CBS Sports Thanksgiving Classic, facing #4/4 Duke on Thursday (Nov. 27). Tipoff at Chicago’s United Center is set for 7 pm (CT) and the game will be televised on CBS.

The game will feature some of the nation’s top freshmen in the country. Arkansas’ Meleek Thomas and Darius Acuff Jr. are among the nation’s top 15 scoring rookies and are two of seven NCAA freshmen to average at least 16 points and four assists. Also, Thomas and Duke’s Cameron Boozer are the NCAA’s only freshmen to average at least 16.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals.

After Duke, the Razorbacks return home to host #6/5 Louisville for the ACC/SEC Challenge on Dec. 3 (Wed.). That game is set for 6 pm (CT) and will be televised on ESPN.

Three days after Louisville, Arkansas will make its annual trip to North Little Rock’s Simmons Bank Arena on Dec. 6 (Sat.) and stay on the road to face #20 Texas Tech in Dallas on Dec. 13 (Sat.).

NOTES:

• Last year, Arkansas fell to Illinois, 90-77, in the CBS Thanksgiving Classic that was played in Kansas City.
• In a rematch of five elite-level previous match-ups, Arkansas faces Duke as part of the CBS Thanksgiving Classic. The last meeting came two years ago in Fayetteville as part of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, a game the Hogs won, 80-75, to take a 3-2 lead in the all-time series.
• The programs’ first four meetings were all played on a neutral court:
  ^ The 2022 NCAA Elite 8 in San Francisco. Duke won 78-69.
  ^ The 1994 NCAA Championship in Charlotte. Arkansas won, 76-72.
  ^ The 1990 Preseason NIT in Madison Square Garden. Arkansas won, 98-88.
  ^ The 1990 NCAA Final Four in Denver. Duke won, 97-83.

• The last time Arkansas and Duke met was part of the SE/ACC Challenge before the largest crowd in Bud Walton Arena history (20,334) on the 30th anniversary of the first game played in the facility. Arkansas got 21 points from Khalif Battle and a double-double from Trevon Brazile to defeat #7 Duke, 80-75. Arkansas played without its leading scorer Tramon Mark, who was injured versus North Carolina at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Brazile made a career-high four 3-pointers, including a key triple with 2:16 left to put the Hogs up 12, and finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
• Arkansas is 0-2 in the United Center, with two losses to Illinois in December of 2001 and 2003.
• Razorback head coach John Calipari is 1-4 all-time versus Duke. All five meetings have been on a neutral court. Ironically, the one win came in Chicago’s United Center. Cal was 0-1 vs Duke at Memphis and 1-3 at Kentucky with all four being a part of the Champions Classic played in Atlanta (2012), Chicago (2015), Indianapolis (2018) and New York City (2012).
• Razorback head coach John Calipari is 3-3 all-time in the United Center. Two of the games were part of the CBS Sports Classic and four were part of the Champions Classic. All six were while Cal was head coach at Kentucky with wins over UCLA, Duke and North Carolina while falling to Michigan State and Kansas twice.
• Coach Cal now has 882 on-court wins and is 18 shy of reaching 900 wins as head coach of an NCAA Division I program.
• Arkansas ranks 16th in the NCAA — 1st in the SEC — in free throw percentage at 79.9% (123-154).
• Arkansas is averaging 25.33 points on fastbreaks, which ranks 5th-best in the NCAA.

For more­­ information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on X, Instagram and Facebook.