Is Arkansas the Toughest Opponent Left on Alabama's Schedule? Just a Minute

Watch the above video as BamaCentral staff writer Hunter De Siver discusses the final stretch of Alabama's regular season.

No. 25 Alabama basketball will play its 26th game of the regular season, and the 13th of SEC play, on Wednesday at home against No. 20 Arkansas.

We're in the home stretch of the regular season, as the Crimson Tide (18-7, 8-4 SEC) only has a handful of games remaining before the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

The Razorbacks (19-6, 9-3 SEC) are the only team left on Alabama's schedule that is currently ranked, and a top-25 win for Alabama would be pivotal in the conference standings and also for its postseason resumé. Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats is well aware of these implications.

"We're two-thirds of the way through conference [play] with six games left. [Arkansas] may be the toughest one out of the six remaining," Oats said during Wednesday's press conference. "There's some tough teams, but Arkansas is definitely right up there.

"They're a game ahead of us in the conference, they're playing really well. They've got really talented players, as any Calipari-coached team does."

Oats has faced John Calipari eight times since his arrival in 2019. The Crimson Tide went 3-4 against Kentucky when Calipari was the Wildcats' head coach. Alabama and Arkansas met once last season in Calipari's first year with the Razorbacks, as then-No. 3 Alabama survived then-unranked Arkansas 85-81 on the road on Feb. 8, 2025.

While Arkansas may be the only remaining team on Alabama's schedule that is ranked and ahead of the Tide in the conference standings, Oats and company have proved that they can hang with Calipari-coached teams.

But the road game against Tennessee (18-7, 8-4 SEC) on Feb. 28 might be the toughest game for Alabama. It's the Crimson Tide's third-to-last contest of the regular season, and the Volunteers firmly have UA's number.

Oats has thrived against the SEC throughout his tenure, but the same could not be said when facing the Volunteers. Alabama's 79-73 home loss to Tennessee on Jan. 24 brought the losing streak against the Vols to five games. It's the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the UT since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974).

"Not good," Oats said during the Tennessee postgame press conference. "They're really good. We haven't been good enough. The one up there really hurt last year (a game-losing buzzer-beater). I got a lot of respect for coach (Rick) Barnes. He's one of the best to do it in the last 20-30 years in college basketball. He's done a great job against us.

"We have to do a better job of prepping our guys. I thought they made good adjustments in the second half. They went to switch on the ball screens after we had some success against other coverages in the first half. He had a week to get his guys ready to go and he did a good job of getting them ready to go. I didn't do a good enough job of having our guys ready. He's a really good coach."

Oats is 3-7 against Tennessee, including a 1-3 clip on the road. It's why Tennessee might be a tougher opponent for Alabama than Arkansas.

Is Arkansas the Toughest Opponent Left on Alabama's Schedule? Just a Minute

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