Duke Cherry on Top of Already Awesome Home Slate for Arkansas

Razorbacks, Blue Devils have never played against each other unranked or in true road game

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Jun 28, 2023 12:23 PM EDT
Original:
Jun 28, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – As he walked away from a press conference centered around the NBA Draft a few days ago, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman took a quick dive back toward the microphone for a shameless plug for season ticket purchases. The home SEC slate already made it likely that the program would continue its propensity for sell-outs, but news Wednesday morning pretty much guaranteed those season tickets won't be around for long.

Razorback fans already had a lot to be excited about with high profile games in Bud Walton Arena against Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, LSU, Texas A&M, Auburn, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, but with the announcement that Arkansas has drawn Duke for its inaugural ACC-SEC Challenge opponent, the buzz surrounding the 2023-24 home schedule may be at an all-time high.

Duke and Arkansas most famously met in the 1994 national championship game in Charlotte where Scotty Thurman hit a high arcing three as the shot clock expired in the final minute of the game to give the Razorbacks a 76-72 win.

This will be the first time either team has traveled to the other's home court. The two teams have met four times, all on neutral floors and each with both teams ranked, resulting in a 2-2 series. Early indications are that the showdown the Wednesday after Thanksgiving will continue the streak of both teams being ranked. Duke is projected to begin the season at No. 2, while Arkansas is project at No. 14.

"Our players and coaching staff have incredible respect for Duke’s history and current team," Musselman said in an official statement Wednesday morning. "We recognize Duke will be a preseason number one team in many polls. What a great early test and challenge for our team prior to SEC play.”

These two teams last met in the swan song year for legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski in the Elite 8 in San Francisco following the Razorbacks' upset of No. 1 seed Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. The Blue Devils held on, 78-69 to advance to the Final Four.

The only other year the two teams squared off was in 1990 in the early days of Todd Day, Lee Mayberry and Oliver Miller. Duke knocked off the Razorbacks in the Final Four in 1990 in Denver in a battle to see who would lose the title to UNLV. Arkansas then got its revenge eight months later, 98-88, in Madison Square Garden as part of the Preseason NIT in a high profile November showdown.