Razorbacks ready for one shot at primetime Thanksgiving against Duke

Arkansas hopes different approach to feast week helps team down the road

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile drives the lane in a game against the Southern Jaguars at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-allHOGS Images

CHICAGO — As the rest of college basketball prepares for Thanksgiving Feast Week, it’s pure chaos and a week unlike any other on the season calendar.

Teams play multiple games on back-to-back days, often in locations thousands of miles away from their home stadium.

No. 6 Michigan just won the Players Era Festival by beating three teams, each by over 30 points, but for most teams the three games in three days is an unrealistic representation of the rest of the season.

At no other time except for the conference tournament does a team play that many games on a truncated timeline.  

Arkansas won’t partake in the chaos, instead opting for a two-hour flight from Fayetteville to Chicago to play in one of the premier arenas in basketball.

Instead of getting three shots within the span of 72 hours against varying levels of competition, the Razorbacks will get one shot at a premier team, No. 4 Duke.

For Trevon Brazile, it’s a welcome change from the circus of going to another country just to play three basketball games.

In Brazile’s two seasons under former coach Eric Musselman, the team went to both Hawaii and The Bahamas to play in eight-team tournaments.

“Just a very solid team all around,” Brazile said about Duke. “They have a lot of pieces. They have shooters. Obviously a big kid, [forward Cameron] Boozer, he’s going to play like a bulldog. So we know it’s going to be a scrappy game going in. That’s pretty much it.”

Arkansas will have its hands full against Boozer, who is averaging 21.1 points per game as a true freshman, good enough for top 20 in the nation.

While the experience of a long road trip was nice, Brazile hopes that by just playing one game, it will pay long-term dividends for his rest and recovery with just under 20% of the season in the books.

“It's hard playing three games in a row,” Brazile said.  You got to wake up and play again, and then you could go to overtime, and you got to wake up the next morning and play again. So it just takes a toll on your body, especially whenever you're traveling far away for a tournament.”

It’s the second straight year Arkansas opted for this approach, playing against Illinois on Thanksgiving in 2024.

Arkansas also hopes that keeping the cumulative wear and tear will keep the team fresh as the team tries to spread out its tough competition. Arkansas will have 6 days between Duke and welcoming another top 5 team in No. 5 Louisville.

Tipoff between Duke and Arkansas is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday and will be broadcast on CBS.