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Regardless of the outcome, history will be made at Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday.
For the first time since moving into the building in 1993-94, Arkansas is hosting the AP No. 1 team, with Auburn coming to Fayetteville for a 6 p.m. CT tip on ESPN2.
Although it’s expected to be a raucous environment, head coach Eric Musselman said the Razorbacks are taking the same approach as they have for previous games.
“I think it’s great for our fans (and) it’s a great opportunity for our players,” Musselman said. “But having said that, you’ve got to have a semblance of stability. You’ve got to understand that there cannot be emotions up and down throughout the 40-minute game. You’ve got to be steady in your approach.”
Arkansas is looking for just its second ever win over a No. 1 team, as it is just 1-11 all-time in such matchups. It has had some heartbreakers and some blowouts against teams coached by legends and led by future Hall of Famers.
Here’s a look back at each of those games…
Nov. 30, 1973 - Arkansas at No. 1 UCLA - L, 101-79
In the first game of Larry Van Eman’s final season as head coach, Arkansas headed west to open the season against the most dominant dynasty college basketball has ever seen.
UCLA had won seven straight NCAA titles - and nine in the previous 10 years - and was riding a 75-game winning streak. It had very little trouble extending that to 76. (The streak eventually reached 88 games, a record for men’s hoops.)
With a 15-point lead at halftime, John Wooden started rotating in his bench to see how his players responded to playing in front of a crowd before facing No. 4 Maryland the next day. The result was 16 players getting on the floor, including five freshmen.
Future Hall of Famer Bill Walton kicked off his senior season, in which he won his third straight National Player of the Year award, with a monster double-double, finishing with 23 points and 17 rebounds against the Razorbacks.
“This may sound surprising, but I may have actually underestimated UCLA,” Van Eman told the UPI. “I actually thought we might have a chance. We weren’t intimidated and I think our players played well. But UCLA had such tremendous strength up the middle that they would get three or four follow shots every time they put the ball I the air.”
Rickey Medlock led the way for Arkansas, scoring 27 points and adding 12 rebounds.
March 25, 1978 - No. 5 Arkansas vs. No. 1 Kentucky - L, 64-59 (Final Four)
A few years later, Eddie Sutton guided the Razorbacks to their first Final Four in 33 years. They were led by the famed Triplets - Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph - but their bid for a national title came up short against No. 1 Kentucky in the semifinals.
Arkansas was plagued by foul trouble, with Steve Schall committing four fouls in the game’s first seven minutes and Jim Counce picking up his fourth with just under four minutes left in the half. That enabled the Wildcats to take the lead, but the Razorbacks did pull within two at halftime.
However, Jack Givens caught fire early in the second half that built Kentucky’s lead back up. Arkansas managed to cut the lead to 59-58 with 3:33 left, when Alan Zahn - playing for Schall - tipped in a missed free throw, but it couldn’t get over the hump.
The dagger came with just under 2 minutes remaining, when Givens received an inbounds pass just past midcourt and made a fast-break layup to ice the victory for Kentucky, which then beat Duke to win the national title.
Arkansas’ star trio combined for 44 of their team’s 59 points, with Brewer scoring a team-high 16 points. Delph and Moncrief contributed 15 and 13 points, respectively.
March 17, 1979 - No. 5 Arkansas vs. No. 1 Indiana State - L, 73-71 (Elite 8)
With Brewer and Delph graduated, Moncrief put together one of the best seasons in UA history as a senior in 1978-79. He nearly got Arkansas back into the Final Four, but the season ended in controversy in the Elite 8.
Facing an undefeated Indiana State team led by Larry Bird, the Razorbacks played a back-and-forth second half that featured six ties. The last of those ties came when Bird made a pair of free throws to tie it up at 71-71 with 1:31 remaining.
Arkansas opted to try to hold the ball for the last 91 seconds, as this was the pre-shot clock era, but U.S. Reed was whistled for traveling at the 1:02 mark to give the Sycamores the ball. It was a controversial call that angers Arkansas fans to this day. “That’s not traveling in our league,” Sutton said after the game.
That said, the Razorbacks still had a chance to get the game to overtime. Indiana State called a timeout with 18 seconds left to draw up a play, but couldn’t get the ball to Bird because he was so closely guarded by Moncrief.
Instead, Bob Heaton ended up with the ball and his left-handed half-hoot shot somehow went in with 2 seconds left to send the Sycamores to the Final Four. They eventually lost to Michigan State in a showdown between Bird and Magic Johnson.
Bird finished with 31 points against the Razorbacks, but had only four of those in the final eight minutes of the game, when Moncrief started guarding him. It was a move Sutton admitted he wished he’d made earlier in the game.
“We had thought all morning about whether to put Sidney on Bird,” Sutton told the Gannett News Service. “We were afraid he might get in foul trouble. He did an incredible job on him and, if we had to do it over, we’d put him on Bird from the start.”
In the matchup of two future Hall of Famers, Moncrief scored 24 points on 10 of 16 shooting and added 8 rebounds, while Bird scored his 31 points on 12 of 22 shooting and notched a double-double by also grabbing 10 rebounds.
March 3, 1983 - No. 1 Houston at No. 5 Arkansas - L, 74-66
Playing in front of a record crowd of 9,512 fans at Barnhill Arena, the Razorbacks took a couple of early leads, but Houston’s Phi Slama Jama controlled the game for most of the night.
In the first top-five matchup in SWC history, Arkansas managed to cut the Cougars’ lead to 57-56 with 5:48 left thanks to big plays by Joe Kleine and Alvin Robertson. Houston’s pair of future Hall of Famers - Akeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler - helped the Cougars answer with an 8-0 run, though.
That was the Razorbacks’ last gasp, as Houston won its 19th straight game and clinched its first regular-season SWC title.
“Houston has a great basketball team,” Sutton told the AP. “Neither team played as well as we’re capable, but that happens sometimes in a big game like this. Houston got the jump on us and we were forced to play catchup all night. We never could quite get over the hump.”
Feb. 12, 1984 - No. 1 North Carolina at Arkansas - W, 65-64 (Pine Bluff)
One of the most memorable games - and the only win over an AP No. 1 team - in UA history was played in Pine Bluff.
The Razorbacks had dropped out of the AP Poll following back-to-back losses to Rice and Villanova a couple weeks earlier, while North Carolina was riding a 21-game winning streak and was the last unbeaten major college team.
Throw in the fact that bad weather prevented the team from flying out of Dallas after beating SMU the day before, causing them not to arrive in Pine Bluff until two hours before tip off, and that the team had watched only about 30 minutes of game film on the Tar Heels because their primary focus was on that conference matchup, and it was a truly remarkable upset.
“This ranks with the best of my basketball thrills,” Sutton told the AP afterward. “I don’t know how it ranks with Arkansas’ all-time victories. Our victory over UCLA in 1978 was a big one because it gave our program credibility. But no Arkansas team has beaten a No. 1-ranked team, so this was a big one.”
It was a dramatic finish, as well. The Razorbacks led by four at halftime and maintained a lead until there was about a minute left. Back-to-back buckets by a player named Michael Jordan put North Carolina up 64-63.
Sutton called a timeout with 29 seconds left to draw up a play, but Robertson ran into traffic when he drove the lane. He barely managed to get the ball to Charles Balentine, who knocked down the game-winner with 4 seconds left.
“When I got the ball, I was surprised for a moment, but everybody should be looking for the ball when Alvin has it because he’s such a great passer,” Balentine said. “When I put it up, I just hoped and prayed it would go in.”
The Tar Heels had a chance to answer, but couldn’t get the ball to Jordan - who finished with a game-high 21 points - on the inbounds and instead, Steve Hale missed a shot from the corner at the buzzer.
Feb. 10, 1991 - No. 1 UNLV at No. 2 Arkansas - L, 112-105
For just the 18th time in college basketball history, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the AP Poll met in the regular season when Arkansas welcomed UNLV to Fayetteville in 1991.
The Razorbacks had won 51 of their last 55 games at home and actually led by four at halftime, but the Runnin’ Rebels asserted their dominance in the second half to win their 31st straight game.
They scored 29 points in the first seven minutes of the half and outscored Arkansas 52-25 to take a 23-point lead with 6:23 left before cruising the rest of the way. During that stretch, UNLV made 19 shots and all but three of them were at the basket.
It was a wild atmosphere - “I’ve never walked into an arena like this one,” UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian remarked afterward - that included students who camped out for several days.
Unfortunately, the Runnin’ Rebels did to Arkansas what the Razorbacks usually do to opponents. UNLV won the turnover battle 23-15 and notched 11 steals in the second half.
Led by three eventual lottery picks, including first-overall pick Larry Johnson, UNLV’s winning streak reached 44 games before it fell to Duke in the Final Four. Stacey Augmon scored a game-high 21 points against Arkansas, while Johnson had 25 and Greg Anthony scored 8 points with 10 assists.
“The need to go to the NBA,” Oliver Miller said after the game. “They’e got the talent, and they know how to use it.”
The game is also remembered for the scuffle between Johnson and Todd Day, in which Day threw a punch at - and missed - Johnson. Both players were ejected with 2:27 left.
At one point in the second half, Johnson infamously told legendary Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, “Coach, you got to get some men.”
April 3, 1995 - No. 6 Arkansas vs. No. 1 UCLA - L, 89-78 (National Championship)
Defending their national title from the previous season, the Razorbacks survived several scares in the 1995 NCAA Tournament to make it all the way back to the national championship. Standing in their way of repeating, though, was No. 1 UCLA.
The Bruins were without starting point guard Tyus Edney for most of the game because of an injury, but Arkansas’ luck ran out and UCLA controlled most of the game. Ed O’Bannon - the tournament’s most outstanding player - was dominant, scoring 30 points and grabbing 17 rebounds.
The story of the game, though, was the struggles of Corliss Williamson. The Razorbacks’ All-American went just 3 of 16 from the floor, including 1 of 10 in the second half, and went nearly 34 minutes of game time between field goals. He was shut down by UCLA 7-footer George Zidek.
“This is one game I think Corliss would wish never happened,” Richardson said afterward. “But as I told him, ‘You have taken us to the promised land so many nights, doing the same things you did tonight.’”
Scotty Thurman, the hero of the 1994 title game, also had a tough night. He scored just five points and was 2 of 9 from the field, including 1 of 7 from 3-point range.
March 9, 1996 - Arkansas vs. No. 1 Kentucky - L, 95-75 (SEC Tournament)
Squaring off in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in New Orleans, Arkansas managed to keep the game tied for about five minutes, but Kentucky went on an 18-9 run and never looked back.
The Wildcats led by as many as 30 and cruised to their 27th win in a row. They dominated the boards, finishing plus-16 and grabbing 26 offensive rebounds, while also scoring 24 points off Arkansas 25 turnovers.
Freshmen Derek Hood and Kareem Reid had six turnovers apiece for the Razorbacks.
“I thought, watching us play, that turnovers, especially going down the stretch, were a problem,” Richardson told the AP. “They beat us to the ball on every occasion. They also controlled the ball from a defensive standpoint.”
March 21, 1996 - Arkansas vs. No. 1 UMass - L, 79-63 (Sweet 16)
Coming off back-to-back appearances in the national championship game, the Razorbacks snuck into the 1996 NCAA Tournament as a 12-seed and knocked off Penn State and Marquette to reach the Sweet 16.
Unfortunately, they ran into another No. 1 team - this time a UMass team coached by John Calipari.
Even with All-American center Marcus Camby benched for the first 1:13 of the game because he was late for the team bus, the Minutemen scored the first 13 points of the game and Arkansas never really threatened.
Despite not starting, Camby - the No. 2 overall pick in that summer’s NBA Draft - finished with 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting.
The Razorbacks had four freshmen in their starting lineup and that youth was apparent, as they started the game 5 of 31 from the floor. They managed to shoot 17 of 33 from that point on, but it was too late.
“UMass played great,” Richardson said afterward. “They were tremendous. They dominated both ends of the court. I told our kids they were overachievers. Let’s not forget they’re freshmen.”
March 23, 2008 - Arkansas vs. No. 1 North Carolina - L, 108-77 (2nd Round)
An assistant for Dean Smith when Arkansas knocked off the Tar Heels in Pine Bluff 24 years earlier, Roy Williams had a much different result against the Razorbacks with his No. 1 North Carolina team.
After getting by Indiana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Arkansas was blown out by top-seed North Carolina in the Round of 32. The 31-point margin was the second-worst NCAA Tournament loss in UA history, surpassed only by a 35-point loss to Cincinnati and Oscar Robertson in 1958.
First-year coach John Pelphrey quipped to reporters that the Razorbacks could have started six players and it probably wouldn’t have helped.
“It’s a game of runs (and) we’re still waiting for ours,” Pelphrey said. “We lost this game everywhere you want to look at it. They were just better than us.”
North Carolina’s trio of first-round picks were its leading scorers against Arkansas, with Wayne Ellington leading the way with 20 points. Ty Lawson had 19 points and 7 assists, while Tyler Hansbrough notched a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Feb. 28, 2015 - No. 18 Arkansas at No. 1 Kentucky - L, 84-67
March 15, 2015 - No. 21 Arkansas vs. No. 1 Kentucky - L, 78-63 (SEC Tournament)
Probably the best team during Mike Anderson’s tenure as Arkansas’ head coach, the 2014-15 version of the Razorbacks got two cracks at one of the best college basketball teams to fall short of a national title in recent memory.
However, Arkansas lost to Kentucky by 17 at Rupp Arena and by 15 in the SEC Tournament championship game, as the Wildcats started the season 38-0 before losing to Wisconsin in the Final Four.
The Razorbacks never led in either matchup and actually trailed by as many as 31 and 21, respectively. They were no match for a Kentucky team that featured four lottery picks - including eventual NBA All-Stars Devin Booker and Karl Anthony-Tows - and four others who’ve played in the NBA.
Bobby Portis, Arkansas’ lone NBA player on that team, scored 15 and 13 points in the two matchups, while Michael Qualls led the team in scoring in both games, with 17 and 18 points.
