Arkansas to face Oklahoma State in Big 12/SEC Challenge

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FAYETTEVILLE -- For the third time in five seasons, Arkansas will play Oklahoma State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

The Razorbacks will travel to Stillwater, Okla., on Jan. 30, 2021, for their matchup with the Cowboys, the conferences announced Wednesday.

The two teams also met in back-to-back seasons for the challenge a few years ago, with the home team winning each game. Oklahoma State blew out Arkansas 99-71 at Gallagher-Iba Arena in 2017 and then the Razorbacks got payback by squeaking out a 66-65 victory at Bud Walton Arena in 2018.

Prior to those two games, Arkansas and Oklahoma State hadn’t met on the hardwood since a four-game series in the early-2000s that was swept by the Cowboys when they were led by former Arkansas coach Eddie Sutton.

They were also relatively common non-conference foes over a nearly five-decade period between 1925 and 1971. Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 37-15.

The Cowboys are coming off an 18-14 season in which they went 7-11 in Big 12 play. One of their victories was a dominant 78-37 win over Ole Miss in last year’s Big 12/SEC Challenge.

By knocking off No. 9 Iowa State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament before everything was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, Oklahoma State ended the year on a four-game winning streak and having won seven of its last nine games. At No. 64 in the NET, though, it likely would have needed to beat Kansas in its next game to garner at-large consideration for the NCAA Tournament.

Although the Cowboys return only one of their six primary starters from last season, their 2020 recruiting class ranked fourth nationally. The class is highlighted by 6-foot-8 point guard Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall player in the country who played with Moses Moody at Montverde Academy in Florida.

Oklahoma State also added a trio of four-star recruits in guards Donovan Williams and Rondel Walker and forward Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, as well as sharp-shooter Ferron Flavors Jr., a graduate transfer from Cal Poly.

The Razorbacks’ revised schedule has not yet been released, but the college basketball season is scheduled to begin Nov. 25. Head coach Eric Musselman has said he intends to play the maximum number of games and hinted that the schedule will have more of a local flavor in terms of the opponents to limit travel.

Florida at West Virginia

Texas at Kentucky

Texas Tech at LSU

Kansas at Tennessee

Auburn at Baylor

Iowa State at Mississippi State

Alabama at Oklahoma

TCU at Missouri

Arkansas at Oklahoma State

Texas A&M at Kansas State

SEC teams left out: Georgia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt