Duke and Arkansas’ brief but storied history heading into ACC/SEC Challenge
When No. 7 Duke takes on Arkansas in Fayetteville on Wednesday in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, it will present a historic matchup for two storied programs with a surprising amount of history between them.
It’ll be just their 5th meeting all time, and the Blue Devils’ first trip to Bud Walton Arena – but a lot of tension has been packed into these matchups. Of the four previous meetings between Duke and Arkansas, three have come in the later rounds of the NCAA Tournament. These high-stakes games have created a surprising amount of bad blood between two fan bases that have only faced off a handful of times.
While the Hogs losing three of their last four games has put a damper on the national hype heading into this game, Arkansas fans have prepared accordingly for what will be one of the biggest matchups in Bud Walton Arena’s history – right up there with the 1995 top-ten clash with Kentucky on Super Bowl Sunday and the 2022 upset of No. 1 Auburn that broke the BWA attendance record.
It will be a sellout crowd inside Bud Walton Arena, with a "white-out" dress code already being announced. The UA has also organized a camping system for students to line up in below-freezing temperatures over 24 hours before tipoff. Tickets have been hard to come by, with prices on third-party websites like Seatgeek and StubHub shooting into the thousands of dollars before coming back down to Earth this week.
“We are excited as a program to host such a storied program as Duke,” head coach Eric Musselman said back in July. “It’s a great opportunity for our fans to see a premier game in November. Our players and coaching staff have incredible respect for Duke’s history and current team. What a great early test and challenge for our team prior to SEC play.”
The jab of referring to a big game as your opponent’s “Super Bowl” has become popular online in the last few years, but this might be an instance where the term is accurate. Let’s break down the brief but dense history between these two schools.
1990 Final Four in Denver: Duke wins 97-83
In the first matchup, the Blue Devils dominated the Razorbacks in the Final Four to advance to the national title game. Senior guard Phil Henderson led Duke with 28 points, and the infamous Christian Laettner (see the ESPN 30-for-30 titled I Hate Christian Laettner) added a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds.
It was the first Final Four appearance for Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, and the third in a row and fourth overall for Duke’s Mike Krzyzewksi.
Despite the best efforts of Arkansas guard Todd Day, who scored 27 points, the Blue Devils were simply too much for the Hogs to handle as they scored 51 second half points en route to a double digit victory. In the national championship game, Duke was routed by Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels to the tune of 103-73.
1990 Preseason NIT in New York: Arkansas wins 98-88
The following regular season, No. 2 Arkansas got its revenge on No. 6 Duke with a 98-88 win in Madison Square Garden. Duke struggled to contain Arkansas, as six Razorbacks reached double figures. Laettner scored 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but the rest of the team struggled as Richardson’s hellish defensive style held the Blue Devils to just 36% from the field.
“They play a chaotic style and you need your whole team to beat them,” Krzyzewski said after the game. “We didn’t have everyone playing well, not even close. But that was Arkansas’ doing, believe me.”
1994 National Championship Game in Charlotte: Arkansas wins 76-72
Fresh off an SEC regular season title and boasting a 30-3 record, the Razorbacks earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won the Midwest Region. Duke, the ACC champions, earned a No. 2 seed and won the Southeast Region led by star forward Grant Hill.
Historically, Duke has garnered a hated reputation as an elitist, blue-blood school. This narrative was perpetuated in the leadup to the championship game, with a lot of press coverage focusing on how Duke, who had won two of the last three national titles, was the “smarter team” than Arkansas.
“It pissed us all off,” Arkansas forward Corliss Williamson said. “How can you say we’re not a smart team? We’re right here in the national championship game. To me it was some racial undertones there.”
Coach Richardson expressed similar sentiments, and said he felt disrespected at the coverage his team was receiving.
“This is how they feel about you,” Richardson said. “They just think that we just go out, throw a ball out there and say ‘go win.'
“The perception of a black coach…You have great talent. You’re a great motivator. We’ve got all the words, but we’re never great ‘coaches.'”
Richardson’s Hogs showed that they could indeed play with the Blue Devils, erasing a 10 point second half deficit behind a strong performance from Williamson, who had 23 points and 8 rebounds. The Razorbacks unleashed their full-court press, “40 Minutes of Hell” defensive style, imposing their will on Duke and forcing a remarkable 23 turnovers.
Then came “The Shot”. In the final minute of a tie game, a jumper that seemed to hang in the air forever. An iconic moment, immortalized in time. Sophomore sharpshooter Scotty Thurman drained a three pointer from the right arc as the shot clock expired, giving Arkansas a 73-70 lead with 50.7 seconds remaining. The Razorbacks would hang on for a 76-72 victory, winning their first national championship in program history. As CBS announcer Jim Nantz said, Arkansas had made it to “Hog Heaven”.
2022 Elite 8 in San Francisco: Duke wins 78-69
Nearly three decades after the ‘94 matchup, the two teams met again in the West Regional Final of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Much had changed since the last meeting – Arkansas went through a tumultuous period after Richardson’s tenure that included a 25-year period without advancing to the second weekend of the tournament.
Musselman returned the Razorbacks to prominence and deep tournament runs, knocking off No. 1 Gonzaga to advance to a second straight Sweet 16 appearance and set up the date with the Devils. For Krzyzewski and Duke, it had been more of the same for the blue-blood program. Since the last meeting, the Blue Devils had collected nine ACC titles, made five Final Fours, and won three national titles.
The 2022 Duke team included five NBA draft picks, most notably the eventual No. 1 overall selection, star power forward Paolo Banchero. The Blue Devils’ talent was too much for the Razorbacks, as Banchero had a double-double of 16 points and 7 rebounds. Center Mark Williams had 12 points, 12 boards, and 3 blocks on a perfect 6-6 from the field. Duke’s length and athleticism overwhelmed the Hogs despite solid performances from JD Notae and Jaylin Williams, who both reached double figures.
Coach K’s farewell tour came to an end in the next round, with Duke falling to hated rivals North Carolina in the national semifinal.
2023 ACC/SEC Challenge in Fayetteville: TBD
So what is in store for the latest iteration of Duke vs. Arkansas?
The Blue Devils, led by second-year head coach Jon Scheyer, are ranked 7th in the AP Poll and hold a 5-1 record after a home loss to No. 2 Arizona. They are led by a host of talented returners – headlined by seven-footer Kyle Filipowski, a projected lottery pick. Add in an extremely talented recruiting class, and Duke presents an incredibly tough matchup. Read a full scouting report on the Blue Devils here.
Arkansas debuted at No. 14 in the AP Poll, but has sputtered to a 4-3 start to the season as a new host of transfer additions have struggled to gel together early in the year. Musselman said that he has lived in the film room over the last few days, working to make adjustments and fix the Razorbacks’ issues.
It’s difficult to call this a rivalry, but you would be hard-pressed to find two other programs that have created so much history between each other in just four all-time matchups.
Duke (5-1) and Arkansas (4-3) will face off in Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday night in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge. Tipoff will be at 8:15 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised on ESPN.