Hoop Hogs expecting strong crowd for Purdue exhibition
FAYETTEVILLE — For the second year in a row, head coach Eric Musselman and his Arkansas Razorbacks will face a tough preseason test in a charity exhibition against an elite opponent.
Last season, Musselman took his squad of five-star freshmen and highly-touted transfers to Austin, Texas, where they suffered a 30-point blowout loss against the Texas Longhorns.
This time around, the Razorbacks will be in the friendly confines of Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville for a matchup with the No. 3 Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday.
"To be able to play a team that has a chance to win a national championship certainly makes this game way more meaningful and way more special than just a normal exhibition game when you look at lessons that can be learned once this game is over," Musselman said Tuesday.
Led by reigning National Player of the Year Zach Edey, Purdue will present as tough of a test as any team in the country could. The Boilermakers were ranked 3rd in the AP preseason Top-25 and Edey was picked as preseason Big Ten Player of the Year.
"I thought yesterday we had a good practice as far as preparation," Musselman said. "But again, we understand internally that Purdue is, just based on their returners and roles and understanding expectations, they’re probably way ahead of where we are not only today, but where we’ll be even two weeks from today. But it’s a great game for us, for sure."
According to Musselman, around 14,000 tickets have been sold to the public, with 3,000 being held for students. Those are the numbers as of Tuesday, so they have time to reach 19,200 (capacity) and beyond. With the football team on a bye week and this game being scheduled on a Saturday, the crowd should be just like a conference matchup in February.
"You don't see too many Top 15 matchups like this in October," Arkansas forward Chandler Lawson said Tuesday. "I feel like this will be a great challenge for us and also for them to see what we need to work on in the future. This is a huge test for us, seeing what we need to work on in the future.
"I feel like a lot of guys are ready, and I feel like we're already getting prepared for this moment. It's like a March Madness matchup, and I feel like it's going to be a great event Saturday for the fans to see in October."
Musselman's squad features nine newcomers — seven transfers and two freshmen. While last Friday's dominant 53-point exhibition win over UT Tyler had a decent crowd in attendance, this Saturday's top-15 showdown with Purdue should have a packed house.
"We like the dress rehearsals I think too because of the fact that, changing rosters, I think that it’s important," Musselman said. "I think this game is really good for Coach (Matt) Painter and Purdue, too, because we’re going to have a great crowd. They’re going to draw crowds wherever Purdue goes.
"They’re going to be sold out probably every game that they go on the road because they’re ranked so high and because of the returning group that he has, and because they have a national Player of the Year candidate that just doesn’t come into opposing buildings often. So I think this game is going to be great for them, too."
Some teams around the country have been having "super-secret" exhibitions against other schools with the results and notable stats being leaked to national reporters. Musselman said he isn't a fan of doing preseason basketball that way.
"We were one of the first teams that understood the rule of how you could navigate having a Division I team play you instead of a secret scrimmage," Musselman said. "Those are absolutely, unequivocally meaningless. The ones I’ve been a part of, actually a waste of time. I remember San Francisco beating us at Arizona State by 49 points the day after Halloween. It meant nothing at all to our team or anything."
Proceeds from the game will go to the United Way to assist with relief efforts from the tornados that affected Arkansas this past spring. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. CT at Bud Walton Arena and it will be streamed live on the SEC Network+.