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FAYETTEVILLE — It has been a long time coming, but Arkansas will finally play a top-25 matchup inside Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday.

Now up to No. 20 in the AP Poll, the Razorbacks welcome No. 6 Alabama to Fayetteville for an 8 p.m. CT tip on ESPN2. The last time a ranked Arkansas team played another ranked team at home was 23 years ago, when No. 16 Arkansas beat No. 13 South Carolina 96-88 on Feb. 18, 1998.

“How long it’s been kind of puts things in perspective for probably our staff a little bit, as well as the players,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “It’s hard to get ranked and it’s two really good teams playing. Obviously, you look at Alabama and I think they’re as talented as any team in the country.”

The hype surrounding this game has been building for a while, especially since Friday afternoon when the Razorbacks’ game at Texas A&M on Saturday was postponed.

In a normal year, this kind of matchup would likely lead to 20,000-plus fans cramming inside Bud Walton Arena, but only 4,400 will be allowed in because of the ongoing pandemic.

That hasn’t slowed down the excitement for the game, though, as its been the hot topic across all forms of media this week, but Musselman said isn’t concerned about distractions playing a factor.

“Fortunately, I don't think any of our guys are listening to AM or FM radio - I think they're probably listening to music,” Musselman said. “No offense to anybody, but I don't think they get the newspaper delivered to their house, so I’m not real worried about it.”

It will be just the seventh top-25 matchup played inside Bud Walton Arena since it opened in 1993-94, with the first six occurring in the building’s first five seasons.

Even though there will be limited attendance, the game should have a large national audience because it’s being televised on ESPN2, which has the players fired up.

“The entire nation is going to be watching because we’re going to try to make our step,” Jalen Tate said. “It’s a big-time SEC game, so I’m definitely excited about this one, man, especially at Bud Walton, with all the history the arena has.”

As historic as it is, Musselman is mainly concerned about his team having a better showing that the last time it played the Crimson Tide.

Last month, the Razorbacks traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., and were blown out 90-59 at Alabama for their fourth loss in five games - with three by double figures.

“I’m just worried about this year and how do we win this game,” Musselman said. “Alabama’s had an outstanding year. When we played them the first time, their offense was like a Lamborghini and our’s was like a Prius.

“The elephant in the room from Game 1 (was) 90, 18 and 15 - they made 15 threes, they scored 90 points and we had 18 turnovers, so we obviously have to play a lot better basketball than we did in Tuscaloosa.”

Those 15 three-pointers - a hallmark of Nate Oats-coached teams - came on 36 attempts, with leading scorers John Petty and Jaden Shackelford combining to go 9 of 16. Facing an even better shooting duo in Florida’s Tre Mann and Noah Locke, Arkansas held them to a combined 2 of 12 from beyond the arc.

Moses Moody accounted for nearly half of the Razorbacks’ points, scoring a career-high 28, and they were minus-7 on the boards in Justin Smith’s first game back - at least a week ahead of schedule - from ankle surgery.

“When I go back and watch that game, we weren’t ourselves honestly,” Tate said. “We’re a completely different team now, we’re moving the ball a lot differently. It was Justin’s first game back and I don’t know if he was all the way ready, but we know we are now and we have just a different approach.”

Since that blowout loss, Arkansas has regrouped and won seven straight SEC games, which is tied for its second-longest such streak since joining the conference in 1991-92.

A key to that run has been the Razorbacks’ freshmen. Although Moody has been consistent throughout the year, Davonte Davis and Jaylin Williams have only gotten better as the season has progressed.

Davis is averaging 10.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.1 steals since that game and that doesn’t even factor in the things he does that don’t show up in the box score. The same can be said about Williams, who is not much of a scorer, but leads the team in charges drawn (12) and is coming off a 10-rebound performance against Florida.

“I think our freshmen have gained confidence,” Musselman said. “(They) are continuing to understand what we want on both sides of the ball, understanding second and third and fourth options offensively on our sets and then also understanding maybe our rotations defensively.”

However, Alabama is still a “matchup nightmare,” Musselman said, because it is loaded with players who can shoot the three and beat you off the dribble.

The Crimson Tide have used great spacing and an effective drive-and-kick game to shoot 36.0 percent from beyond the arc, which leads the SEC, despite being a high-volume attempt team. Their 10.9 made three-pointers per game ranks third nationally, as does their 694 total attempts.

The other hallmark of Oats’ teams is getting to the basket for layups, which is another reason Alabama is one of the best offensive teams in the country. Its 80.9 points per game rank 22nd among Division I teams.

Defensively, the Crimson Tide are even better. They defend the three better than anyone else in the SEC (29.2 percent) and are No. 2 nationally in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rating.

“They’re active on both sides of the ball,” Musselman said. “Everybody always talks about Alabama’s offense, their defense is phenomenal. Again, I just think you look at both sides of the ball, in my opinion, they’re as good as anybody in the entire country.”

While Arkansas will have a healthy Smith in the lineup this time, Alabama will benefit from having Jordan Bruner in the starting lineup. He missed about a month, including the previous matchup, with a torn meniscus, but returned to action Saturday against Vanderbilt.

The 6-foot-10 graduate transfer from Yale scored only one point in that game, but grabbed six rebounds in 19 minutes. He was a guy the Razorbacks targeted in the portal before he chose Alabama.

“He can knock down threes, he’s a very good rebounder, he’s an active player,” Musselman said. “With the guys that have been there for four years in Jones, Petty, Reese, and then you throw in a grad transfer in Bruner, when you have four guys that are that experienced, they have all the pieces to do damage in March, and they’ve already done damage in our own league.”

It’s setting up to be a much more competitive game than the first time around. Arkansas is looking to take sole possession of second place in the SEC, while Alabama is trying to clinch the regular-season conference title.

“This is honestly something you dream about,” Tate said. “When I came in here, I felt like we had a top-20, top-25 caliber team and it's something we talked about in the offseason. … Now that you're here, it's not time to relax.”

ESPN’s Basketball Power Index gives Arkansas a 53.1 percent chance to win the game and the Razorbacks are also slightly favored by Vegas oddsmakers.

“We're playing a top ranked team in the country,” Musselman said. “If we think we're going to play an A-minus game and win, I can already tell you the answer to that quiz: we ain't winning.

“We have to play a great game on Wednesday in order to win the game and give ourselves a chance to even win.”