On a mostly clear, roughly 58-degree day in Charlotte, North Carolina, 31 years ago on Friday, the Arkansas Razorbacks clinched their first and only National Championship 76-72 over the Duke Blue Devils.
College basketball looked way different then than it does now. Name, image and likeness wasn’t even a thought, and the transfer portal was still over 25 years away from opening.
Legendary Razorback head coach Nolan Richardson patrolled the sidelines, with his patented “40 minutes of hell” winning him games left and right, as the Hogs finished the season with 31 wins and just three losses in the 1993-1994 season.
Corliss Williamson led the Razorbacks in scoring that season with 20.4 points per game and Scotty Thurman — who hit the famed three to win the title — averaged 15.9 points.
Since it’s the 31st anniversary of the win, let's take a look back at the best ending to an Arkansas season in the school's history…
Leading up to the game
Make no mistake about it, Arkansas wasn't a cinderella in the Big Dance that year. At 25-3, the Razorbacks were a 1-seed in the Midwest Region. The Hogs blew through their opponents in the tournament that year, with an average margin of victory of +11.1 through all six games.
Arkansas beat North Carolina A&T in the first round, Georgetown in the Round of 32, Tulsa in the Sweet 16, Michigan in the Elite Eight and Arizona in the Final Four.
Heading into the National Championship against Duke, no team got closer than eight points — Michigan came the closest with a 76-68 loss to Arkansas in the Elite Eight.
Duke was a 2-seed in the tournament, and beat Texas Southern, Michigan State, Marquette, Purdue and Florida to earn its way to the title game. It was the Blue Devils' fourth title game in five years.
Former President Bill Clinton, a native of Hope, Arkansas, was in attendance for the game as well.
In February, HawgBeat ran a story of former Razorback players and coaches about Richardson's legacy, and Thurman told Jackson Collier that Arkansas didn't get the chance to have a shootaround before the matchup with Duke.
“That day, people don’t really know, we didn’t get the opportunity to have an actual shootaround and game prep besides what we would do at the hotel," Thurman said. "We went out and played that game with that in mind. Nobody felt that we should be there. Nobody thought we were good enough to be there, nobody thought we were the best team in the country, but in our minds, we begged to differ."
How the game played out
Everyone remembers the Thurman shot. A three-pointer from the wing with 50 seconds left with the shot clock expiring to put the Hogs up 73-70.
That shot has been burned into Razorback fans' memories, even those who may not have been alive to see it in real-time. But what did the entire game look like?
Thurman's three points at the end of the game were most important, but he wasn't the leading scorer. Williamson — also known as Big Nasty — had a game-high 23 points with eight rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Corey Beck added 15 points himself, and those three players accounted for the bulk of the Hogs' scoring.
As a team, the Razorbacks shot 39% from the field and 27.8% from three. Duke, on the other hand, shot 44.6% and 35%, respectively. The Arkansas defense was tenacious and forced 23 Duke turnovers compared to just 12 from the Hogs.
In total, 10 Razorbacks saw the floor compared to just seven Blue Devils. All of Duke's starters — Grant Hill, Jeff Capel III, Antonio Lagg, Chris Collins and Cherokee Parks — scored at least 12 points.
Arkansas won the opening tipoff, but Duke jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead early on. Thurman scored the Hogs' first points with a midrange jumper. A bucket from Williamson off a turnover gave the Razorbacks their first lead, 8-7, in the first half.
The two teams battled back and forth in the first half, and it was the Hogs who took a 34-33 lead into the locker rooms at the break.
In the second half, Duke came out and quickly outscored the Razorbacks 15-4 to take a 10-point lead in the second half, capped off by a Capel three-pointer, which led to Richardson calling a timeout with 17:01 remaining in the game and the Hogs down 48-38.
Arkansas responded with a 12-2 run that forced Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski to call a timeout. What was once a 10-point Blue Devil lead dwindled to just 52-50. Beck later split a pair of free throws with 12:32 left to tie the game, and a steal and layup by Clint McDaniel gave the Hogs their first lead since that Duke run.
The game stayed close through the end of the game, and Arkansas held a 5-point lead with a little over six minutes left, but Duke responded with two straight three-pointers to take the lead 63-62.
Coming out of the final media timeout of the game, Arkansas switched to a 2-3 zone defense, which forced a Duke turnover. On the other end, Williamson converted a three-point play to push the Hogs in front 70-65, but the Blue Devils scored five straight points to tie the game at 70 a piece with a minute left.
That's when Thurman connected from deep. Coming out of a timeout, Dwight Stewart passed the ball to Thurman, who drilled the three from the wing with one second left on the shot clock.
The game still wasn't over, though. The Hogs had a 73-70 lead with 50 seconds left, which is in no way an insurmountable lead, especially in the NCAA Tournament.
Thankfully for Razorback fans, Duke's Collins hoisted up a three that didn't fall. Arkansas got the rebound and the Blue Devils fouled McDaniel, who split the free throws to give the Razorbacks a 74-70 lead.
On the following possession, Duke missed a layup that was rebounded by Beck, and he missed the first free throw before he had to be subbed out because of a cut on his hand. Alex Dillard took the second free throw in Beck's place, which he swished home.
Capel missed another three for the Blue Devils on the next possession, but an offensive rebound and putback cut the Arkansas lead to 75-72 with 10.2 seconds left. McDaniel then took the inbounds pass, got fouled and made one of two free throws to give the Hogs a 76-72 lead, which ended up being the final score.
Since the trophy was hoisted
Three players on that 1993-1994 roster played in the NBA — Williamson, Beck and McDaniel. Williamson is still in the NBA and works as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 31 games Arkansas won that season are only bested by the 1994-1995 team that won 32 and lost the National Championship game to UCLA.
Nolan Richardson is still the only coach to win a junior college national championship, the NIT championship and the NCAA Tournament national championship. He finished his career with a 71.1% win percentage — 509-207 across 22 seasons in Division I college basketball.
The banner commemorating the Hogs' 1994 National Championship win hangs in the rafters at Bud Walton Arena, where the legacy of that team will forever be remembered.
Full replay of the game
