The No. 15 Arkansas Razorbacks (12-3, 1-2) will host No. 4 Alabama (13-2, 3-0) for a top-15 showdown Wednesday inside Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas fell at the Auburn Tigers 72-59 last time out, while the Crimson Tide made a statement with a 78-52 beatdown of Kentucky at home.
Alabama got the best of Arkansas in a 68-67 win last season, but the last time the Crimson Tide traveled to Fayetteville, they suffered an 81-66 loss to the Razorbacks in 2021.
Razorback forward Kamani Johnson said he expects the Arkansas faithful to be a little more amped up for this matchup with a top-5 Alabama team coming to town.
"Bud’s going to be a madhouse," Johnson said Monday. "I think we’ve got the best if not one of the best home court advantages of all college basketball. So I just can’t wait to see the atmosphere in there and how we’re going to compete against them. It’s going to be a really fun matchup."
Arkansas is a perfect 8-0 inside Bud Walton Arena this season, but Alabama presents likely the toughest test the Hogs will face at home all year.
The Crimson Tide are the best rebounding team in the nation, the second best scoring team in the SEC and they are loaded with talent.
"Really good dribble-drive team," head coach Eric Musselman said. "And there’s a reason they’re ranked fourth in the country because they’re really, really good and they have a really difficult non-conference schedule. They did an awesome job winning those games that they scheduled. They’re a really confident team."
Musselman and his team will try to key in on the Crimson Tide's leading scorer and the top scorer in the SEC, Brandon Miller. The freshman phenom is averaging 19.1 points per game so far.
"At his size, he's playing the 3-spot at 6-9, he can shoot over people," Musselman said. "He'll handle the ball in pick-and-roll. He'll be a screen setter in pick-and-roll. He’ll be a ghost screener in pick-and-roll. I mentioned his ability to follow his own misses, which is a unique characteristic. You’ve got to locate him early because he’s got deep, deep range."
Saturday's matchup will be the fifth ranked opponent Arkansas has faced this season, and third ranked opponent in a row. The Hogs are 2-2 in ranked matchups so far, with the two losses coming to Creighton in the Maui Invitational and at Auburn on Saturday.
Here's a closer look into Alabama's stats, efficiency ratings, projected lineups and more ahead of Wednesday's game, which is set to tipoff at 6 p.m. CT on the ESPN:
