The No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks (1-0) will face off against the Gardner Webb Bulldogs (1-0) inside Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville on Friday night.
Led by 11th-year head coach Tim Craft, the Bulldogs finished the 2022-23 season with a 15-15 (10-8 Big South) record. In a game against then-No. 1 North Carolina, the Bulldogs lost 72-66.
Heading into the season, the Bulldogs were selected to finish fourth in the Big South by the league's media. Gardner Webb had one player selected to a preseason all-conference squad in guard DQ Nicholas, who was placed on the All-SWAC First Team.
Both Arkansas and Gardner Webb started their seasons off on the right foot, as the Razorbacks defeated Alcorn State 93-59 in their season opener and the Bulldogs defeated Erskine 98-58 on Monday.
Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman gave a rundown of what fans should expect from Gardner Webb following the Hogs' win over Alcorn State.
"Well, Gardner-Webb has a guard that’s an all-league guard," Musselman said. "He’s a returner. He’s an all-league guy, so we’ll have to do a good job defensively on him. They scored a lot of points tonight. I know Michael was watching them game before our game. At halftime, he was either looking at the score or something on the computer with Gardner Webb. They’re well-coached. Again, I’ll really dive in tonight, but for sure their guard is a handful and we’ve got to learn his tendencies as quick as we possibly can."
Here's a closer look into Gardner Webb's stats, efficiency ratings, projected lineups and more ahead of Friday's game, which is set to tipoff at 7:00 p.m. CT on SEC Network Plus:
