MBB Preview: Arkansas vs #23 Kentucky
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (19-11, 8-9 SEC) vs #23 Kentucky Wildcats (20-10, 11-6 SEC)
What: This will be the regular-season finale and Arkansas will honor senior Kamani Johnson prior to the game.
When: Saturday – Mar. 4 – 1 pm (CT)
Where: Fayetteville, Ark. – Bud Walton Arena (19.200)/Nolan Richardson Court
How (to follow):
– Television: CBS (Andrew Catalon and Steve Lappas)
– Stream/Online: CBS Mobile
– Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
– Gameday Info and How to Listen Online/Mobile: Razorback Gameday App
– Sirius/XM: 138 (Sirius) / 190 (XM) || SXM App: Channel 961
– Live Stats: Arkansas Live Stats
– Arkansas Game Notes: CLICK HERE
– Kentucky Game Notes: CLICK HERE
– SEC Notes/Stats: CLICK HERE
FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas will host #23 Kentucky to close the 2022-23 regular season on Saturday (Mar. 4). Tipoff is set for 1 pm (CT) and the game will be televised on CBS.
Arkansas will honor senior Kamani Johnson prior to the game.
- Arkansas and Kentucky have met on 47 previous occasions, all but four coming since Arkansas joined the SEC (1991-92). Kentucky owns a 33-14 advantage in the series, including a 29-14 mark in SEC games. In games played in Fayetteville, the series is tied 8-8.
- Arkansas won the last three meetings in the series, including twice at Rupp.
- This is the second of two meetings between the programs this season. This is just the second time since Arkansas joined the SEC that the Razorbacks and Wildcats will face each other twice in the regular season. The only other time came in 2013-14 when Arkansas swept Kentucky with a pair of overtime victories. First, Arkansas beat #13 Kentucky in Fayetteville (Jan. 14, 2014). Then, the Razorbacks handed the 17th-ranked Wildcats a 71-67 setback in Rupp Arena (Feb. 27, 2014).
- EARLIER THIS YEAR VS UK — ARK: 88 – UK: 73 (2/7/23 at Rupp). Arkansas used a red-hot second half to roll to an 88-73 win at Kentucky to give Head Coach Eric Musselman his 200th win as a collegiate head coach. The Razorbacks went 18-for-25 (72.0%) from the field in the second half and shot 62.7% overall in the win. Leading by one coming out of halftime, back-to-back steals and dunks from Anthony Black spurred a 6-0 run to set the tone for the win. Black finished with 19 points, five assists and five steals. Ricky Council IV scored 20 and Davonte Davis added seven assists.
- Thanks to 497 points this year and ranking third in the SEC in scoring (16.6 ppg), Ricky Council IV is just 18 points shy of 1,000 for his career.
- Despite going 3-4 over its last seven games, Arkansas continued to climb in the NCAA NET, going from 28th to 15th.
WHY IS ARKANSAS’ NCAA NET SO GOOD?
– Arkansas has the #3 strength of schedule in the nation (WarrenNolan.com) behind Baylor and Alabama.
– Arkansas was 11-2 in the non-conference and those 13 teams Arkansas faced are having good seasons. In fact:
^ Arkansas’ non-conference RPI is #4 nationally and non-conference schedule is #9 (WarrenNolan.com)
^ 11 of the 13 teams are inside the NCAA NET 150
^ 11 of the 13 are among their league’s top 5 including 3 in 1st place • 2 in 2nd • 4 in 3rd (UNCG was just 1 game out of 1st)
^ 10 of the 13 with at least 18 wins … including 7 20-game winners
– Arkansas has played a perhaps the toughest SEC schedule as well
^ Of the five teams it played twice, four are among the SEC top 5 (#1 Alabama, #2 Texas A&M, #3 Kentucky and #5 Missouri)
^ Arkansas’ last three road games were at #2 Texas A&M, at #1 Alabama and at #4 Tennessee.
^ Four of Arkansas’ last six were versus teams in the SEC top four (at #2 A&M, at #1 Bama, at #4 UT and vs #3 UK).
For more information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on Twitter.
