Arkansas MBB to Play Exhibition at Texas

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas will travel to the University of Texas for a men’s basketball charity exhibition game on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Longhorns’ new Moody Center. Tip time has been set for 3 pm (CT).

As the home team, Texas has chosen to donate proceeds to a pair of organizations supporting social justice equity and educational opportunities for youth in Central Texas communities, Seedling Foundation and Break the Pipeline.

Tickets will be priced at $25 for all reserved seats.  Current Texas season ticket holders will be given the first opportunity to purchase their seats from Sept. 27 through Oct. 10. Longhorn Foundation donors who are not season ticket holders will be able to purchase seats from Oct. 14 through Oct. 16. If any seats remain available after those two windows, the general public will be able to purchase tickets on Monday, Oct. 17.

The exhibition will be the first public event at the Moody Center – the Longhorns’ new home for basketball.

“The Arkansas-Texas rivalry is one of the great rivalries in college athletics,” said Razorback head coach Eric Musselman. “The fact that we were chosen to open the Moody Center adds to our storied history and lays the foundation for the future when Texas joins the league.

“When (Texas head) Coach (Chris) Beard approached us to play this exhibition, we were all in. We have a lot of respect for Coach Beard and think this will be a great way to start the season prior to the actual season opener. I’ve said in the past, we get a lot more out of playing these Division I exhibitions. It will give us a great opportunity to see where we stand and what we will need to work on.”

This will mark the third time Arkansas has played a NCAA Division I opponent in an exhibition game – all coming during the Eric Musselman era. The Razorbacks hosted and defeated North Texas, 68-60, last season and took down Little Rock, 79-64, in the game to dedicate Nolan Richardson Court in Bud Walton Arena on Oct. 20, 2019.

It will be the first time since the 1991-92 season the Razorbacks have played an exhibition off campus when the Hogs faced the German National team in Little Rock on Nov. 20, 1991. The last – and only other – time Arkansas played an exhibition outside the Natural State was the 1978-79 season when Arkansas faced Athletes in Action in Anaheim, Calif., on Dec. 9, 1978.

Overall, Arkansas has won 34 consecutive exhibition games and is 74-9 all time in exhibition games.

This season is the 100th basketball season for the Razorbacks and the Arkansas-Texas rivalry dates back to the Hogs’ first season of basketball, 1923-24. Arkansas leads the all-time series versus the Longhorns, 87-68, but trail Texas, 43-27, in games played in Austin. The programs have only met six times since Arkansas left the Southwest Conference. The last meeting between the programs was the 2018-19 season opener at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, for the ESPN Armed Forces Classic. Texas won 73-71 in overtime.

 

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