MBB Preview: Arkansas vs #19/22 Oklahoma

December 7, 2023

Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (6-3, 0-0 SEC) vs #19/22 Oklahoma Sooners (8-0, 0-0 Big 12)
What: The third and final Crimson and Cardinal Classic at Tulsa’s BOK Center.
When: Saturday – Dec. 9 – 3:00 pm (CT)
Where: Tulsa, Okla. • BOK Center (19,199)
How (to follow):
– TV/Stream: ESPN2/Watch ESPN (Mark Neely and King McClure)
– Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
– Sirius/XM: 160 Sirius / 191 XM / 962 SXM App
– Oklahoma Live Stats
– Razorback Gameday App

– Arkansas Game Notes
– Oklahoma MBB Website

FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas travels to Tulsa, Okla., to face #19/22 Oklahoma on Saturday (Dec. 9) in the third and final Crimson & Cardinal Classic at the BOK Center. The game will be televised on ESPN2 and tip time is scheduled for 3:00 pm (CT).

The Sooners will be the designated home team but, as in the previous two years, the BOK Center will be divided between the two teams. In the previous two Classics, the winning team scored 88 points with both Oklahoma and Arkansas winning once.

Oklahoma upset then #12 Arkansas, 88-66, in the inaugural Crimson & Cardinal Classic thanks to an 11-0 run with about eight minutes left and never looked back. Last year, #9 Arkansas got 26 points from Ricky Council IV and 21 from Nick Smith Jr., to claim an 88-78 victory. The Razorback used a 10-2 run to close the first half and opened the second half with a 14-6 run en route to the win.

NOTES:
• Border rivals Arkansas and Oklahoma will play the third and final Crimson and Cardinal Classic at Tulsa’s BOK Center. The BOK Center is almost the midway point between the Arkansas (116 miles) and Oklahoma (125 miles) campuses.
• The Arkansas and Oklahoma series includes 30 games dating back to the 1938-39 season. Arkansas owns a 17-13 advantage in the series, including a 6-1 record when the teams play on a neutral court.
• Arkansas had a total of 19 assists in three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis (seven, six and six). In the last two games, Arkansas is averaging 19 assists per contest. The Razorbacks had 17 assists (on 26 baskets) versus Duke and added 21 assists (on 37 baskets) versus Furman.
• Arkansas ranks second in the NCAA in blocked shots (7.1 avg.). Arkansas has had at least six blocked shots in six times this season including three times with double-digit rejections. The Hogs had 15 blocked shots in the Gardner-Webb game (5 by Trevon Brazile and 4 by Makhi Mitchell). Arkansas recorded 10 blocked shots each in the wins over Duke and Furman.
• Trevon Brazile ranks third in the SEC (34th NCAA) with 17 blocked shots. He also ranks third in the SEC (50th NCAA) in blocks per game (1.89). Chandler Lawson ranks 4th in the SEC (44th NCAA) with 16 blocked shots. Chandler Lawson had six blocked shots versus Duke, which is the most by an SEC player this season. Lawson added five blocks versus Stanford and Brazile had five versus Gardner-Webb to tie for second-most by an SEC player in a game this season.

For more information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on Twitter.