FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ undefeated basketball team will get a chance to play in a prestigious tournament out West this week.
The Razorbacks (3-0) will do so this week at the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore., where they will face Oklahoma (2-0) on Thanksgiving Day at 4 p.m. CST.
The PK-80 Tournament is a 16-team, four-day event - featuring two brackets of eight teams - celebrating the 80th birthday of Nike founder Phil Knight and features only Nike-sponsored teams.
The field also includes Duke, defending national champion North Carolina - Arkansas’ possible second-round foe - Michigan State, Oregon, Ohio State, UConn, Florida, Texas, Gonzaga, Butler, Stanford, Portland and Portland State.
“I think it is a great, great opportunity for Arkansas and it’s something that being here for the many years (as an assistant) that I was here, that is what we used to do is play in those prestigious tournaments,” Razorback head coach Mike Anderson said.
“Obviously it is a tremendous honor, but at the same time it is a great tournament with some great teams and obviously we feel like we are one of the better teams in the country.”
“I am going to use it more to find out a little bit more about ourselves because you are not in the friendly confines of Bud Walton Arena. You don’t have the fanfare going on. It’s a neutral site, very much so like what takes place in post-season play.”
Arkansas and Oklahoma join North Carolina, Portland, UConn, Michigan State, Oregon and DePaul in the Victory bracket.
Duke heads up the Motion bracket with Butler, Texas, Florida, Stanford, Ohio State, Gonzaga and Portland State.
Oklahoma routed Ball State 108-69 Wednesday night behind 6-2 freshman point guard Trae Young’s 22 points and 13 assists in a game where he hit 5 3-pointers.
"I thought Oklahoma had a great game plan," Ball State coach James Whitford said. "They pressed us on every field goal that they scored and didn't let us get the ball inbounds and up quickly and that's the first time I've seen them do that. I thought that made it very hard on us and I thought it led to a lot of bad decisions for us on offense, which made their offense easy for them."
Young, a McDonald’s All-American from Norman, Okla., North High School and one of 50 players on the John Wooden watch list for he nation’s best player, chose to stay home and play for Oklahoma and chose the Sooners over Kentucky, Duke and Kansas among others.
He had 15 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds in Oklahoma’s 108-89 season-opening win over Nebraska-Omaha.
Young said after his team’s second win that he is looking forward to participating in the PK80, which will have games at both the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
“It’s going to be fun, the first ever PK80,” Young said. “We’re playing some really good teams and it’s going to be a battle every night. It’s going to be a challenge, and we have a lot to get better at.”
Oklahoma was in the 2016 NCAA Tournament Final Four under head coach Lon Kruger, but finished 11-20 last season after losing former All-American and current NBA player Buddy Hield.
The Sooners return 87 percent of their scoring from last season in addition to adding in Young.
“The group will keep on getting better,” Kruger said. “They understand a lot more now than they did three weeks ago about the five-on-five thoughts defensively. They’ve responded really well.
“They’re talking and motivating each other more. It’s a lot more effective when they’re doing one to another than just coaching the players. I think we’re ready to take the next step in that area. That’s really exciting to see.”.
Anderson knows Arkansas will need to lean on seniors Anton Beard, Trey Thompson, Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon and sophomore Adrio Bailey, who has been the team’s fifth starter in all three games.
“I want to see what is going to be the mindset of our guys going in,” Anderson said. “That is where you have to lean on those older guys Beard, Thompson, Barford and Macon from what took place last year. Adrio Bailey, we just continue to see him evolve as a player.”
Freshmen Daniel Gafford, Darious Hall and Gabe Osabuohien will be playing in their first collegiate games away from home.
“For young guys like Daniel and Darius and Gabe, it’s something new for them,” Anderson said, “and I am anxious to see how they respond in that kind of environment. We are going to play against some outstanding teams up there as the competition continues to go up another level.
“But we always talk about how that’s the level that we want to play at.”
All 16 teams will have special uniforms designed by Nike for the event with Arkansas’ black and featuring a large red Razorback logo on the front.
“We saw the drawings and all that as it was moving forward,” Anderson said. “They wanted to design different jerseys for each team. So you can imagine how our guys are really excited about it.”