March 31, 1990
One of the greatest basketball seasons in Arkansas history came to a disappointing end in Denver.
The Razorbacks lost 97-83 to Duke in the Final Four, ending a 30-5 campaign. The Blue Devils lost to UNLV in the championship game two nights later.
Duke began each half on an 8-0 run, but Arkansas battled back each time. Todd Day’s 3-pointer with 12:44 remaining tied the game at 60 and sparked a 12-2 run that was capped by Ron Huery’s three-point play off an inbounds steal to put the Razorbacks ahead 69-62 with 10:38 remaining.
The Blue Devils called a timeout to put forward Christian Laettner back into the game with four fouls. Laettner’s dunk less than two minutes later tied the game at 69, and the Razorbacks were dealt a blow when senior big man Mario Credit fouled out with 6:22 to play.
Lenzie Howell’s two free throws with six minutes left put Arkansas ahead 79-78, but the Blue Devils closed the game on a 15-2 run that began with seven straight points in transition, including a 3-pointer by Phil Henderson, who scored a game-high 28 points.
The run also included key plays by Alaa Abdelnaby, who scored 20 points, and Laettner, who finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds. With Duke ahead by 10 points with 1:38 remaining, Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson took starters Day, Howell and Lee Mayberry out of the game and the Razorbacks didn’t score again.
After the game Richardson said the altitude had affected his players, who were visibly tired late in the second half. “We had a lot of winded people out there,” Richardson said, later adding the players “came to the bench puffing and blowing, something I’d never seen before.”
Day scored 27 points to lead Arkansas. Howell had 18 in his final game with the Razorbacks.
It was the first of three high-profile matchups between Arkansas and Duke in the first half of the 1990s, which remain the only meetings ever between the programs. Eight months after losing in Denver, the Razorbacks defeated the Blue Devils 98-88 in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden in New York, and in 1994, Arkansas defeated Duke 76-72 in the national championship game in Charlotte, N.C.