FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas basketball team dedicated Walton Arena by pounding Missouri 120-68 on Dec. 2, 1993.
At the time the 52-point margin was the most lopsided loss ever for the Tigers.
“We won’t play that good again,” Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said. “Missouri was not a very good basketball team tonight, but I think they will be.
“Sometimes the buzzsaw hits you.”
Richardson was right about Missouri becoming a good team.
The Tigers won the Big Eight regular-season championship with a 14-0 record and were 25-3 after being upset by Nebraska in the conference tournament.
Missouri went into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Regional and was bracketed to play Arkansas — the No. 1 seed in the Midwest — at the 1994 Final Four in Charlotte, N.C.
An Arkansas beat writer who was a Missouri alumnus had visions of getting Mizzou Final Four gear on sale in Charlotte after the Razorbacks again beat the Tigers in the national semifinals.
The Razorbacks did their part by beating Michigan 76-68 in the Midwest Regional final at Reunion Arena — also known as Barnhill South — in Dallas in front a heavily partisan Arkansas crowd that included President Bill Clinton.
But there would be no 50% off sale of Mizzou Final Four gear.
The Tigers fell one game short of advancing to Charlotte — and what would have been their first Final Four appearance — when Arizona beat Missouri 92-79 in the West Regional final in Los Angeles.
The beat writer — in search of any fresh story angles at the Final Four because there’s only so much one can write about the greatness of Richardson and Arkansas stars Corliss Williamson and Scotty Thurman along with their teammates — decided to head to the coaches’ hotel in Charlotte to try to talking to Stewart.
The idea was to ask Stewart to compare Arkansas and Arizona and make a prediction for the game since Missouri had played both teams.
Fortunately, the writer found Stewart in the hotel lobby and he was gracious enough to grant an interview even though a loss of historic proportions.
“It’s hard for me to evaluate how good Arkansas is,” Missouri Stewart said. “Because the night we played them, our players were in Little Rock, but the game was in Fayetteville.”
After praising the Razorbacks’ talent, depth and versatility, Stewart said he was picking Arkansas to be Arizona based on his “Rand MacNally” theory.
“If you check the scores of all the NCAA Tournament games, you’ll see that the team playing closest to home usually wins,” Stewart said.
Stewart cited Missouri’s games in the West Regional, where the Tigers beat Navy and Wisconsin in Ogden, Utah, then in Los Angeles beat Syracuse before losing to Arizona.
“Charlotte is closer to Arkansas than Arizona,” Stewart said. “So I’ve got to go with the Hogs.”
Stewart was right as the Razorbacks beat the Wildcats 91-82.
The “Rand McNally” theory didn’t apply two nights later when Arkansas beat Duke 76-72 to win the Razorbacks’ first national championship in basketball and finish 31-3.
Richardson pulled a surprise in the championship game by giving forward Ken Biley his start. The senior from Pine Bluff had averaged 5.2 minutes in 17 games before before the Razorbacks took on the Blue Devils.
“But I thought it was the right thing to do, and Ken can tell his kids and grandkids he started in the national championship game,” Richardson said when the Razorbacks celebrated the 20th anniversary of their title. “That means a lot to me.”
Biley guarded Grant Hill and held the Blue Devils’ All-American and a future NBA star scoreless the first three minutes before going to the bench for the rest of the game.
“Ken stayed ready all year long, and when he was called upon,” Williamson said 20 years later. “He delivered in the championship game.”
The biggest memory from the game is Thurman hitting a three-point basket with 51 seconds left to put Arkansas ahead 73-70.
“When you’re in the moment, you just think that’s what you’re groomed to do,” Thurman said several years later. “You go out and practice and work on shooting every day and you feel like it’s just another shot that you have to make.
“But then you realize how many lives you affected and how many people come up to you and remember exactly where they were at that particular moment.”
Along with Williamson’s powerful post presence and Thurman’s perimeter shooting the 1993-94 Razorbacks had a terrific defensive duo in guards Corey Beck and Clint McDaniel, a versatile big man in Dwight Stewart who was comfortable on the perimeter, a 6-11 duo inside with Darnell Robinson and Lee Wilson and a deep bench that also included Al Dillard, Roger Crawford, Davor Rimac, Elmer Martin and Biley.
In six NCAA Tournament games, Richardson used four starting lineups to get the best matchups depending on the opponent.
“Having all those different starting lineups showed our versatility as a team, but it also shows our commitment to Coach Richardson and the system that he had,” Williamson said. “There are a lot of places you could go where players would be upset if they didn’t start every game.
“But everyone on our team accepted whatever rotation Coach Richardson wanted to use for a particular game and believed in him and what we were doing and as a result, we were able to change lineups and be very effective.”
Having Clinton attend several games added to the ride for the Razorbacks. He was in the locker room after several games that season.
“I think the Secret Service had a little problem with him, because he wanted to hang out with us,” Thurman said. “I remember they had to practically force him out of the locker room because he really wanted to be there and he felt comfortable there, hanging out with the players and interacting.
“It was just an amazing thing to be a college kid, and here you are having a conversation with the president of the United States.”