FAYETTEVILLE — The wait is almost over.
Arkansas’ 2020-21 men’s basketball schedule is in the final stages of completion, Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said Friday on a Zoom conference with reporters.
Entering his second season at Arkansas, Musselman said he and his staff are simply waiting on contracts to be signed.
“The schedule is pretty much done,” he said. “But we’re right there at the finish line, in all seriousness. A lot of twists and turns. A lot of, ‘Hey, yeah, we’re going to do a game,’ and then a conference changes something.
“It’s been challenging. But it is final.”
Prior to widespread schedule revisions, the Razorbacks were scheduled to play home games against Oral Roberts on Nov. 10; Northern Illinois on Nov. 28; Texas-Arlington on Dec. 2; Lipscomb on Dec. 5; and Abilene Christian on Dec. 23. Arkansas was slated to play two games in the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas on Nov. 20 and 22; Oklahoma in Tulsa on Dec. 12; Old Dominion on Dec. 19 in North Little Rock; and at Tulsa on a date to be determined.
“It’s probably been the most difficult schedule in the country for anybody to do,” Musselman said.
The only confirmed games on the schedule are against Central Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena on Dec. 12 and at Oklahoma State on Jan. 30, 2021, as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
The UCA game replaces the Oklahoma game that had previously been scheduled on the same date. The Razorbacks and Sooners are no longer expected to play this season.
Playing UCA marks the first time Arkansas has scheduled a regular-season men’s basketball game against an in-state opponent since the Razorbacks beat Arkansas Tech 50-45 on Nov. 11, 1950. Arkansas and UCA last met in 1947.
The Razorbacks and Oklahoma State have played twice previously in the challenge. The Cowboys defeated Arkansas 99-71 in Stillwater, Okla., in 2017, and the Razorbacks won 66-65 in Fayetteville the following season.
The game is scheduled to be played eight months after the death of Eddie Sutton, a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach who led both programs to a Final Four.