Kansas Jayhawks add October exhibition men’s basketball game at Arkansas: Details
Kansas’ men’s basketball team will travel to the University of Arkansas to play the Razorbacks in a charity exhibition game set for Friday, Oct. 25 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
Start time and broadcast information will be announced soon, according to a KU news release. General public ticket sales will begin at 9 a.m., Sept. 25, through the Arkansas ticket office. KU will hold a donor sale for its allotment for the game, with that information to come later.
The KU-Arkansas contest is part of a series exhibition games sponsored by CareSource. Kansas will donate proceeds from the game to the Kansas City based Fore The Kids Foundation (forethekidskc.org). Arkansas will donate proceeds from the game to Arkansas Children’s Hospitals.
“We are excited to be able to go play at Arkansas in an exhibition game and help raise money for a great cause, as the proceeds will go to mental health charities,” KU coach Bill Self said Wednesday. “This game will give us a good idea to see where our team is before the season starts. We wanted to play on the road to give us an opportunity to experience what our first road contest will be like as opposed to experiencing it for the first time in the regular season.”
A year ago, KU played Illinois in an exhibition game to benefit Maui Wildlife Relief efforts. The Fighting Illini defeated the Jayhawks, 82-75, on Sunday, Oct. 29, at State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois.
The Razorbacks of the SEC will be led by first-year coach John Calipari, who left Kentucky after 15 seasons to take over the Arkansas program. Calipari has completely reshaped the U of A roster in the age of the transfer portal.
The Razorbacks do return former Missouri forward Trevon Brazile, who both declared for the 2024 NBA Draft and entered the transfer portal. The 6-foot-10, 220-pound junior from Springfield, Missouri, decided to play for Calipari after averaging 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds in 26 games (23 starts) for Arkansas and coach Eric Musselman a year ago.
Musselman’s fifth Razorback team (he’s now head coach at USC), went 16-17 overall and 6-12 in the SEC.
The Razorbacks’ projected starters, according to swtimes.com, are: Brazile, Jonas Aidoo, Johnell Davis, Boogie Fland and DJ Wagner.
Aidoo, a 6-11, 240 senior from Durham, North Carolina, earned first-team all-SEC honors last season at Tennessee after averaging 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a game. Davis, a 6-4, 205 senior transfer from FAU, originally from Gary, Indiana, averaged 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists last season. He hit 41.3% of his 3s.
Wagner, a 6-4, 195 sophomore point guard from Camden, New Jersey, averaged 9.9 points and 3.3 assists last season at Kentucky.
Fland, 6-2, 175 from Bronx, New York, is a highly regarded freshman who was ranked No. 16 in the recruiting class of 2024 according to ESPN.com.
Adou Thiero, a 6-8, 220 junior from Pittsburgh, averaged 7.2 points and 5.0 rebounds last season at Kentucky.
The Razorbacks also have added Karter Knox, a 6-6, 225 freshman from Riverview, Florida; and Billy Richmond, a 6-5, 205 freshman from Memphis. Richmond was ranked No. 41 and Knox No. 27 in the Class of 2024 by ESPN.com.
Also on board is former Kentucky Wildcat Zvonimir Ivisic, a 7-2, 235 sophomore who averaged 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 2023-24.
Kareem Watkins, a 5-8, 160, senior walk on from Camden, New Jersey also played in six games for Calipari at UK a year ago.
The KU-Arkansas exhibition game will not count in the record books.
In terms of regular-season games between the schools, KU leads the all-time series 8-6. Arkansas has won the last two meetings: 72-71 in a second-round 2023 NCAA Tournament contest in Des Moines, Iowa, and 65-64 in the 2005 Maui Invitational.
KU defeated Arkansas 93-81 in a 1991 Elite Eight game. The teams split a two-year home-and-home series in 1985-86 and ’86-87. KU won both ends of a home-and-home in 1976-77 and ’77-78.
This story was originally published September 18, 2024 at 10:23 AM.
