FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas men’s basketball team will face Miami as part of the 2024 SEC-ACC Challenge on Dec. 3 at Watsco Center. The game will begin at either 6 or 6:30 p.m. Central on either ESPN or ESPN2, per a news release.
Arkansas earned its headline win in last season’s ACC/SEC Challenge, beating Duke 80-75 at Bud Walton Arena.
The Hurricanes started last season with high hopes after their Final Four run in 2022, which was coach Jim Larranaga’s second trip to the national semifinal and first since 2006 when he was with George Mason. They faced John Calipari-coached Kentucky in the ACC/SEC Challenge last season, falling 95-73.
Miami dealt with significant injury blows throughout last season that derailed the early promise. Returning guard Matthew Cleveland is the headliner after averaging 13.7 points and 6.1 rebounds in his first season after transferring from Florida State.
The Hurricanes were dealt significant blows in the transfer portal, losing contributors Bensley Joseph, Wooga Poplar and Norchad Omier. They added transfers Brandon Johnson (East Carolina), Lynn Kidd (Virginia Tech), AJ Staton-McCray (Samford) and Jalen Blackmon (Stetson).
Johnson and Blackmon were the go-to men for the Pirates and Hatters, respectively, with the latter scoring 40 points in the Atlantic Sun championship game to send Stetson to its first NCAA Tournament. Kidd saw significant improvements on both sides of the ball before transferring to Miami.
Following former coach Eric Musselman’s departure to Southern Cal, Arkansas lost every scholarship player to the transfer portal or graduations prior to Trevon Brazile’s return to the team.
Arkansas’ roster under first-year coach John Calipari consists of returners Brazile and walk-on Lawson Blake, who will miss time with a ruptured Achillies; transfers Zvominir Ivisic(Kentucky), Jonas Aidoo (Tennessee), Johnell Davis (Florida Atlantic), Adou Thiero (Kentucky), DJ Wagner (Kentucky), Melo Sanchez (Hawaii Pacific) and Kareem Watkins (Kentucky); and freshmen Karter Knox, Johnuel “Boogie” Fland, Billy Richmond, Jaden Karuletwa, Ayden Kelley and Casmir Chavis.
SEC play begins Jan. 4 and runs through March 8. The SEC Tournament will take place March 12-16 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The Razorbacks’ nonconference schedule will also include home games vs. Lipscomb (Nov. 6), Troy (Nov. 13), Pacific (Nov. 18), Arkansas-Little Rock (Nov. 22), Maryland-Eastern Shore (Nov. 25), Texas-San Antonio (Dec. 7), North Carolina A&T (Dec. 21) and Oakland (Dec. 30).
Arkansas is also scheduled to play Baylor on Nov. 9 in Dallas; Illinois on Nov. 28 in Kansas City; against Michigan on Dec. 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of the Jimmy V Classic; and against Central Arkansas in North Little Rock on Dec. 14.
Calipari also announced exhibitions against Kansas at Bud Walton Arena on Oct. 25 and TCU at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, on Nov. 1.
This story was updated with the release of the game time and television designation after originally being published on June 12.
