In just their second meeting since the 1994 National Championship, the Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils 80-75 in front of a record crowd of 20,344 at Bud Walton Arena Wednesday night.
Basketball Palace of Mid America pic.twitter.com/mMY3krgcfR
— Eric Musselman (@EricPMusselman) November 30, 2023
Khalif Battle, a graduate transfer from Temple, led Arkansas (5-3) with 21 points off the bench. Red shirt sophomore Trevon Brazile recorded his third double double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
The Hogs win on Wednesday snapped a two-game losing streak that knocked them out of the Top 25. Junior Houston transfer Tramon Mark, one of the Hogs’ most productive players, was unable to play Wednesday after suffering a back injury in the closing minutes in the team’s loss on Friday versus North Carolina in the third-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.
Even watching the game at home, Hogs fans could feel a palpable energy in the arena, and the commentators wondered at times how anyone could hear the whistles of the referees over the crowd noise.
Duke HC Jon Scheyer: “I don’t care if you’re experienced or not, I don’t think you see many environments like this. It’s a different kind of thing.”
— Ethan Westerman (@EthWestNWA) November 30, 2023
Newly hired Razorback football offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino was in attendance, and chants of “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby,” gave the national ESPN audience a feel for the buzz the university has created with the hire, which came four days after the Razorbacks were blown out 48-14 in Fayetteville, ending a disastrous 4-8 (1-7 SEC) season.
Bobby, Bobby, Bobby!! #wps pic.twitter.com/G6dsy1Cp52
— Trey Biddy (@TreyBiddy) November 30, 2023
Former Razorback Head Coach Nolan Richardson was also in attendance. Richardson’s Razorbacks defeated Duke in the National Championship game of the NCAA Tournament in 1994. Wednesday night was just the fifth time the Razorbacks have faced Duke.
Arkansas now leads the series 3-2.