Arkansas has its 2026-27 basketball schedule locked in, and the non-conference slate comes with the kind of heavyweight mix John Calipari and the Razorbacks have been building toward.
According to a school press release, the final few matchups for the upcoming season have been set, leaving only a handful of SEC games with two possible dates still to be sorted out later. The conference opponents and where those games land on the calendar are already in place, and Arkansas is set to open official practices next Monday.
The non-conference portion is stacked with five marquee road-or-neutral games, starting early. Arkansas will meet Virginia in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 8 in the Capital Showcase, the Razorbacks’ second game of the regular season. A week later, they head to Madison Square Garden for a Nov. 17 matchup with Indiana in the Bad Boy Mower Series.
Thanksgiving brings another major test, this one in Detroit against Michigan State on Nov. 26 in the CBS Thanksgiving Classic. Then on Dec. 1, Arkansas travels to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
The last remaining mid-major non-conference game also fell into place, with Mississippi Valley State coming to Bud Walton Arena on Nov. 20. That matchup had been the lone unresolved date and now sits in the schedule as expected.
Arkansas will also host Robert Morris on Nov. 10, Oral Roberts on Dec. 5 in North Little Rock, Oakland on Dec. 8, Central Michigan on Dec. 22 and UTRGV on Dec. 29 to close out the non-conference slate.
There are also two in-state opponents on the list. The Razorbacks open the regular season on Nov. 2 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, marking the first-ever meeting between the programs.
Then, on Nov. 13, Arkansas hosts Central Arkansas for the third straight season.
The Hogs won the last two by scores of 93-56 in Fayetteville and 82-56 in North Little Rock.
Arkansas also has two exhibition games lined up at Bud Walton Arena, with Gonzaga coming in on Oct. 24 and Memphis following on Oct. 28.
In all, the Razorbacks have 31 games confirmed for 2026-27. That fits within the new NCAA regular-season limit of 32 games, which is up from 31 in previous years.
Teams can also schedule as many as three exhibitions. Arkansas is choosing the same path it has taken the last two seasons under Calipari: 31 regular-season games and two exhibitions.
The full schedule also includes a neutral-site game against Arizona on Dec. 19 in Phoenix as part of the Hall of Fame Series.
The SEC portion is already mapped out, though several dates remain flexible. Arkansas opens league play with Missouri, then moves through a January stretch that includes road games at South Carolina, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Texas, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri, along with home dates against Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn and Florida. The Razorbacks also have a bye week set for Feb. 2/3 before finishing the regular season at LSU on March 2/3 and heading to the SEC Tournament on March 10/14.
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Caliparis defense matters because it touches the bigger debate inside the Arkansas fan base, where basketball success and football disappointment can quickly get tangled together. In backing Yurachek, he pointed to the resources and difficult decisions needed to steady the athletic department, putting his own voice into a conversation that has become a referendum on leadership far beyond one game or one season. [Read more 🡒]
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Burnt CDs are scheduled to perform, and the Razorback Marching Band and mascots are also part of the lineup as the university leans into a full Saturday atmosphere. Maple Street will close starting the evening before to make room for the event, with traffic and parking details already in place, another sign that Arkansas wants the Georgia weekend to feel less like a single game and more like a campuswide rally. [Read more 🡒]