Arkansas Razorbacks add team from NCAA Tournament last year to schedule

Arkansas will host Mount St. Mary's on December 16, 2025, at Bud Walton Arena. This matchup, first reported by Rocco Miller and confirmed by school officials, adds the 2025 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament champions to the Razorbacks' non-conference schedule.

The Razorbacks are assembling a potentially nationally challenging non-league schedule. It includes games against Duke, Texas Tech, Houston, Louisville, Baylor, and Michigan State. Mount St. Mary's finished the 2024-25 season with a 23-13 record (12-8 in the MAAC), earning an automatic NCAA Tournament berth as a No. 6 seed in their conference tournament. They won their First Four game against American University (83-72) before losing to Duke (93-49) in the round of 64.

The non-conference schedule begins with Arkansas facing Duke at a neutral site (United Center, Chicago) on November 27. The Razorbacks will also play Texas Tech and Houston at neutral venues in Dallas and Brooklyn respectively, and host Louisville in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Dates for home-and-home series against Baylor and Michigan State are still being finalized.

Head coach John Calipari, hired in April, is intentionally elevating the early-season competition to prepare the team for SEC play. He stated his scheduling philosophy is about exposing players to "different styles, different sizes" to force adjustments and evaluate the team's progress. Calipari recently held his first practice open to the media and mentioned the possibility of another media viewing in September now that the intense summer conditioning phase is complete and the focus shifts more to basketball.