The SEC has locked in its men’s basketball conference matchups for 2026-27, and Arkansas basketball fans already have plenty to circle on the calendar.
The Razorbacks will play nine home games and nine road games when league play tips off, and there’s a familiar feel to the top of the schedule.
LSU and Missouri are back as Arkansas’s designated permanent opponents for the third straight year, meaning the Hogs face both programs twice — once at Bud Walton Arena and once on the road.
The third double-play opponent this season is Alabama, and that one carries some extra weight.
It’ll be the first time the Crimson Tide appear on both ends of the schedule since the 2022-23 campaign, and that series hasn’t gone well for the Hogs lately.
Alabama has won six straight meetings and holds a 32-29 edge over Arkansas since the Razorbacks joined the SEC, despite the Hogs holding a slim 36-35 all-time advantage.
There’s also a scheduling quirk worth noting: since 2020, six of Arkansas’s nine matchups with Alabama have been played in Tuscaloosa. That road trip isn’t getting any easier.
Home schedule sets up favorably
The Razorbacks’ home slate beyond those three double-play opponents includes Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Oklahoma.
Based on historical records against those opponents, Arkansas is a combined 166-69 all-time at home against this group with a .706 winning percentage.
The strongest home records in that mix belong to Georgia (15-3), LSU (26-8) and Mississippi State (24-9). Florida is the only opponent where the Razorbacks hold a below-.600 mark at 10-8, so that one will be worth watching.
Arkansas was 8-1 in SEC home games last season, so the program already knows how to protect Bud Walton. Getting that group back on the schedule gives the Hogs a legitimate path to another strong home record in conference play.
The road schedule is a different story. Arkansas will travel to Kentucky, Texas A&M, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Vanderbilt in addition to the road trips to Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge and Columbia, Mo.
That’s a challenging six-game away portion of the schedule. Kentucky and Tennessee alone make it a gauntlet.
Arkansas and LSU: SEC’s most common matchup
The LSU series is the most historically significant piece of this slate.
Since Arkansas joined the SEC for the 1991-92 season, LSU is the Razorbacks’ most frequent conference opponent with 74 meetings ahead of Ole Miss (63), Mississippi State (62), Auburn (62) and Alabama (61).
Arkansas leads that series 42-32 since joining the league, though the Tigers have had stretches where they’ve made it competitive.
The home-and-home format has been the norm between the two programs, with only two seasons since 1992 seeing them meet just once — 2013 in Baton Rouge and 2015 in Fayetteville.
The Missouri rivalry, meanwhile, is hitting a milestone this season.
Arkansas and Mizzou will play a home-and-home series for the 15th consecutive year. That’s every season since the Tigers joined the SEC in 2012-13.
The Hogs lead the all-time series 38-28 and hold a 19-10 mark since Missouri joined the conference, including wins in 10 of the last 12 matchups.
It’s a rivalry that’s been decidedly tilted toward Fayetteville in recent years.
League play opens Saturday, January 2, and the regular season runs through Saturday, March 6.
The SEC Tournament heads back to Nashville, with Bridgestone Arena hosting the event from March 10-14, 2027.
Three key takeaways
- Alabama is the wild card. Drawing the Crimson Tide home and away for the first time since 2022-23 is a notable scheduling development — especially given Alabama’s six-game winning streak in the series and the Tuscaloosa-heavy pattern of recent matchups.
- Home court advantage is real. A 166-69 all-time record against their nine home opponents — combined with last season’s 8-1 SEC home mark — gives Arkansas a legitimate foundation for a strong conference record if the road trips don’t bite too hard.
- LSU and Missouri aren’t going anywhere. The permanent-opponent structure keeps the Hogs locked into their two most historically consistent SEC rivalries for a third straight season, providing scheduling stability and built-in fan interest at both ends of those matchups.
