Men's Basketball
Hogs set to open regular season against Texas at Fort Bliss
Arkansas opens the 2018-19 season this Friday (Nov. 9) against one of its oldest rivals, Texas, when the Razorbacks and Longhorns square off on a national stage at the ESPN Armed Forces Classic.
Who: Texas
What: ESPN Armed Forces Classic
When: Friday – Nov. 9, 2018 – 6 pm (CT)/5 pm (MT)
Where: Fort Bliss Military Base – El Paso, Texas
How (to follow):
• TV: ESPN (Dave Fleming, Jay Williams, Seth Greenberg)
• Radio: Razorback/IMG Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
• Satellite Radio: Arkansas Broadcast (XM 389) | National Broadcast (XM & Sirius 80)
• ESPN Radio Network (Kevin Winter, Bob Valvano)
• Live Stats: http://ArmedForces.Statbroadcast.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas opens the 2018-19 season this Friday (Nov. 9) against one of its oldest rivals, Texas, when the Razorbacks and Longhorns square off on a national stage at the ESPN Armed Forces Classic.
The game will be played on Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas, and tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
The Arkansas-Texas basketball rivalry dates back to the Razorbacks’ first season of basketball (1923-24).
Even though the two programs have only played eight times since the 1990-91 season, this will be the 155th all-time meeting in the series. Texas A&M (157 meetings) is the only team Arkansas has played more.
The Razorbacks own an 87-67 advantage in the series. Also, Arkansas is 14-3 versus Texas in games played on neutral courts, including five straight wins — all of which were played in the state of Texas. Arkansas additionally owns the longest win streak in the series — 12 games from February 1955 to December 30, 1959.
The last time they met, Arkansas claimed a 77-74 victory in the Lone Star Shootout played in Houston’s Toyota Center on Dec. 17, 2016. Daryl Macon, who was 14-of-14 at the free throw line, led the Razorbacks with 23 points.
Overall, Arkansas made 29-of-31 free throws, including 18-of-19 in the second half, while Texas was just 19-of-32 at the charity stripe. Arkansas also had a 30-4 advantage in bench scoring.
This will be the 96th season of basketball for the Razorbacks. Arkansas is 77-18 all-time in season openers, has 23 straight season openers and has opened the season in the win column in 45 of the last 47 seasons.
Arkansas will be opening the season on a neutral court for just the 11th time and first time since 2004-05. The Razorbacks are 9-1 when opening the season on a neutral court.
The lone loss was against UMass, 104-80, in Springfield, Mass., to open the 1994-95 season in the Tip-off Classic.
The Razorbacks, coming off a national championship and eventual national runner-up, were No. 1 in the polls and the Minutemen were No. 3. That setback to UMass was also the last time Arkansas lost a season opener.
| Thu, Aug 29 |  | vs UAPB (Little Rock) | W, 70-0 |
| Sat, Sep 7 |  | @ Oklahoma State | L, 31-39 2OT |
| Sat, Sep 14 |  | vs UAB | W, 37-27 |
| Sat, Sep 21 |  | @ Auburn | W, 24-14 |
| Sat, Sep 28 |  | vs Texas A&M (Arl) | L, 21-17 |
| Sat, Oct 5 |  | vs Tennessee | W, 19-14 |
| Sat, Oct 19 |  | vs LSU | L, 34-10 |
| Sat, Oct 26 |  | @ Mississippi State | W, 58-25 |
| Sat, Nov 2 |  | vs Ole Miss | L, 63-31 |
| Sat, Nov 16 |  | vs Texas | 11:00 AM ABC |
| Sat, Nov 23 |  | vs Louisiana Tech | 3:00 PM ESPN+/SECN+ |
| Sat, Nov 30 |  | @ Missouri | 2:30 or 3:30 PM TBA |
| Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll: | ||||
| OVERALL | Record | Pts | Prv | |
| 1. | Bryant (25) | 10-0 | 268 | 1 |
| 2. | Greenwood (2) | 10-0 | 234 | 3 |
| 30 | Conway | 9-1 | 202 | 2 |
| 4. | Little Rock Parkview | 9-1 | 171 | 4 |
| 5. | Bentonville | 7-3 | 162 | 5 |
| 6. | Benton | 9-1 | 148 | 6 |
| 7. | Fayetteville | 8-2 | 111 | 7 |
| 8. | Pulaski Academy | 8-2 | 89 | 8 |
| 9. | Rogers | 7-3 | 43 | 9 |
| 10. | Joe T. Robinson | 9-1 | 22 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Valley View 8, Mountain Home 7, Cabot 6, Little Rock Catholic 6, Shiloh Christian 6, Elkins 1, Farmington 1. | ||||
| CLASS 7A | ||||
| 1. | Bryant (27) | 10-0 | 135 | 1 |
| 2. | Conway | 9-1 | 102 | 2 |
| 3. | Bentonville | 7-3 | 81 | 3 |
| 4. | Fayetteville | 8-2 | 45 | 4 |
| 5. | Pulaski Academy | 8-2 | 39 | 5 |
| Others receiving votes: Rogers 3. | ||||
| CLASS 6A | ||||
| 1. | Greenwood (27) | 10-0 | 135 | 1 |
| 2. | Benton | 9-1 | 108 | 2 |
| 3. | Mountain Home | 8-2 | 62 | 3 |
| 4. | Shiloh Christian | 7-3 | 49 | 4 |
| 5. | Little Rock Catholic | 9-1 | 34 | 5 |
| Others receiving votes: Marion 6. | ||||
| CLASS 5A | ||||
| 1. | Little Rock Parkview (27) | 9-1 | 135 | 1 |
| 2. | Joe T. Robinson | 9-1 | 106 | 2 |
| 3. | Valley View | 10-0 | 79 | 3 |
| 4. | Farmington | 9-1 | 48 | 4 |
| 5. | Hot Springs Lakeside | 8-2 | 20 | 5 |
| Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 7, Harding Academy 7, Morrilton 3. | ||||
| CLASS 4A | ||||
| 1. | Elkins (20) | 10-0 | 126 | 1 |
| 3. | Arkadelphia (5) | 8-2 | 91 | 3 |
| 2. | Little Rock Mills (1) | 10-0 | 68 | 2 |
| 4. | Warren | 8-2 | 55 | 4 |
| 5. | Dardanell (1) | 9-1 | 23 | — |
| Southside Batesville | 10-0 | 23 | — | |
| Others receiving votes: Malvern 12, Gravette 5, Highland 2. | ||||
| CLASS 3A | ||||
| 1. | Bismarck (12) | 10-0 | 105 | 1t |
| 2. | Fordyce (10) | 10-0 | 96 | 1t |
| 3. | Prescott (1) | 9-1 | 70 | 4 |
| 4. | Osceola (2) | 8-1 | 54 | 3 |
| 5. | Booneville (1) | 9-1 | 39 | 5 |
| Others receiving votes: Mansfield (1) 23, Rivercrest 10, Rison 4, Salem 4. | ||||
| CLASS 2A | ||||
| 1. | Carlisle (20) | 10-0 | 127 | 1 |
| 2. | Conway Christian (7) | 10-0 | 115 | 2 |
| 3. | Des Arc | 8-2 | 59 | 5 |
| 4. | East Poinsett Co. | 7-3 | 52 | — |
| 5. | Bigelow | 6-4 | 18 | 3 |
| Murfreesboro | 7-3 | 18 | 4 | |
| Others receiving votes: Mount Ida 6, Junction City 4, Cross County 3, Poyen 3. | ||||
| 8-MAN SANCTIONED | ||||
| 1. | Strong-Huttig (27) | 5-0 | 81 | 1 |
| 2. | Midland | 9-0 | 53 | 2 |
| 3. | Cedar Ridge | 8-1 | 25 | 3 |
| Others receiving votes: Woodlawn 3. | ||||