Razorbacks get in NCAA Tournament, drawing familiar opponent

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas, seeded 10th in the West Region, will face Kansas, the region’s No. 7 seed, on Thursday, March 20, in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Championship.

The Razorbacks and Jayhawks will play in Providence, R.I., at Amica Mutual Pavilion. Tipoff time and TV information are TBA.

Arkansas earns its 37th NCAA bid and fourth in a five-year span. This is the second time in program history Arkansas has earned a No. 10 seed. Arkansas is 50-35 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 19-8 record in first-round games.

This will be the 14th time Arkansas and Kansas have officially played. The Jayhawks own an 8-6 advantage in the series, which dates back to the 1946-47 season.

Arkansas has won two straight in the series with a 65-64 win in the 2005 Maui Invitational and a 72-71 victory in the 2023 NCAA Tournament second round as the Razorbacks advanced to their third-straight Sweet 16. The Jayhawks were the No. 1 seed and ranked No. 4 in the AP poll.

While this is the 14th official time the programs have met, Arkansas hosted preseason No. 1 Kansas in a charity exhibition game earlier this year (Oct. 25, 2024) in Bud Walton Arena.

The teams played four, 10-minute quarters and Arkansas won 85-69. Both teams played without two of their top players. (Arkansas was without Jonas Aidoo and Zvonimir Ivisic and Kansas was without Hunter Dickinson, Shakeel Moore and Rylan Griffen.)

With a first-round win, Arkansas would face the winner of No. 2 seed St. John’s and No. 15 seed Omaha on Saturday, March 22, in Providence.

Arkansas won 20 games in 2024-25 and faced 17 teams in this year’s NCAA field, posting an 8-11 record in those games.

Highlights for John Calipari in his 33rd year as a collegiate head coach include 32 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, six Final Four’s, 12 Elite Eight’s, 15 Sweet 16’s.

Calipari is 57-22 in the tournament, tied for the most among active coaches with Bill Self Kansas and sixth most all-time.

The Razorbacks now have 20 wins for the 30th time in Calipari’s 33 seasons. He is the only coach to win at least 38 games in a season, doing it once at Memphis and twice at Kentucky.