Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Arkansas has a pretty good stat to lean on when it hosts Central Arkansas on Friday night.
Under coach John Calipari, the Razorbacks are 27-0 when they finish with 20 or more assists.
They had 25 in Wednesday’s 76-53 win over Robert Morris. They turned it over just 10 times in that game, which is the kind of ratio coaches like to see in November.
The Arkansas vs. UCA game starts at 7 p.m. CST at Bud Walton Arena on Nolan Richardson Court. Arkansas, ranked 19th in one poll and 20th in the other, is 2-1. UCA is also 2-1, and neither team has started league play.
SEC Network+ and the ESPN app have the broadcast, with Josh Haley and Joe Kleine on the call. Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman will handle radio for the Razorback Sports Network. SiriusXM listeners can find it on channel 179 or 230, or on channel 954 in the SXM app.
You can listen to the game on ESPN Arkansas 93.7 and 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in Fort Smith and across the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 1043 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
The Robert Morris game also helped Arkansas in the national numbers. The Hogs moved from 213th to 104th in assist-turnover margin after going from 1.12 to 1.5. In assists per game they went from 200th to 81st, climbing from 14.5 to 18.0.
Arkansas shot exactly 50% from the field that night. That matters because the Razorbacks are 35-0 under Calipari when they shoot 50% or better.
They also held Robert Morris to 53 points. Arkansas hasn’t lost under Calipari when it keeps a team under 60, and that record is now 7-0. UCA will have to break one of those streaks to pull off the upset.
Arkansas has never lost to UCA
The all-time series is 10-0 in favor of Arkansas. The Hogs are 6-0 against UCA in Fayetteville.
This is meeting No. 11, and it goes all the way back to the 1923-24 season. The two schools played six times through 1946-47 before the series went on hiatus. Friday will be the fifth game between them in a seven-year span.
Last season’s matchup got out of hand in the second half. Arkansas won 93-56 on Nov. 11, 2025, after a fairly normal first half ended with the Razorbacks up 43-34.
After halftime the Hogs went on a 17-1 run that included a 13-0 stretch. They outscored UCA 50-22 in the second half while UCA went 0 for 18 from 3-point range.
Darius Acuff Jr. did most of his damage late. He had 21 points, with 17 of them after the break, and shot 7 of 9 from the field and 3 of 5 from 3-point range.
Meleek Thomas scored 17 and added six rebounds. His six assists led the team, and he and Acuff combined for 38 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Karter Knox got his first career double-double in that game. He finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Bowser and Wilkinson off to strong starts
Cooper Bowser has at least seven rebounds in each of Arkansas’ first three games. He reached that number in 19 games total during his first three seasons, so that’s a big jump for him.
Jeremiah Wilkinson is the only Hog who’s scored in double figures in all three games. He’s done it 54 times in 66 career games.
Calipari has had UCA coach John Shulman’s number for a while. He’s 4-0 against Shulman overall and 2-0 against him at UCA since coming to Arkansas.
Two of those wins came while Shulman was at Chattanooga. Calipari’s Memphis team beat the Mocs in 2008, and his Kentucky team did it again in 2011.
Arkansas doesn’t get much of a break after Friday. The Razorbacks play Indiana in the Bad Boy Series in New York on Tuesday.
That game tips at 6:30 p.m. CST on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.
