Arkansas settling on exhibition games
FAYETTEVILLE — Some NCAA Division I college basketball coaches prefer to schedule closed scrimmages against other Division I programs.
Not University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman.
Arkansas announced Thursday that it will play two exhibition games at Walton Arena open to fans to get ready for the regular season.
The Razorbacks will play East Central University, a Division II school in Ada, Okla., at 3 p.m. on Oct. 24 — a week from Sunday. They will play a second exhibition game on Oct. 30 — a Saturday when the UA football team has an open date — against an opponent still to be named.
Arkansas’ opponent on Oct. 30 could be another Division II team, or a Division I opponent if the game raises funds in support of communities recovering from a natural disaster.
Under NCAA rules, scrimmages between Division I teams cannot be open to the public or media.
Musselman, going into his third season at Arkansas, had a mixture of exhibition games and closed scrimmages during his four seasons as Nevada’s coach.
“I don’t really like the secret scrimmage,” Musselman said Thursday. “I did it at Nevada and they were basically worthless, because then when we played in a real game, that was the first time we had been in uniform.
“You do the secret scrimmages with no fans. They might do [practice] segments. It’s a useless environment in my opinion. And actually I thought it hurt our teams at Nevada.
“That’s just one person’s opinion, because they’re really popular with other coaches. But I like our guys to play in front of fans and be in a game-like environment to get them ready for the regular season.”
Arkansas, which opens the season against Mercer at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at Walton Arena, plays its RedWhite intrasquad game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Barnhill Arena. The RedWhite game is free to the public with seating on a first-come, firstserved basis.
Two years ago, the Razorbacks beat the University of Arkansas at Little Rock 78-51 and beat Southwestern Oklahoma State 78-51 in exhibition games.
Arkansas didn’t play exhibition games last year because of coronavirus pandemic safety protocols, but now exhibitions are allowed again, as are capacity crowds.
East Central Coach Max Pendery was a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas during the 2019-20 season. He went to East Central when Chris Crutchfield, a Razorbacks’ assistant coach, became the Eagles’ head coach. Pendery was elevated to head coach after Crutchfield left East Central to become an assistant at Oregon.
The exhibition games take on added significance for the Razorbacks with the team having seven scholarship newcomers.
“I think it’s very important because we have so many different pieces that have been brought into the program,” said senior guard Au’Diese Toney, a graduate transfer from Pittsburgh. “It’s just a matter of time for us so we can click and bring all the new pieces together with the old pieces that were already here and show what we can do together before the ball gets rolling Nov. 9.”