A huge holiday college hoops tripleheader is coming to CBS and Paramount+ this year. John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks will face Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars on Dec. 20 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, it was announced Monday.
The Razorbacks and Cougars will square off in the Never Forget Tribute Classic, a longstanding basketball event that has raised millions of dollars for a variety of 9/11-connected charities. The game will be played on the same day as the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta; that doubleheader will feature North Carolina vs. Ohio State and Kentucky vs. St. John’s. Tip times for all three Dec. 20 games will be announced in the fall.
It should be a massive day for college hoops, and it will center around CBS’ three-pack of high-profile matchups on the back end of the non-con calendar.
College basketball’s November and December nonconference schedule is adorned with an abundance of terrific matchups, and with Arkansas-Houston we get yet another tilt between teams that will be ranked heading into the season — and should be ranked when they tip five days before Christmas. The Cougars, who lost in the national title game to Florida, are in contention to be preseason No. 1.
Arkansas, in Year 2 under Calipari, is coming off a Sweet 16 appearance and will vie for top-15 status heading into November. As things stand now, Houston ranks No. 2 and Arkansas No. 20 in Gary Parrish’s offseason Top 25 And 1.
Back for the Cougars: point guard Milos Uzan, shooting guard Emanuel Sharp and do-it-all defensive forward Joseph Tugler. Arkansas brings back even more: combo guard DJ Wagner, small forward Karter Knox, wing Billy Richmond and stretch 4 Trevon Brazile are the featured returnees.
“The great thing about piecing together a schedule is that you have to schedule teams who are going to test you,” Sampson told CBS Sports in a statement. “When you play one of John’s teams, you know their fan base is going to travel. Prudential Center is going to be full of Razorback fans. Arkansas is one of the great programs in the country, and John is a Hall of Fame coach. This is a great opportunity to test ourselves early against one of the best programs in the country.”
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The former Southwest Conference league mates have met 40 times — Arkansas leads 22-18 — with the most recent game coming in December of 2017.
Calipari will have his Hogs on CBS multiple times this season, including a megawatt Thanksgiving night tilt against Duke. The Cougars game will be Arkansas’ last big test before SEC play starts in January.
“We are excited about this matchup for our fans,” Calipari said in a statement. “Razorback nation proved last year they will show up for games like this that are played in elite facilities at destination cities. We look forward to facing a top-level program led by one of the best coaches in the country. Kelvin and I have been friends a long time. He has built an incredible program with a great culture at Houston. This game will be a great measuring stick for us as we wind down the nonconference part of the schedule and start to turn our attention to the SEC schedule.”
Tickets for the game will be made available to the public in early October, per Intersport, which is organizing the event and also helping operate the CBS Sports Classic.
