Hogs Gifted Marquee Game for SEC-ACC Challenge -

Razorbacks hit road for December blockbuster against North Carolina

In the days leading up to Arkansas facing North Carolina in the Sweet 16 at Reunion Arena in 1990, which was referred to by Hogs fans as Barnhill South in Dallas, a young future journalist lifted the heavy wooden piece that made up the middle coffee table section of a giant couch wide foot rest.

Hidden in there was an old family Bible and a yearbook for each of my parents. A few years later there would also be a copy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette capturing the Hogs’ national championship win over Duke in basketball featuring a column about head coach Nolan Richardson’s struggles early in his career as his daughter, Yvonne, slowly lost her fight with leukemia while her father adjusted to a job she encouraged him to take at Arkansas and how she must be looking down smiling.

Sticking out from under the heavy giant bible was a small sliver of newspaper. Curious, I lifted it out and found a neatly folded story about the Arkansas Razorbacks playing North Carolina.

It was stunning. The idea that not only did the Hogs play the Tar Heels during the regular season, but they hosted them was a lot to take in.

But, then the shocking revelations kept coming. The dateline showed this game didn’t take place in Fayetteville. Little Rock either.

Instead, Dean Smith drug his team to Pine Bluff to the Convention Center, a building my mother drove me by often on the way to the Pines Mall for school shopping. A place where I saw the Shriner’s Circus and my first concert, either Alabama or Ricky Van Shelton. Can’t recall which came first.

As began reading my brain almost froze. Not only did Smith bring his 21-0, No. 1 ranked North Carolina team to Pine Bluff, it was a team led by Michael Jordan. THE Michael Jordan.

The man who dunked over and over to the tune of “Unbelieve-A-Bull” on my television while I got ready for school each morning. The man who tried to sell me shoes and Gatorade on a regular basis.

A player so dominant that every young man in my town automatically stuck his tongue out through sheer habit while driving to the rim out of respect to the greatest player to ever lace it up and step on the floor.

Realizing that I and his royal airness had literally walked in the same building was mesmerizing. I then began to wonder if Jordan had tried Heinz 57 on a steak for the first time at the Shoney’s down the street from the Convention Center also as it was the only place I could think up that would be good enough for an elite player like Jordan even if he was in college.

To top it all off, Arkansas somehow used the magic of Pine Bluff to take down the Tar Heels in the biggest upset of the regular season, 65-64.

It should be noted that a few days after I uncovered that historical slip of newspaper, Richardson’s Razorbacks easily dispatched of the Tar Heels, 96-73, in front of a heavily pro-Hogs crowd while en route to the Final Four in Denver.

Making History Once Again

This season, Arkansas will again take on the mystique of North Carolina basketball in a battle of blue bloods that has only taken place 11 times, none of which took place in Fayetteville, nor Chapel Hill. As a result, when John Calipari leads his youthful Razorbacks onto the court in the Dean Dome on Dec. 1 for the SEC-ACC Challenge, it will be a historic moment.

Nowhere near Michael Jordan and No. 1 North Carolina show up in Pine Bluff to take a loss level historic, but historic none the less. ESPN will determine times and networks for each game as they sprawl across two days to fit everything in while leaving room for each to be televised.

The Razorbacks get things kicked off on the first day of the series as the SEC looks to set a tone of dominance once again. A glimpse at the schedule makes it clear that either Duke vs. Florida or Arkansas vs. North Carolina will be the featured game, all of which will be dependent on how things get started in the few weeks leading up to the game.

The Razorbacks will travel to Michigan State for a second year in a row after Calipari gave away the Hogs’ game at Bud Walton in exchange for a potentially highly televised match-up against the Spartans at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Last year’s Thanksgiving game against Duke, which immediately followed the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, set a college basketball ratings record.

Over 6.8 million people watched, setting a ratings record that reportedly hadn’t been seen on any network in 32 seasons. During the first 15 minutes over 15 million people hung around to watch, helping produce an average viewership that hadn’t been touched since No. 2 Indiana faced No. 13 Purdue on the road in 1993, a time with fewer viewing options and more captive audiences.

Limited Results

The Tar Heels lead the series, 8-3.

The last time the two teams met was on Nov. 24, 2023, in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. At the time, No. 14 North Carolina pulled out an 87-72 victory in the third-place game. Prior to that, No. 9 North Carolina handed the Hogs an 87-68 loss on Nov. 24, 2017, in the Phil Knight Invitational semifinals in Portland.

From 1990 to 2017, the two programs met six times, all in the NCAA Tournament.

• 2017: No. 6 North Carolina defeated Arkansas, 72-65, in the NCAA Second Round (Greenville, S.C.).

• 2015: No. 15 North Carolina defeated #21 Arkansas, 87-78, in the NCAA Second Round (Jacksonville, Fla.).

• 2008: No. 1 North Carolina defeated Arkansas, 108-77, in the NCAA Second Round (Raleigh, N.C.).

• 1995: No. 6 Arkansas defeated #4 North Carolina, 75-68, in the NCAA Final Four (Seattle, Wash.).

• 1993: No. 4 North Carolina defeated #12 Arkansas, 80-74, in the NCAA Sweet 16 (East Rutherford, N.J.).

• 1990: No. 7 Arkansas defeated North Carolina, 96-73, in the NCAA Sweet 16 (Dallas, Texas).

In the win over Jordan’s Tar Heels, center Joe Kleine scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds in the win, but Charles Balentine, who recently passed away, was the hero, hitting the game-winning shot with four seconds left.

The first game of the series was a “made for TV” game when No. 3 North Carolina defeated No. 10 Arkansas, 63-57, in Greensboro, N.C., on NBC. Two seasons later, No. 13 North Carolina defeated No. 20 Arkansas, 64-58, in the 1980 Great Alaska Shootout championship game.

Razorback head coach John Calipari holds a 9-4 advantage over the Tar Heels throughout his career. It should also be noted the Hogs are 3-0 in the SEC-ACC Challenge.

• 2023: Arkansas defeated #7 Duke, 80-75, before a Bud Walton Arena record crowd of 20,334.

• 2024: Arkansas came from behind to beat Miami, 76-73, in Coral Gables. In the inaugural Challenge

• 2025: #25 Arkansas hosted #6 Louisville and won 89-80 as Trevon Brazile scored 12 of the Hogs’ first 19 points while Darius Acuff Jr. had a double-double, scoring nine of his team’s last 15.

The SEC leads in the ACC/SEC Challenge, 30-16, over the first three years. In 2023, the leagues split, 7-7. The SEC won 14 of the 16 games in 2024 and 9-of-16 in 2025.