Arkansas Announced as WVU’s Opponent for Big 12/SEC Challenge

The Big 12 conference announced the men’s basketball pairings for this season’s Big 12/SEC challenge, completing West Virginia’s non-conference schedule for this upcoming season. The final missing piece from WVU’s 2021-22 schedule was the team’s SEC opponent, now announced to be Arkansas.

The Mountaineers and Razorbacks will play for just the second time ever on Jan. 29 in Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, AK. Arkansas won the first meeting between the programs, 71-64 on Nov. 26, 2006.

Despite the teams only meeting once, 15 years ago, there is one Mountaineer who is familiar with the Razorback program, senior forward Gabe Osabuohien. Osabuohien spent the first two seasons of his college career at Arkansas before transferring to WVU in 2019.

The Razorbacks went 25-7 last season (13-4 in the SEC), making it to the SEC Tournament semifinals and the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

WVU’s other non-conference opponents next season include Oakland, Pitt, Eastern Kentucky, Bellarmine, Radford, UConn, Kent State, UAB and Youngstown State. The Mountaineers will also play in an eight-team tournament in Charleston, South Carolina along with Boise State, Clemson, Elon, Marquette, Ole Miss, St. Bonaventure and Temple.

The other matchups in the Big 12/SEC Challenge are:

• Baylor at Alabama
• Missouri at Iowa State
• Kentucky at Kansas
• Kansas State at Ole Miss
• Oklahoma at Auburn
• Oklahoma State at Florida
• LSU at TCU
• Tennessee at Texas
• Mississippi at Texas Tech