The Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team, which traveled to Illinois for an exhibition game against the Illini to benefit victims of the Maui wildfires last fall, may play Arkansas in an exhibition game this preseason in Fayetteville, Ark. The proposed exhibition, which according to a source also would be played for charity, was mentioned by first-year Arkansas coach John Calipari at a summertime news conference with reporters on Monday.
KU coach Bill Self confirmed to The Star in a text message that, “we are talking about it. Not done yet.” No date has been mentioned for the KU-Arkansas game. Calipari said it would be played at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. “We’re in the works with Kansas on an exhibition here in Bud Walton,” Calipari said at Monday’s news conference.
The game would not count in the record books. In terms of regular-season games between the schools, KU leads the all-time series 8-6. Arkansas has won the last two meetings: 72-71 in a second-round 2023 NCAA Tournament contest in Des Moines, Iowa, and 65-64 in the 2005 Maui Invitational. KU defeated Arkansas 93-81 in a 1991 Elite Eight game. The teams split a two-year home-and-home series in 1985-86 and ’86-87. KU won both ends of a home-and-home in 1976-77 and ’77-78.
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