Arkansas earns its 37th NCAA bid and fourth in a five-year span. This is the second time in program history Arkansas has earned a No. 10 seed. Arkansas is 50-35 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including a 19-8 record in first-round games.
This will be the 14th time Arkansas and Kansas have officially played. The Jayhawks own an 8-6 advantage in the series, which dates back to the 1946-47 season. Arkansas has won two straight in the series with a 65-64 win in the 2005 Maui Invitational and a 72-71 victory in the 2023 NCAA Tournament second round as the Razorbacks advanced to their third-straight Sweet 16. The Jayhawks were the No. 1 seed and ranked No. 4 in the AP poll.
While this is the 14th official time the programs have met, Arkansas hosted preseason No. 1 Kansas in a charity exhibition game earlier this year (Oct. 25, 2024) in Bud Walton Arena. The teams played four, 10-minute quarters and Arkansas won 85-69. Both teams played without two of their top players. (Arkansas was without Jonas Aidoo and Zvonimir Ivisic and Kansas was without Hunter Dickinson, Shakeel Moore and Rylan Griffen.)
With a first-round win, Arkansas would face the winner of No. 2 seed St. John’s and No. 15 seed Omaha on Saturday, March 22, in Providence.
Arkansas won 20 games in 2024-25 and faced 17 teams in this year’s NCAA field, posting an 8-11 record in those games.
Highlights for John Calipari in his 33rd year as a collegiate head coach include:
• His 24th NCAA appearance in 32 NCAA Tournaments held.
^ 1 – NCAA Championship
^ 2 – NCAA Runners-Up
^ 6 – Final Fours
^ 12 – Elite 8s
^ 15 - Sweet 16s
• A 57-22 (.722) record in NCAA Tournament games.
^ The 57 NCAA Tournament wins ties for most among active coaches (Kansas’ Bill Self).
^ The 57 NCAA Tournament wins ranks 6th-most all-time.
• 20 wins for the 30th time in this his 33rd season as a collegiate head coach.
^ 30 – 20-win seasons
^ 20 – 25-wins seasons
^ 11 – 30-win seasons
^ 5 – 35-plus win seasons
^ 3 – 38-win seasons. 38 wins in a season is an NCAA record and Coach Calipari is the only coach to win at least 38 games in a season. He did it once at Memphis (2007-08) and twice at Kentucky (2011-12 and 2014-15).
Razorback Foundation members and Men's Basketball season ticket holders can request NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament tickets on their Razorback Ticket Center account. The deadline to request tickets is 5:00 pm (CT) on Monday, March 17.
Fans who have already completed their postseason ticket request do not need to take any additional action at this time. Ticket requests will be fulfilled based on 2024 membership level and priority points. Fans will be notified on the status of their ticket order no later than Tuesday, March 18.
For University of Arkansas students, an extremely small quantity of tickets will go on sale through your Razorback Ticket Center account at 8:30 am on Monday, March 17. The tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
General public tickets for each of the NCAA First and Second Round sites can be accessed at the NCAA TicketMaster page.
For more information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on Twitter.
