Razorback head basketball coach Eric Musselman shows his excitement after beating LSU last season at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- The 2022-23 University of Arkansas men's basketball schedule is out and now some times have been assigned to some of the games.

Eric Musselman has helped lead his team to the Elite 8 the past two years. He talked about the challenges of this year's schedule on Tuesday.

"I think it’s really challenging," Musselman said. "I think it’s one of the hardest schedules that we’ve been a part of, if not the hardest. Obviously, the Maui field is really challenging. 

"We’re really young and not only are we really young, we have a lot of new pieces. And so we’re continuing to try to improve. Some of the simple concepts that we’ve had in the past with our close-out techniques, we still haven’t grasped that the way that we need to. If we five more months of training camp, we probably still would need more. But the schedule is upon us."

The Razorbacks will have a Red-White game on Sunday. That will be followed by an exhibition game against Rogers State on Monday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena. But the highlight of the preseason will be an exhibition game at Texas on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3 p.m.

"We wanted to play on the road because we have so many new players and six freshmen who have never traveled as a collegiate player, and we have a lot of transfers obviously who have never traveled with us," Musselman said. "So, 11 new travel members out of our 13. We played Coach (Chris) Beard when I was at Nevada, and that game went into overtime. His teams are always really, really tough, physical. He has a really mature team this year. If you look at the age difference, quite a drastic age difference in our two rosters this year, which I think will prepare our guys. But the one thing, at least in our opinion in our offices, they're as well-coached as any team in the country, and they play with a tenacity and toughness that is often times unmatched.

"We feel fortunate that it’s a road game because this group needs that. Because these games in Hawaii are coming after only three home games, so I think it’s a great opportunity for our guys and, like I said, especially because they have some fifth-year seniors and some guys that have played in a lot of games, it’ll be a really good test for our younger roster."

The Razorbacks open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 7, hosting North Dakota State at 7 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.

2022-23 Arkansas Men’s Basketball Schedule

Oct. 16 (Sun) RED-WHITE GAME (Barnhill Arena) – 2:00 pm

Oct. 24 (Mon) Exhibition vs Rogers State (Bud Walton Arena) – 7 :00 pm

Oct. 29 (Sat) Exhibition at Texas (Austin, Texas) – 3:00 pm (Longhorn Network)

Nov. 7 (Mon) vs North Dakota State (Bud Walton Arena) – 7:00 pm (SEC Network Plus)

Nov. 11 (Fri) vs Fordham (Bud Walton Arena) – 7:00 pm (SEC Network Plus)

Nov. 16 (Wed) vs South Dakota State (Bud Walton Arena) – 7:00 pm (SEC Network Plus)

Nov. 21 (Mon) at Maui Jim Maui Invitational vs Louisville (Lahaina, Hawai’i) – 4:00 pm (ESPN2)

Nov. 22 (Tues) at Maui Jim Maui Invitational vs Texas Tech or Creighton (Lahaina, Hawai’i) – TBA (ESPN/2)

Nov. 23 (Wed) at Maui Jim Maui Invitational vs TBA  (at Lahaina, Hawai’i) – TBA (ESPN/2/U)

Nov. 28 (Mon) vs Troy (Bud Walton Arena) – 7:00 pm (SEC Network)

Dec. 3 (Sat) vs San Jose State (Bud Walton Arena) – 3:00 pm (SEC Network)

Dec. 6 (Tues) vs UNC Greensboro (Bud Walton Arena) – 6:00 pm (SEC Network)

Dec. 10 (Sat) vs Oklahoma (Tulsa, Okla. - BOK Center) – Noon (ESPN)

Dec. 17 (Sat) vs Bradley (North Little Rock - Simmons Bank Arena) – 3:00 pm

Dec. 21 (Wed) vs UNC Asheville (Bud Walton Arena) – 8:00 pm (SEC Network)

Dec. 28 (Wed) at LSU * (Baton Rouge, La.) – 8:00 pm (ESPN2/U)

Jan. 4 (Wed) vs Missouri * (Bud Walton Arena) – 7:30 pm (SEC Network)

Jan. 7 (Sat) at Auburn * (Auburn, Ala.) – 7:30 pm (SEC Network)

Jan. 11 (Wed) vs Alabama * (Bud Walton Arena) – 6:00 pm (ESPN2/U)

Jan. 14 (Sat) at Vanderbilt * (Nashville, Tenn.) – 1:00 pm (ESPN2/U)

Jan. 18 (Wed) at Missouri * (Columbia, Mo.) – 8:00 pm (SEC Network)

Jan. 21 (Sat) vs Ole Miss * (Bud Walton Arena) – 11:00 am (ESPN2)

Jan. 24 (Tues) vs LSU * (Bud Walton Arena) – 6:00 pm (ESPN/2/U)

Jan. 28 (Sat) at Baylor % (Waco, Texas – SEC-Big 12 Challenge) – 3 or 5 pm (ESPN)

Jan. 31 (Tues) vs Texas A&M * (Bud Walton Arena) – 6:00 pm (ESPN/2/U)

Feb. 4 (Sat) at South Carolina * (Columbia, S.C.) – 2:30 pm (SEC Network)

Feb. 7 (Tues) at Kentucky * (Lexington, Ky.) – 8:00 pm (ESPN/2)

Feb. 11 (Sat) vs Mississippi State * (Bud Walton Arena) – 5:00 pm (ESPN2/U)

Feb. 15 (Wed) at Texas A&M * (Bryan-College Station, Texas) – 8:00 pm (ESPN2/U)

Feb. 18 (Sat) vs Florida * (Bud Walton Arena) – 1:00 pm (ESPN/2)

Feb. 21 (Tues) vs Georgia * (Bud Walton Arena) – 8:00 pm (SEC Network)

Feb. 25 (Sat) at Alabama * (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) – 1 or 3 pm (ESPN/2)

Feb. 28 (Tues) at Tennessee * (Knoxville, Tenn.) – 8:00 pm (ESPN/2/U)

Mar. 4 (Sat) vs Kentucky * (Bud Walton Arena) – 1:00 pm (CBS)

Mar. 8-12 at SEC Tournament (Nashville, Tenn. - Bridgestone Arena)

Mar. 16-19 at NCAA 1st/2nd Rounds

Mar. 23-26 at NCAA Regionals

April 1& 3 at NCAA Final Four (Houston, Texas. - NRG Stadium)