Arkansas, Houston set for December game at Brooklyn's Barclays Center

Arkansas coach John Calipari, speaking to radio host Josh Bertaccini, confirmed the matchup, said the Razorbacks "will go back to New York this year to play Houston."

Everyone assumed that would at the Garden. Calipari likes scheduling high-profile games in the New York metropolitan area, a strategy that paid dividends last season with Arkansas's 89-87 victory over Michigan at Madison Square Garden.

The venue itself adds another layer of significance to the contest. The Barclays Center, which opened in 2012, has become one of basketball's premier venues, hosting numerous collegiate and professional basketball events, including the NBA Draft since 2013.

The historical context between these programs runs deep, with Arkansas holding a 22-18 lead in the all-time series.

Recent meetings have been scarce, though, with the Hogs facing the Coogs last in December 2017, when Houston secured a decisive 91-65 victory. The neutral-site series stands deadlocked at 3-3, adding some extra intrigue.

For Arkansas, the game represents another piece in what's shaping up to be one of the nation's better non-conference schedules.

The Razorbacks are hosting Baylor in Fayetteville and facing Duke in Chicago on Thanksgiving Day.

The roster, featuring returning stars D.J. Wagner, Trevon Brazile, and Billy Richmond III along with a talented group of freshmen and transfers.

Houston enters the contest with their own impressive trajectory under head coach Kelvin Sampson. The Cougars' recent success includes setting a conference single-season record with 19 wins and making a deep NCAA Tournament run.

"Playing in New York is special," Calipari said after last season's win at Madison Square Garden. "When they call me to play, I said, 'Done. Who am I playing?' I would like to play in the Garden every year."

While this game will be at Barclays rather than MSG, the sentiment remains the same. Calipari wants to play games in the media capital of the world for the invaluable exposure.

It's probably going to be a regular thing for the Hogs to be playing these types of games.

That's why they hired Calipari in the first place. He doesn't want to schedule an entire non-conference schedule of pushovers to stack up the won-lost record prior to playing SEC games.

We've seen that with Arkansas before. While it did hype fans' expectations it made the crash in March all that more painful. It also got a couple of coaches fired.

It's probably going to be a slow process of putting the schedule together over the summer. We won't see the completed one until fall.

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