The 2020–21 Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team represented the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020, and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. The team was led by second-year head coach

Eric Musselman Eric Musselman (born November 19, 1964) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at the University of Southern California. He is the former head coach at the University of Arkansas, University of Nevada, Reno, the ...

and played its home games at

Bud Walton Arena Bud Walton Arena (also known as the Basketball Palace of Mid-America) is the home to the Arkansas Razorbacks basketball, men's and Arkansas Razorbacks women's basketball, women's basketball teams of the University of Arkansas, known as the Arka ...

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

, as a member of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. The Razorbacks finished second in the SEC regular season and earned a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament's South Regional. Arkansas went on to make it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1995–96 season, and then to the Elite Eight for the first time since the 1994–95 season. Freshman guard

Moses Moody Moses Josiah Moody (born May 31, 2002) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Moody was drafted 14th ove ...

was named the SEC Freshman of the Year, 1st Team All-SEC, Freshman All-American, and AP Honorable Mention All-American. The Razorbacks finished the season with an overall record of 25–7, 13–4 in SEC play, and finished ranked #6 in the

Coaches Poll In the United States, the Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has ...

and #10 in the AP Poll. Arkansas's season ended when they lost to eventual national champion Baylor in the Elite Eight.

Previous season

The Razorbacks finished the 2019–20 season with a record of 20–12, 7–11 in SEC play to finish in a tie for 10th place. Junior Mason Jones won a share of the SEC Player of the Year award and was named a consensus First-Team All-SEC player. Arkansas started the season strong, going into conference play with an 11–1 record, including two road wins against Power Five teams, Georgia Tech and Indiana. After winning their first-round game against Vanderbilt on March 11, 2020, the Hogs were slated for a rematch against South Carolina in the second round, but the SEC announced on March 12, 2020 that the SEC Tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, with an announcement following from the NCAA later that day that the whole tournament was cancelled, along with all other winter and spring championships, ending the Razorbacks' season. They finished with 20 wins against 12 losses in coach Eric Musselman's first season. He was the first coach to win 20 games in his initial campaign at Arkansas since

John Pelphrey John Leslie Pelphrey (born July 18, 1968) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach of the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles men's basketball, Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. After being named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1987, he ...

won 23 in the 2007–08 season.

Offseason

On August 1, 2020, star guard

Isaiah Joe Derrick Isaiah Joe (born July 2, 1999) nicknamed "Zai", is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Early li ...

announced that he was withdrawing his name from the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

and returning for his junior season. Joe was a member of the 2019 SEC All-Freshman Team and earned preseason All-SEC recognition prior to his sophomore season, before going on to lead the league in three-pointers made, rank fourth in the NCAA for three-pointers made per game, as well as being named SEC Player of the Week on December 30, 2019 before having knee surgery on February 4, 2020, which sidelined him for six games. Joe would have highlighted a group of three returnees with starting experience for the Hogs, but on August 17, 2020, sixteen days after his initial announcement, Joe reversed his decision and opted to declare for the 2020 NBA draft.

Departures

Incoming Transfers

2020 recruiting class

2021 Recruiting class

Roster

Schedule and results

The Razorbacks cruised through a

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

-shortened non-conference slate that originally featured a neutral site matchup at the

BOK Center BOK Center, or Bank of Oklahoma Center, is a 19,199-seat multi-purpose arena and a primary indoor sports and event venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. The two current permanent tenants are the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL and the Tulsa Oiler ...

against

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and a bid to the MGM Resorts Main Event tournament in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. The non-conference schedule included a game against an in-state program, the

University of Central Arkansas The University of Central Arkansas (Central Arkansas or UCA) is a public university in Conway, Arkansas, United States. Founded in 1907, the university is one of the oldest in the state. As the state's only normal school at the time, UCA has hist ...

, for the first time since a match against

Arkansas State Arkansas State University (A-State or ASU) is a public research university in Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States. It is the flagship campus of the Arkansas State University System and the second-largest university in the state. The university ...

in the 1987 NIT and the first time in the regular season since playing Arkansas Tech in 1950. The Razorbacks also defeated their eventual Sweet Sixteen opponent,

Oral Roberts Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christianity, Charismatic Christianity, Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity theology, Prosperity Gospel Theo ...

, in a non-conference game in Bud Walton Arena. Owning an 8–0 record heading into conference play, Arkansas started its SEC regular season with a road win against Auburn, but lost starter Justin Smith to an ankle injury that sidelined or limited him for the first third of conference play, which contributed to Arkansas getting off to a rough 2–4 start against SEC competition, including consecutive blowout losses on the road to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. After the losses to LSU and Alabama, which were sandwiched around the toughest practice of the Musselman era, the Razorbacks turned their season around and did not lose another regular season SEC game, winning eleven straight conference matchups and eleven out of their last twelve overall in the regular season, with the lone loss coming on the road against

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

. The conference winning streak included three wins against teams that beat the Razorbacks earlier in the season, two top-ten wins, and the Razorbacks' first top-ten road win since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. Arkansas became ranked for the first time since

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

on February 15, 2021. The Razorbacks followed that up by being ranked in consecutive polls for the first time since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, then hosted their first ranked matchup in Fayetteville since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

when #6 Alabama came to town with a chance to clinch the SEC regular season championship before losing to Arkansas 81–66. After winning every game in the month of February, the Razorbacks were ranked #12 before closing out the regular season in second place for the SEC title with a 13–4 conference record, their highest finish in league play since the 2014–15 season and as high as they had finished since winning the conference and national titles in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. Arkansas entered the

2021 SEC men's basketball tournament The 2021 Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southeastern Conference at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, which took place March 10–14, 2021. Seeds On Novembe ...

ranked #8, the team's highest ranking since the 1994–95 season. After beating

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

in the quarterfinals and losing to LSU in the semifinals, the Razorbacks earned a 3 seed for the NCAA tournament, their highest seed since the 1994–95 season. Arkansas advanced to the Elite Eight after victories against Colgate,

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

, and

. Arkansas had not made a Sweet Sixteen appearance since 1996 and had not made it to the Elite Eight since 1995. The Hogs lost to eventual national champion Baylor in the Elite Eight. The Razorbacks finished the season ranked #10 in the AP Poll and #6 in the Coaches Poll; it was their first top-ten finish since 1995. Senior guard

Jalen Tate Jalen Tate (born June 18, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Leuven Bears of the BNXT League. He played college basketball for the Northern Kentucky Norse and the Arkansas Razorbacks. High school career Tate attended Pickeri ...

was named to the All-South Region team after his performance in the NCAA Tournament. Freshman guard

was voted AP Honorable Mention All-American, 1st Team All-SEC, SEC Freshman of the Year, and SEC All-Freshman. Junior guard

JD Notae Janaud "JD" Notae (born October 27, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Trapani Shark of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). He ...

was named SEC Sixth Man of the Year. , - !colspan=12 style=, Regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, SEC Tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA Tournament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball seasons

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball The Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team, colloquially known as the Hogs, represents the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. The team competes in the Southeastern Conference an ...