Arkansas basketball and John Calipari now know what their 2027 SEC schedule will look like. The slate was released Monday morning.
The opening game is Saturday, January 2 against Missouri. The first two-game road trip of the SEC season occurs in mid-January at Texas A&M and then at Tennessee. The first two-game homestand of the season is at the end of January against LSU and Mississippi State.
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There is one other two-game SEC road trip for Arkansas, on February 20 at Kentucky and on February 23 at Missouri.
The biggest game on the schedule: February 27 against preseason No. 1 and SEC favorite Florida.
The second-biggest game on the schedule: January 23 at Texas.
Teams Arkansas plays twice: Missouri, LSU, and Alabama.
All road games: South Carolina, A&M, Tennessee, Texas, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, LSU
All home games: Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn, Florida, Oklahoma
The SEC is going to be a beast in men’s basketball this season, or at least, it is expected to be. The impossible standard set in 2025 was not going to be matched in 2026. The laws of averages emerged for the conference. The 2027 season should produce an outcome between the extremes of 2025 on the high end and 2026 on the low end.
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Arkansas should be able to win all of its non-Florida home games. If the Hogs can do that, and they can win the road games they will be fully expected to win – South Carolina, Missouri, and LSU – they will bank at least 11 SEC wins in the 18-game conference schedule. That leaves Florida and six very tough road games. If Arkansas can just go 3-4 in those seven extremely challenging games, that’s a 14-4 SEC record, which would put the Razorbacks in the top echelon of the SEC, likely good enough to be a top-3 seed in the 2027 NCAA Tournament if not a top-two seed.
Last season, Arkansas struggled on the road. The Razorbacks lost so many road games because their defense was not up to par. This season’s team is supposed to be better at that end of the floor. John Calipari’s main task is to get his team to put forth consistent effort and energy on defense so that when the team goes away from Bud Walton Arena, it will still be very difficult for opposing teams to score against the Razorbacks.
