Hogs call Pine Bluff

Most years, basketball fans must wait for the King Cotton Holiday Classic just after Christmas to fill the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

Christmas came early this year as the Convention Center welcomed a King Cotton-sized crowd for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks’ Tip-Off Tour event Sunday evening.

The event began with games involving a few young fans and the Arkansas men’s basketball team before turning into a public practice. The Hogs ran through various drills, with head coach John Calipari occasionally explaining the drills and his philosophies to the crowd.

Fans who paid extra for premium tickets had opportunities to meet Calipari and the players.

Earlier in the day, the Razorbacks participated in a Samaritan’s Feet service project, giving out free shoes and socks to students and families at 34th Avenue Elementary School.

Calipari said when picking which cities to visit on the tip-off tour, he asked where the Razorbacks could have the biggest impact.

“Half the people I talked to said, ‘You gotta go to Pine Bluff,'” Calipari said. “‘They used to always go to Pine Bluff. They haven’t been there in a while. The city needs it. The young people will need it. It’ll be great. Let them know it’s their team as much as anybody in this state. This is Pine Bluff’s team.'”

Arkansas once played select home games in the Pine Bluff Convention Center from 1977-92, prior to Bud Walton Arena’s opening in 1993.

Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington and Convention Center executive director Barbara Dunn opened the evening by welcoming the fans, with Washington expressing her thankfulness that Arkansas has a coach willing to bring the team to Pine Bluff. Dunn led the night’s first calling of the Hogs.

The Razorbacks then introduced an honorary starting lineup of former Arkansas players from the Pine Bluff area: Pine Bluff High School graduates Chris Walker, Ken Biley and U.S. Reed; Dollarway graduate Andrew Lang; and Wabbaseka native Ernie Murry.

Biley started the 1994 NCAA championship game against Duke, a 76-72 win. He is the only Razorback from Pine Bluff to win a national title.

Reed hit a game-winning, halfcourt shot in the 1981 NCAA tournament second round to defeat reigning national champion Louisville, 74-73, and was later drafted by the NBA’s Kansas City Kings. Lang was drafted in 1988 by the Phoenix Suns and spent 12 seasons in the NBA.

Walker was team captain on the 2000 SEC championship team, and Murry is best known for a game-winning four-point play on the road against Texas in 1990.

Calipari said he always wants to have former players and coaches involved in his program, regardless of what school he is coaching.

“You want to make sure you’re tying everybody into this,” Calipari said. “Wherever I was, we always would have the former players. We always would bring back the coaches. I want Coach (Nolan) Richardson at my practices. … We all know something special can happen, because it’s happened, and they did it. So, why don’t we do it? Shows you we can do it.”

Memphis native Todd Day, Arkansas’s all-time scoring leader, was also introduced, followed by Pine Bluff native Stephen Broughton, a former member of the UA System Board of Trustees.

Finally, Calipari entered the arena to an ovation he joked was the biggest he had received in Arkansas since he was ejected from a game at Bud Walton Arena in 2020 while coaching Kentucky.

Calipari is entering his first season with the Razorbacks. He coached Kentucky from 2009-24 and led the Wildcats to the 2012 national championship.

The Hogs spent the weekend in southern Arkansas. They held a similar event in Hot Springs on Saturday before traveling to Pine Bluff on Sunday.

Sophomore guard DJ Wagner, a Kentucky transfer, told the crowd before practice it is good for the Hogs to travel across the state.

“It just felt good to be able to … have that support in Hot Springs and just be able to come here and have that same support,” Wagner said. “So, it feels great. We just all happy to be here, and happy that y’all all was able to come out. So, we appreciate y’all.”

Arkansas is scheduled to begin Calipari’s debut season on Nov 6. against Lipscomb at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

The Hogs’ schedule includes two in-state opponents, UA-Little Rock and Central Arkansas. Calipari said it is possible the Razorbacks may play the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in the future.

“I’m not against playing in-state teams,” Calipari said. “I’m not, but you can’t play all of them. But I respect what they do, how they do it. I respect this town. Nothing’s easy. This is probably like I grew up. You have to do more with less. … That’s all I know. So, this would be the kind of town that I would enjoy being in, helping, creating hope. Doing those kinds of things.”