PORTLAND, Ore. — One day following its 94-88 win over High Point at Moda Center, the Arkansas men’s basketball team traveled to Sacramento, California, on Sunday ahead of its Sweet 16 matchup.
The fourth-seeded Razorbacks (28-8) will face either top-seeded Arizona or ninth-seeded Utah State on Thursday at SAP Center in San Jose, California. A start time will be announced later Sunday.
The Wildcats and Aggies are scheduled to play Sunday night in San Diego.
Arkansas has Sunday off and will practice at the NBA’s Sacramento Kings facilities on Monday. The Razorbacks are staying at the Hyatt Regency on L Street.
“We’re going to watch the game and get a bunch of recovery and treatment and all of that,” said Arkansas forward Malique Ewin, who had a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double against High Point. “It’s going to be a chill day for us as we watch a couple films and break down what we did bad and what we did good in this game that we just played with High Point.”
Sacramento is 120 miles northeast of San Jose, which is on the south side of the Bay Area where the Razorbacks played their Sweet 16 game against Texas Tech in San Francisco last year. Arkansas also played a regional in San Francisco in 2022 and defeated top-seeded Gonzaga before a loss to Duke in the Elite Eight.
The Razorbacks are expected to drive to San Jose on Tuesday. The team will go through an open practice and have media interviews Wednesday, the day before the West Regional begins.
In addition to Arkansas and either Arizona or Utah State, the regional will include second-seeded Purdue and 11th-seeded Texas. The winner of the regional final Saturday will advance to the Final Four the following weekend in Indianapolis.
The Razorbacks chose to remain on the West Coast rather than make the roughly 1,600-mile flight back to Arkansas on Sunday, then a similar flight to California on Tuesday.
Anthony Kristensen is a reporter for the Hawgs Sports Network. He is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and North American Soccer Reporters. He is a voter in the Associated Press Men’s Basketball Top 25. He has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and previously worked for the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press.