IU basketball will take on John Calipari and Arkansas on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at Madison Square Garden in New York, the program announced on Monday.
This is Indiana’s fourth high major non-conference opponent on the 2026-27 slate. The Hoosiers will also face Kentucky and Syracuse in Indianapolis, and Missouri in Bloomington.
IU is 2-3 all-time against Arkansas, with the last meeting coming in December, 2019 in Bloomington. The teams met three times in a year in 2018 and 2019, including the 2018 postseason NIT Tournament.
Arkansas is IU’s 27th known opponent for the upcoming season.
The Razorbacks are No. 11 in ESPN’s too-early top-25.
Calipari landed the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class in 2026, with Jordan Smith arriving as the No. 1 guard in the country. Here is ESPN’s projected starting five for Arkansas. The group includes a couple former IU recruiting targets:
- Jordan Smith (No. 2 in SC Next 100)
- Jeremiah Wilkinson (17.4 PPG at Georgia)
- Billy Richmond III (11.1 PPG)
- Miikka Muurinen (five-star)
- Cooper Bowser (13.8 PPG at Furman)
The game will mark the first regular season meeting between Indiana and a Calipari-coached team since 2011, when Christian Watford made a buzzer-beater against Kentucky that set off a court storm in Bloomington.
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