The No. 19 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1) are set for a major non-conference matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini (5-1) on Thanksgiving Day at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Members of the "Turkey Throwdown" multi-team event, Arkansas and Illinois have each faced Little Rock and Maryland-Eastern Shore in their two previous games with both teams going 2-0 in that stretch.
Arkansas and Illinois last met in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, a game the Razorbacks won, 73-63. It's the seventh time the two programs have battled on the court, with Illinois holding a 5-1 advantage all-time.
Linking the Hoop Hogs and Illini together are the Ivisic brothers, as Zvonimir averages 12.0 points per game for Arkansas in his second collegiate season while Tomislav averages 15.5 points per game for Illinois in his first year in the collegiate ranks.
“There’s no friends on the basketball court, so he’s my brother, but your mentality should be ‘I’m going to try to beat him,’” Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman said Monday. “I’m sure (Tomislav’s) mentality is the same, but it’ll be fun for them.
"I’m sure it’ll be fun for their parents, if they’re not at the game, in Croatia to look at the game, whatever time it is, 2 in the morning, 3 in the morning and love on both of their sons and see them competing. But for us, we don’t have any love for Z’s brother. We’re trying to win.”
Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile returned to the court Monday during Arkansas' win over Maryland-Eastern Shore after missing the previous two games and played 12 minutes, but the status of center Jonas Aidoo is still up in the air.
Following the win over the Hawks, Coleman said Aidoo was “day-to-day” in terms of his recovery, so it’s possible he's able to make his return Thursday.
“Having (Aidoo) at all, is going to give us a different dynamic in terms of our defense and our rebounding and our toughness,” Coleman said. “Someone who is a proven SEC all-league player. So we need Jonas, as well as we need (Brazile), we need all of our guys. We need the sum of all our parts to be good.”
Below are details on how to watch, links to stream and links to all of our coverage leading up to the game...
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How to Watch/Listen
Who: No. 19 Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1, 0-0 SEC) vs.Illinois Fighting Illini (5-1, 0-0 Big 10)When: Thursday, Nov. 28 at 3:00 p.m. CT
Where: T-Mobile Center — Kansas City, Missouri
TV/Stream: CBS/WatchCBS
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Phil Elson and Bubba Carpenter)
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Catch Up On HawgBeat Arkansas Basketball Coverage
— HawgBeat Hoops Mailbag: 11/27/24— Postgame Grades: Looking at Arkansas’ win over Maryland-Eastern Shore
— Hoop Hogs analytics update - 11/26
— Johnell Davis, Karter Knox have breakout games in blowout win
— Takeaways from No. 19 Arkansas' win over Maryland-Eastern Shore
