Arkansas basketball announces Thanksgiving showdown with Michigan State

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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas basketball will play on Thanksgiving in 2026. It will be the third consecutive year John Calipari and the Razorbacks fill Turkey Day television screens across the country.

Arkansas officially announced a primetime matchup with Michigan State on Wednesday, July 8. Tipoff between the Hogs and Spartans is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. CT on CBS. The game will be played at Little Caesars Arena, home of the Detroit Pistons.

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“We are grateful for the opportunity CBS is affording us by playing on Thanksgiving Day for a third straight year,” Calipari said. “Our program has benefited from playing in this game both on the court and from the national exposure. Last year, our Thanksgiving Day game on CBS was the most viewed college basketball game of the season, and one of the most-watched regular-season games in over 30 years.”

According to Nielsen, the Thanksgving game between Arkansas and Duke in Chicago last year averaged 6.813 million viewers, marking the largest regular-season college basketball audience on any network in more than three decades. The previous high came on Feb. 21, 1993, when Purdue faced Indiana on CBS (7.225 million).

It won’t be a true road game, but Arkansas will be playing in Michigan State’s backyard. The two teams were originally supposed to play in Fayetteville this winter after the Razorbacks made a trip to Michigan State for a nonconference game in the first week of the 2025-26 season. The Spartans won 69-66.

Calipari has hinted that Michigan State will still play a road game at Arkansas at a future date.

The Hogs will once again have a grueling schedule before beginning life in the SEC. They have already announced other marquee matchups on the road against North Carolina and a similar “neutral-site” showdown with Arizona in Phoenix.

The Razorbacks finished the most recent season 28-9 overall and won the SEC Tournament in Calipari’s second season with the program.

Their 28 victories matched the 2021-22 team for the most wins since the 1994-95 Razorback squad that went 32-7 and reached the national final. Arkansas will add one of the nation’s elite recruiting classes, which includes top-30 prospects Jordan Smith Jr. (No. 2), JJ Andrews (No. 12), Abdou Toure (No. 26) and Miika Muurinen (No. 55).

Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas basketball announces Thanksgiving showdown with Michigan State