Purdue headed to Fayetteville for charity exhibition on October 28

The charity exhibition for Arkansas basketball this year? The Purdue Boilermakers.

Earlier we told you the season opening opponent for Arkansas for 2023-24.

The charity exhibition opponent holds a little more cachet than Alcorn State, however.

It was announced on Wednesday that the Purdue Boilermakers, who won the Big Ten a year ago and were a No. 1 seed before being upset by Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round of the tournament, would be making the trip to Bud Walton Arena.

The Boilermakers, who return 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey, will provide an excellent test for Arkansas before regular season play begins, just like Texas did a year ago.

“We are really excited to be hosting one of the premier programs in the country for an exhibition game,” Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said in a release. “They will come to Bud Walton Arena with a preseason ranking among the top 5. Both programs will be playing in high-level Thanksgiving tournaments, so this game will have an incredible level of competition to help prepare us both early on and through March, much like the Texas game did for us last year.

The game will take place on Saturday, Oct. 28, a bye week for the Razorback football team.

It will not be part of the 2023-24 men’s basketball season ticket package and proceeds from the game will go to the United Way to assist with relief efforts from the tornados that affected Arkansas this past spring. Reserved seating in the upper and lower bowl will go on sale to the general public at a later date.