Arkansas was going on its second week of being ranked No. 1 in the country and handled Jackson State with relative ease to improve to 6-0 before a pre-Christmas showdown with Tulsa.
The Golden Hurricane, of course, was where Nolan Richardson spent five years coaching before taking the Arkansas job in the spring of 1985. It was a special place to Richardson and he agreed to a four-year rotating home-and-home with them in the spring of 1991 to be played every year before Christmas.
This year’s game was at Tulsa and Arkansas lost both starters Dwight Stewart and Corey Beck in the first half as they fouled out after playing a combined 14 minutes.
Arkansas had to rally from a five-point halftime deficit and were actually down six points late before Scotty Thurman and Corliss Williamson helped them eventually force overtime and win by two, 93-91. Williamson’s 27 points led all Hog scorers.
It was a preview of a game that would eventually be a rematch in the Sweet 16 later that year as Tulsa, a 12 seed, would upset the 5 and 4 seeds in its bracket to face the Razorbacks.