Chris Beard shares excitement to scrimmage Arkansas for charity, takes shot at NCAA

In the past, many college basketball programs have taken the opportunity to play an open scrimmage against lower division opponent and a closed scrimmage against level competition. After changes to the NCAA rulebook, programs can now give their fans an early look at big games in the lead-up to the season. Texas and Arkansas are making the most of the chance and will face off on Oct. 29 with the ticket proceeds set to benefit multiple charities.

Texas head coach Chris Beard is excited for the opportunity and shared his gratitude toward Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman and everyone who made the event possible. However, as he talked about the new opportunity, he could not help taking a shot at the NCAA.

“We appreciate Arkansas, a lot of respect for coach Muss,” said Beard. “The program that he’s built at Arkansas in a short amount of time, the consistency those guys are showing right now. Now played his team at Nevada, we played his team at Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament, so we wanted to get a high-quality opponent.

“The NCAA has made a rule that makes sense. A lot of time the NCAA does things that doesn’t make sense. But this one does make sense, so besides the closed-door or the exhibitions against non-D1’s, they’ve given us a bit of a window here to face one opponent in front of fans. So we’re proud that the game is tied into two local charities that we really are proud to be associated with.”

Texas, Arkansas playing scrimmage for charity

The 2022-23 college basketball season is fast approaching, and on Tuesday, Texas announced it will host Arkansas in a charity exhibition game on Oct. 29 as part of its preseason.

The two programs will meet at Texas for a 4 p.m. ET tip, with tickets going for $25 for reserved seating. All proceeds will be donated to a pair of organizations supporting social justice equity and educational opportunities to youth in Central Texas communities, according to a Texas press release.

Both teams are projected to be among the best in the country, making the Arkansas-Texas charity exhibition game one of the more unique preseason events.

ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings for college basketball in 2022-23 have Arkansas ranked No. 9 nationally, while Texas checks in at No. 11.

Both teams reached the NCAA Tournament last season and won at least one game in the Big Dance; Arkansas advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to Duke, while Texas reached the Round of 32 before falling to Purdue.