MEMPHIS – Arkansas basketball has formally announced it will face the Memphis Tigers in the St. Jude Tip-Off Classic on Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. (CT), with proceeds from the exhibition event going to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The game will be televised on ESPNU as part of a double-header with the Memphis and Vanderbilt women’s teams playing before at 5 p.m.  

The game will be the first time John Calipari has returned to the city to face off against his former team. Calipari coached at Memphis from 2000 through 2009, prior to taking the Kentucky head coaching job for the 2009-10 season. In his nine seasons with the Tigers, Calipari officially went 214-68 with six NCAA Tournament appearances, four Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and one national championship game appearance. 

Shortly after Calipari left for Kentucky, all wins and accomplishments from Memphis’ 2007-08 season were vacated after Derrick Rose had his SAT scores invalidated and the NCAA deemed him ineligible.

Since then, Calipari’s relationship with the program hasn’t been the smoothest but the city was always special to the Hall of Fame head coach. On Tuesday afternoon during a press conference in FedEx Forum announcing the game, Calipari spoke on what it means to him to have this exhibition game on the schedule. 

“The city of Memphis, it’s a special place” Calipari said. “I’m seeing many friends here who know how I feel about this place. To be able to come back and really, Penny and I talked. I said, ‘They’re going to have to honor our players’ and he said, ‘that’s done’ and talked to [Memphis AD Ed Scott] and [Deputy AD Tim Duncan], ‘We got it.’

“Because for me to come back, it was them (his players) not me. And to be honest with you it wasn’t me, it was us. No one can do anything in this city without everyone getting involved … This is one of those cities, ‘Let’s come together, let’s do this.” 

In an appearance on the ‘Two Cents Podcast’ with Penny Hardaway over the summer, Calipari expressed interest in renewing a rivalry with Memphis. However, Arkansas and Calipari’s participation hinged on whether the program would welcome back players from his near decade-long Memphis tenure.

“You start with this exhibition, but they’re gonna have all my former players come back,” Calipari said at the time. “Do you know what I’m saying? They said, ‘Well, one year–’ no. I coached fifty, sixty guys. I say bring them all back. Now, that encourages me to do this.

“You don’t have to do [stuff] for me, I’m fine … But to bring that group back together and let them enjoy each other. Well worth us playing a game. Money going to St Jude and all that. So people said, ‘Will you do it?’ I said, yeah. Unless they’re not gonna bring back my players, then I’m not gonna do it.”

Back in 2017, ahead of coaching Kentucky in a Sweet 16 game at Fedex Forum, Calipari called it “unfortunate” that there wasn’t banner hanging in the building to recognize what the 2007-08 team accomplished. During the press conference on Tuesday, though, it was clear fences had been mended with this year’s exhibition being a catalyst for that. 

While this exhibition game won’t count toward the all-time series record, which is tied at 11 game a piece, it could open the door for the a potential renewal of the Arkansas-Memphis, which was big throughout the 1990s and early into Calipari’s tenure at the turn of the century. On Tuesday, Calipari didn’t commit to anything but seemed open to the idea. 

“One of the reasons we wanted to do this is to see where this goes,” Calipari said. “But if I can help the university, I’m going to do that. This game is bigger than a game, and I’ll be honest if we do a home-and-home it’ll be bigger than a game. It will be. It holds a special place in my family.”

The Razorbacks and Tigers last played in the Battle 4 Atlantis during the 2023-24 season, which was an 84-79 Memphis win. Prior to that, the last meeting came in January of 2003 when Memphis travelled to Fayetteville and beat the Hogs 72-67. The Arkansas and Memphis series was a mainstay in the 1990s and once considered a rivalry by both fanbases. 

From 1991 through 2003, the two programs had a home-and-home agreement and met once every season. In 1992 and 1995 the Hogs and Tigers met in the NCAA Tournament in addition to their regular season matchup. While Memphis won the last two meetings, Arkansas had won five of the last six prior to 2003. Fittingly, the all-time series is even at 11-11.