GAMEDAY GUIDE
Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Time: 9:00 p.m. ET
Location: Bud Walton Arena (Fayetteville, Ark.)
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Queens Game Notes
 
QUEENS (5-6 OVERALL, 0-0 ASUN)
 
THE MATCHUP
Tuesday night will be the first-ever meeting between Queens and Arkansas. The matchup will be the Royals second meeting with an SEC squad after facing No. 16 Ole Miss last season in Oxford.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Queens dropped a 111-73 meeting in Winston-Salem on Sunday night against Wake Forest. In a game where twin brothers Carson Schwieger (Queens) and Cooper Schwieger (Wake Forest) squared off, the Demon Deacons got 33 points from Myles Colvin and buried 17 threes to claim the first-ever meeting.
 
QUICK TURNAROUNDS
Tuesday night will round out a tough three-game stretch over five days for the Royals. Queens took down South Carolina State last Friday night before falling at Wake Forest on Sunday night.
 
FIRST TIME OPPONENTS
Arkansas marks the seventh first-time opponent for the Royals this season.
 
AP TOP 25 OPPONENTS
Arkansas checked into the latest AP Men's Basketball Top 25 at No. 14. Tuesday night will be the Royals fourth matchup against an AP Top 25 squad, and they'll be searching for their first upset victory.
 
SCORING OFFENSE
The Royals have been one of the nation's highest scoring mid-major offenses this season, averaging 84.4 points per game, a mark that ranks 72^nd in the country. According to KenPom, the Royals rank 81^st in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency, which is the highest amongst ASUN programs and 17^th amongst non-power five college basketball programs.
 
FIVE FOR 10
Scoring runs deep throughout the Royals lineup this season as Queens has seen five guys reach double figures in the same game on five occasions, including two of the last three outings.
 
CENTURY MARK
Queens reached the century mark in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2021-22 season when the Royals took down Gardner-Webb 107-74 before handling South Carolina State 102-78.
 
ELITE SHOOTER
After breaking the single-season school record last season with 115 threes made, sharpshooter Chris Ashby is 23 threes away from tying the all-time school record set by Chris Benson in 2003. This season, the Houston, Texas, native leads the ASUN in threes made and ranks 10^th in the country.
 
FRESHMAN FACILITATOR
Rookie Jordan Watford has been one of the nation's best first-year distributors, ranking 16th in the country among freshmen with 4.3 assists per game. Watford is averaging the most assists per game by a true freshman at Queens since Vashon Fullwood distributed 5.3 per game in 1991-92.
 
DOUBLE THE MANN
Senior Nasir Mann is having a career-best season, averaging 15.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. Mann ranks eighth in the league in scoring and 17^th in rebounding and turned in a career-high 23 points against South Carolina State. The Gainesville, Florida, native saw his eight-game streak in double figures snapped at Wake Forest last outing.
 
'TIS THE SEASON
Head Coach Grant Leonard has taken the college basketball world by storm with his Holiday sweater collection, which he debuted a little earlier this season at Virginia for Thanksgiving. The "Leftovers are for Quitters" sweater went viral on social media. Against South Carolina State, Leonard and the entire coaching staff sported Holiday sweaters for their annual Holiday Sweater Game.
 
STREET DOGS
A new face behind the Royals bench, Buddy, has become a staple in the Royals locker room. A new tradition started this season, head coach Grant Leonard awards Buddy, a hollow replica of a dog, to the "Street Dog of the Game," or the person who makes an energetic impact in the game. Buddy sits by that player's locker until the next game, and has even made appearances in the postgame press conferences.
 
ARKANSAS (8-2 OVERALL, 0-0 SEC)
PATH TO THE DRAFT
According to ESPN, the Razorbacks rank fifth in their list of teams with the most NBA Draft prospects. Darius Acuff Jr., Meleek Thomas, and Karter Knox rank in the top 40 while Trevon Brazile, D.J. Wagner, Billy Richmond III, and Malique Ewin are also listed.
 
TRANSITION SCORING
Arkansas ranks top five in the nation in transition scoring with 22.2 points per game on fastbreaks. The Razorbacks netted 34 fastbreak points against Jackson State, the most in a game since the stat started being tracked in 2011-12.
 
FRESHMAN PHENOM
Darius Acuff Jr. has been one of the nation's best first-year players this season, ranking second amongst freshmen in assists per game (4.4) and top 10 in scoring (17.4). Acuff Jr. was named SEC Freshman of the Week on December 8^th  after averaging 17.5 points. 9.0 assists, and 5.0 rebounds in wins over No. 6 Louisville and Fresno State.
 
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Arkansas is making history this season, becoming the first team to play every program that advanced to the NCAA Elite 8 in the previous season. The Razorbacks get each of the Final Four squads from last season in Houston, Florida, Duke, and Auburn while also facing their counterparts Tennessee, Texas Tech, Alabama, and Michigan State.
 
LEGEND AT THE HELM
2015 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee John Calipari is in his second season in Fayetteville. The five-time NCAA National Coach of the Year has produced over 70 NBA players over his 33-year college coaching career, including 43 first-round picks. Calipari is only the second coach in NCAA history to lead three different schools to the Final Four, and he's looking to become the fifth coach to record at least 900 on-court wins as a head coach at NCAA Division 1 programs.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Be sure to follow Queens Men's Basketball on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok for news and updates throughout the season. Fans are also encouraged to follow Queens Athletics on social media to stay up to date on all the Royals sports in action.