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Sunday, November 5, 2017 5 2017 Northwest Arkansas Basketball I think the fans were really pumped up as well. "Boy, when they threw the ball up, right off the bat we went to work. Every- body we put in the game was knocking down shots." Missouri hit 1 of 11 three-pointers and had 27 turnovers. Fourteen Razorbacks scored and sev- en hit at least one three-point basket. Scotty Thurman led Arkansas with 18 points and hit 4 of 5 three-pointers. Corliss Williamson scored 14 points and Roger Crawford 13. Richardson offered encouraging words for Missouri and its fans after the game. "Missouri was not a very good bas- ketball team tonight, but I think they will be," Richardson said. "Sometimes the buzzsaw hits you." Richardson was right about the Ti- gers. Missouri won the Big Eight champi- onship with a 14-0 record and like Ar- kansas was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers almost had a rematch with the Razorbacks at the 1994 Final Four in Charlotte, N.C., but Arizona beat Missou- ri in the West Regional final. A reporter found Stewart at the coach- es' hotel in Charlotte to ask him about an Arkansas-Arizona matchup since the teams were meeting in the national semi- finals. "Well, it's hard for me to compare the teams," Stewart said. "Because the night we played Arkansas, the game was in Fay- etteville, but our team was in Little Rock." Arkansas capped its inaugural season in Walton Arena by beating Duke 76-72 at Charlotte Coliseum to win the nation- al championship. Charlotte Coliseum, which opened in 1988, was demolished in 2007. The arena didn't make it to even 20 years old. STILL THE PALACE OF MID-AMERICA Meanwhile, Walton Arena is still go- ing strong. "I can't really tell it's 25 years old," Arkansas senior guard Daryl Macon said. "It seems like a brand new arena when they turn the lights on." Richardson, who attends several games in Walton Arena each season, said he's impressed with how well the building is maintained. "They really take good care of it," he said. "It seems just as nice now as the day it first opened." While Walton Arena seems timeless in many ways, it has undergone some changes through the years. There have been three different over- head scoreboards with the newest ver- sion — installed before the 2015-16 sea- son — having the largest video screens of any college arena in the country ac- cording to Arkansas. Locker rooms were expanded in 2005 with lounges and meeting space added in 2012. Eight suites were added in 2008, bringing the total to 47, and court-side seats became available in 2009. "It for sure doesn't seem like it's been 25 years for Bud Walton," Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said. "Arkansas has had a lot of magical moments there. File Photo The Razorbacks' Roger Crawford defends a Murray State player Nov. 29, 1993, in the first game played in Bud Walton Arena. v Continued from preceding page See BUD WALTON, Page 6