FAYETTEVILLE -- Today's Arkansas-Mississippi State matchup will be Bulldogs Coach Ben Howland's first road game in the SEC but not his first visit to Walton Arena.
Howland, best known for leading UCLA to three Final Four appearances, was in his third season as a head coach when he brought his Big Sky Conference champion Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to Walton Arena for an NIT game against the Razorbacks on March 12, 1997.
"The main thing I remember about that game is that we got killed," Howland said at SEC media day. "The arena was really loud, too.
"There was a big deal made about the game not being a sellout, but I thought it was a great crowd."
Arkansas beat Northern Arizona 101-75 before an announced crowd of 9,486, which ended a streak of 255 home sellouts for the Razorbacks going back to their Barnhill Arena days.
"I'd hate to see it when it's full," Lumberbjacks forward Andrew Mavis, who scored 26 points, said after the game. "It was a great atmosphere. I wish I could play in it every night."
The Lumberjacks shot 55.6 percent, including 61.5 percent in the first half when they jumped out to a 12-point lead, but Arkansas was ahead 42-41 by halftime.
The Razorbacks dominated the second half, when guard Pat Bradley scored 17 of his team-high 22 points.
"At the time, I'd never heard of Ben Howland, but you could tell Northern Arizona was a very well-coached team," said Bradley, a radio talk show host in Little Rock. "They took good shots and made good decisions, but we just had too much talent for them."
Arkansas also twice ended Howland's season when he played guard at Weber State and was named the team's top defensive player.
The Razorbacks beat the Wildcats 73-52 in a 1978 NCAA Tournament game in Eugene, Ore., to start their run to the Final Four. Marvin Delph led Arkansas with 20 points, Ron Brewer scored 19 and Sidney Moncrief 18. Howland scored six points for the Wildcats.
Weber State made it closer the next season, but Arkansas won 74-63 in an NCAA Tournament game in Lawrence, Kan. Moncrief scored 19 points and Steve Schall had 18 for the Razorbacks. Howland scored 10 points in his final college game.
Steve Condie, a Weber State teammate of Howland, wasn't surprised when Howland got into coaching.
"We had an intrasquad scrimmage, and he was telling everyone else what to do," Condie told the Los Angeles Times in 2007. "He'd be yelling at guys to 'Get your hands up, get your hands up,' and we'd be yelling back, 'C'mon Ben, it's just a scrimmage.'
"But nothing was ever 'just' anything to Ben."
Howland took Northern Arizona to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 1998. One season later, he left to become Pittsburgh's coach.
After leading the Panthers to an 89-40 record in four seasons, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances in 2002 and 2003, Howland was hired to rebuild UCLA's storied program.
Howland led the Bruins to three consecutive Final Four appearances from 2006 through 2008, but they went to the NCAA Tournament just twice in his final four seasons. He was fired after the Bruins lost to Minnesota 83-63 in their 2013 NCAA Tournament opener to finish 25-10.
Howland, 58, did some television work for two seasons, then got back into coaching when Mississippi State hired him in March.
It seemed like a surprising landing spot for him -- moving to Starkville, Miss., after working in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles -- but Howland said it's a good fit.
Howland said Starkville reminds him of Lebanon, Ore., where he was born, and Flagstaff, Ariz., where Northern Arizona is located.
"I like small towns," said Howland, who has a 408-212 coaching record in 20 seasons. "No traffic, you get to know people. We have good restaurants in Starkville.
"I'm a simple guy. I like to go to the movies. I didn't make many operas in LA."
Bradley said he "kind of forgot" about Howland after playing against his team in the NIT.
"You don't really pay that much attention to the coach at Northern Arizona," Bradley said. "But when he went to Pittsburgh and started having success and then had those Final Four teams at UCLA, I was like, 'Oh yeah, I remember that guy.' He's had a great career."
Sports on 01/09/2016