Before we wrap up a busy day in Dallas, a not on tomorrow's coverage.

We will start the day off with our usual preview look at the game, and will add any additonal pregame updates as warranted.

Due to NCAA regulations, which prohibited live accounts of tournament games on the Internet, we will not be able to post a live Gameblog. We will try to update at halftime, though, then will have a full report -- game story and notes-- following the game.

BATTLE OF THE BIG MEN: Arkansas coach Stan Heath knows his team will face a quality bug man in Bucknell's Chris McNaughton.

McNaughton, a 6-11 junior from Germany, has proven he can score against some of the best big men in the nation. Matter of fact, his showing playing for Team germany in last summer's World University Games proved he can score against some of the best in the world.

"(McNaughton) is a handful. He played very well in most of their big games," said Heath.

Nobody has been able to stop McNaughton playing him one on one all season, but it sounds as if Arkansas might try. Sophomore seven-footer Steven Hill averaged 2.81 blocks per game this season, second in the SEC. His total of 87 rejections give him 34 more individually than the Bison had as a team.

"I know McNaughton is going to be a handful to stop, but he is going to face a kid that relishes defense, relishes shot blocking, relishes shutting somebody down," said Heath. "If (McNaughton) does well, it is going to be because he earned it."

"I feel in some ways I've got one of the best defensive centers in the country on my team in Steven Hill. I'm hopeful he doesn't get in any kind of foul trouble."

There is part of the catch. Hill has fouled out five times this season and had four personals three other times. He has averaged only a little over 22 minutes per game.

That is not only because of foul trouble.

"We have tremendous size," said Heath, who has three other guys 6-8 or bigger in his rotation and a 6-9 freshman, Cyrus McGowan, who has seen limited minutes in 23 games, but has progressed to the point where Heath said he is not afraid to use him if he has to against the Bison.

"If there is one place on our team we have great depth, it is the frontcourt.," Heath said.

As high as Heath is on Hill, trying to stop McNaughton with one guy is a crap shoot at best. Villanove tried it and MCNaughton poured in 29 points. Against Duke, with Sheldon Williams and Josh McRoberts in the frontcourt, McNaughton scored 15. The big German also had 15 against Syracuse. Last season he scored 17 in the win at Pittsburgh and put up 21 on Saint Joe's Dwayne Jones, who was considered an NBA prospect. He also had 14 in the NCAA Tournament win over Kansas and 23 in the Bison's second round loss to Wisconsin.

HAWGS DO DALLAS: In an earlier post we wrote about Arkansas' traditional big following when the team plays in Dallas. Stan Heath even said the Dallas area has the highest concentration of Arkansas grads in the country.

Those loyal Razorback fans have seldom been disappointed by their team's showing in the Big D. Arkansas has won 19 straight games in Dallas, including one earlier this season against Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team in this same building.

The Hawgs' last lost in Dallas was in the 1988 Southwest Conference Tournament.

KEEPING IT CLOSE: Both teams have had plenty of close games this season. Arkansas has had 13 games decided by five points or less, going 6-7 in those games. Arkansas' six losses in the Southeastern Conference came by a total of 16 points.

The Bison have played seven games decided by five or less, going 6-1 in those. The lone loss was the double-overtime setback in the BracketBusters game at Northern Iowa.

DEFENSE THE KEY: We have already written about how important defense is to Bucknell. Here is another reason it will be a key in Friday's game. Arkansas is 5-4 in games in which it scored less than 70 points. The Razorbacks were 17-5 in games they scored more than 70.

When the Hawgs shoot below 40 percent from the field, they are 3-2. They are 11-7 in games they shoot between 40 and 49 percent; 8-0 when they make more than half their shots.

Bucknell has held six opponents under 30 percent shooting and 19 of 30 under 40 percent. In their last 63 games, going back to the start of last season, only five teams have scored more than 70 points on the Bison: Duke, Villanova (twice), Santa Clara and Wisconsin and Niagara last season.