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CONWAY, Ark. _ For the third time in the past five years, the University of Central Arkansas Bears will face the Arkansas Razorbacks, but this time at a neutral site.

The Bears and Razorbacks will meet at 3 p.m. Saturday at Simmons Bank Arena on the North Little Rock side of the Arkansas River.

The Razorbacks have hosted UCA twice since Arkansas' ban on playing in-state programs was lifted in 2019, with both games played at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. Arkansas won 100-75 on Dec. 12, 2020 and 97-60 on Dec. 1, 2021 in the first meetings between the schools since 1947. The series began way back in 1923-24 before going dormant for more than 70 years.

UCA (2-7) enters the matchup after dropping a pair of games to other in-state schools in Little Rock and UA-Pine Bluff, both on the road. The Bears are battling through numerous injuries and will be down at least four players on Saturday, including two who were projected as starters. UCA will be playing its fourth of five Power 4 schools on Saturday.

The Bears, under new head coach John Shulman, have a local product, freshman Layne Taylor of Farmington, Ark., leading their offense. Taylor is averaging 17 points per game, which ranks fourth in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He has also made a team-high 31 three-pointers, which is tied for second in the league. Taylor went 6 for 12 from beyond the arc and had a career-high 25 points at UAPB last Saturday.

The Bears are fourth in the ASUN in three-pointers made per game at 9.1 but are shooting just 27.7 percent from three-point range. 

Arkansas (8-2) held off No. 14 Michigan on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. The Razorbacks' losses were to Top 10 Baylor (72-67) and Top 25 Illinois (90-77). They have won three straight over Miami, UTSA and Michigan.

Both teams feature new head coaches. Shulman came to UCA in March from a highly successful stint at Alabama-Hutsville, where his teams went 112-39 and went to five consecutive NCAA Division II Tournaments in five seasons.

Arkansas head coach John Calipari is the winningest active Division I men's coach in the country with 863 combined victories at UMass, Memphis, Kentucky and Arkansas.

The Razorbacks feature a star-studded lineup of top recruits and transfers, led by 6-foot-8, 220-pound Kentucky transfer Adou Thiero, who averages 18.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Two other Hogs average double figures, including freshman Boogie Fland (15.5 ppg) and Kentucky transfer Zvonimir Ivisic (11.0), while Kentucky transfer D.J. Wagner is close at 9.8 ppg.

Arkansas, which is 14-10 in games played at Simmons Bank Arena beginning in 1999. The Razorbacks beat another ASUN team, Lipsomb, last season in their annual trip to central Arkansas. 

UCA returns home on Monday to host The Citadel at 6 p.m. on Scottie Pippen Court at the Farris Center as part of the ASUN-SoCON Challenge, and then takes on the Top 25 Oklahoma Sooners next Saturday in Norman, Okla.