FAYETTEVILLE — Eric Musselman first experienced Kentucky basketball during his one season as an assistant coach at LSU.

The Wildcats escaped Baton Rouge with their perfect record intact thanks to a late bucket by Karl-Anthony Towns that helped them beat the Tigers 71-69. It’s a game the first-year Arkansas coach remembers vividly.

With No. 10 Kentucky set to come to Fayetteville on Saturday, though, Musselman will have an opportunity to erase that bad memory from five years ago. He’ll also have the support of what’s expected to be a raucous crowd inside Bud Walton Arena.

“When you walk in the building, there’s a buzz,” Musselman said. “There’s going to be a buzz Saturday. I know it. I haven’t been at Arkansas when we’ve played Kentucky, but I know there’s going to be a buzz, just as my phone every 10 seconds with people asking for tickets.”

There’s always excitement surrounding the Kentucky game, but it’s reached a fever pitch this season. The Razorbacks are 14-2 under their new head coach, who has fans thinking about March Madness sooner than expected. A win on Saturday likely gets Arkansas ranked in the AP poll for the first time in more than three years.

However, it won’t be easy. Even though they’ve lost four games, including a surprising upset at South Carolina earlier this week, the Wildcats - as always - are still loaded with projected NBA Draft picks.

“The only way that we are going to be able to play and compete with Kentucky is if we play our ‘A’ game,” Musselman said. “We can’t bring a ‘B+’ game and expect to compete. We have to bring our ‘A+’ game to compete with this team. I truly believe that.”

If Arkansas does manage to pull off the victory, there’s a good chance - given the circumstances - it could become one of the Razorbacks’ most memorable wins in the series.

Here’s a look at HawgBeat’s top five, as it stands today…

5. Feb. 20, 1999 - Arkansas 74, No. 6 Kentucky 70

Needing to finish the season strong to stay on the right side of the bubble, the Razorbacks did just that with back-to-back upsets of top-10 teams. A few days before fans stormed the court following a big win over No. 2 Auburn, Arkansas survived a furious rally in the last few minutes to beat Kentucky 74-70.

It looked like the Razorbacks would run away with it, as they built a 13-point lead, but the Wildcats got back into it with an 11-0 run and then pulled within one with about three minutes remaining. Luckily, they missed their last six shots - including a putback attempt that popped out of the hoop and sat on the back of the rim for a jump ball.

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