HawgBeat’s Best of Arkansas Athletics from 2025

As 2025 comes to a close, the HawgBeat staff takes a look at our top moments for the athletic year that featured historic no-hitters in both football and baseball, an impressive turnaround in the inaugural season under a Hall of Fame Hoops coach, plus rare individual success.

Below are the 5 best moments of 2025 in no particular order.

Four Hogs win individual player of the year awards

To have one athlete win a national Player of the Year award is a feat in itself, but Arkansas had four win them all in one year.

Two of those came on the diamond, with Wehiwa Aloy and Bri Ellis being named at the top of their sports, while golfer Maria Marin won the 2025 National Invidual Champion and sprinter Jordan Anthony won the Bowerman, which is track and field’s equivalent of the Heisman trophy. 

Neither the Arkansas softball or baseball team hoisted a trophy, but Aloy and Ellis were honored for their respective tremendous seasons. Aloy was the third Razorback to win the Golden Spikes, and did so with a slash line of .350/.434/.673. He led the team in runs with 81, 19 doubles and 21 home runs. He also had two triples and 68 RBI, which was second on the team behind his brother Kushiro, who had 70.

After the season ended, Aloy was one of four Razorbacks selected in the first round of the MLB Draft and went with the 31st pick to the Baltimore Orioles.

Ellis was the first Arkansas softball player in history to to be named national player of the year by any major publication, and earned the award from USA Softball, Softball America and D1 Softball, and was a unanimous First Team selection by the NFCA. She had a .440 batting average and hit 26 home runs, had 72 RBI and was walked 69 times, many of which were intentional walks because of her hitting threat.

Ellis was selected with the second pick in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League college draft by the Talons.

Marin was a WGCA First Team All-American, was a Golf Week All-American, the SEC Player of the Year and First Team selection, and an ANNIKA Award finalist. 

Anthony came to Arkansas as a wide receiver for the football team, but opted to focus solely on track ahead of the 2025 football season. That decision paid off, as he won NCAA titles in the 60m indoors and 100m outdoors during the same season. His remarkable campaign included a pair of national sprint titles and three SEC titles while claiming high point honors at both SEC Outdoor and NCAA Outdoor Championship meets.

Anthony was named SEC Outdoor Runner of the Year via voting by league coaches and became the first Razorback to earn the honor since 2012. An additional honor for Anthony during the 2025 season included South Central Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. Under all-conditions, Anthony blazed to an equal second fastest time ever by a collegian in the 100m with a 9.75w (2.1 wind) during the NCAA West First Round. That time equaled the world-leading mark for the 2025 season under all-conditions.

John Calipari’s return to Kentucky

The setting couldn’t have been more storybook. Arkansas was set to stroll into Rupp Arena, where its head coach, John Calipari, had immeasurable success over 15 seasons at the helm of the Kentucky program before he bolted from Lexington to Fayetteville.

Arkansas was broken, too. It had gone 1-6 in SEC play, with losses to Ole Miss, LSU, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida and Missouri. The Hogs’ lone conference win was over Georgia, and that required late heroics to do.

Kentucky, on the other hand, was one of the hottest teams in the SEC and was coming off a big win over a ranked Tennessee team. Big Blue Nation waited hours upon hours to enter the stadium, with a line to get in that looked like The Beatles were in town. 

It wasn’t just a homecoming for Calipari, but also for three of his players. D.J. Wagner, Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic left Kentucky and followed their head coach south to Arkansas and it was the first return to Rupp for them as well. 

The best way to describe the feeling inside Rupp Arena pregame was like two divorced parents coming to your house at the same time for Christmas morning. There was a tangible energy of unease — of a rabid fanbase ready to show they won the breakup, and a head coach who wanted to show them what they were missing. 

All four Kentucky defectors — Calipari, Wagner, Ivisic and Thiero — entered to a chorus of boos inside a packed-out Rupp Arena. Not everyone booed, though. One usher, who had been working Kentucky basketball games for over 20 years, told HawgBeat he had a lot of fond memories of Calipari and was happy to see him. There were a few more like him, but no cheering could be heard over the booing.

There wasn’t an empty seat in the house (at least, when the game started), and the crowd made an impact in the early going. The Hogs and Wildcats sparred back and forth in the opening minutes, and Calipari called a timeout after a three-pointer from former Razorback Jaxon Robinson gave the Wildcats an 18-12 lead and sent the Kentucky faithful into a frenzy so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think. 

But Arkansas battled, and continued to battle over the course of the next 35 minutes of action. The three former Kentucky players combined for 52 total points and played a major part in the 89-79 win. Fans started hitting the exits with around four minutes left in the game, when Arkansas was ahead by double-digits.

“It kind of felt like a little weird, but it was easier to lock in and stuff like that,” Wagner said after the win. “Today, the atmosphere was just great. I feel like everybody loves to play in atmospheres like that, so it was fun for me. Going out there and seeing how crazy it was, how crazy everybody was going, it was fun.”

That win did more than just win one game for the Hogs. It propelled them to another six conference wins and was one of the key factors in their earning a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament, which is the next big moment of 2025…

Arkansas makes Sweet 16 run in NCAA Tournament

Year one of the John Calipari era was a roller coaster of epic proportions. An active Hall of Fame coach left one of the top programs in college basketball history for a conference rival. It was prime fodder for the news cycles, as Arkansas’ brand was elevated immediately.

From the famous, “I met with the team, there is no team” line in his opening press conference, to the final buzzer of the 2024-25 campaign, the Razorbacks’ season wound through triumphs and heartbreaks alike.

Calipari and the Razorbacks navigated multiple injuries, including a few from before the season started. A marquee win against Michigan in New York helped an otherwise lacking non-conference resume. Then came SEC play.

Arkansas started 0-5. Starting guard Boogie Fland went down with an injury. All hope seemed lost and that fodder for good publicity turned to bad publicity. Calipari was washed. He was no longer the Hall of Fame coach of his past. He lost his fastball.

Yet, Calipari and the Razorbacks won enough games in SEC play to earn an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. And it all started with Arkansas beating Calipari’s old team in Rupp Arena (listed in more detail by Daniel Fair).

On Selection Sunday, the Razorbacks earned a 10-seed with what many considered an impossible draw. A first round matchup against Kansas, then a potential game against 2-seed St. John’s in the Round of 32.

Those were big brand teams with big brand coaches. Kansas and Bill Self. St. John’s and Rick Pitino. But Arkansas and John Calipari were both big brands in their own right.

The Jayhawks had a down year for the Self era. They limped into March Madness losing three of their last five games, but big early wins kept them with a decent seeding.

Arkansas, on the other hand, won five of its last seven games going into the Tournament, and were ripe for victory. The two teams had gone head to head in an exhibition before the season started, and Arkansas won in Bud Walton Arena, but things were different from that point.

The game was on a neutral floor the second go round. It actually counted. Arkansas was down to six fully healthy players. Could the Razorbacks win again despite all that had transpired? The answer was yes. A major victory, marking the second (unofficially) in a single season over Kansas and the second in a row in the NCAA Tournament for Arkansas over the Jayhawks.

Arkansas, with limited depth, used its length, athleticism, and speed to force the Kansas bigs and guards alike to be uncomfortable, scored in transition, and converted at the free throw line.

Up next: Calipari and Pitino, once again. The longtime rivals at two new universities went head to head in the Round of 32 for a chance at the Sweet Sixteen. Calipari’s criticism at Kentucky his final five years was his lack of success in the postseason. This was his chance to prove he could still get it done.

Pitino, on the other hand, was rebuilding a program that longed for success, earning the Johnnies a 2-seed. They were considered a dark horse to make the Final Four or even win the NCAA Tournament with Big East player of the year RJ Luis and post stalwart Zuby Ejiofor. 

But once again, Arkansas utilized athleticism and speed, and even physicality, to take advantage of St. John’s. Neither team shot worth anything from the perimeter, and the game was decided defensively, in the paint, and at the free throw line. The Razorbacks earned a fourth trip to the second weekend in five years.

The Razorbacks ultimately fell to Texas Tech after giving up a late lead, but getting back to the Sweet Sixteen in year one of the Calipari era was yet another in a string of special moments in recent Arkansas basketball history. In a season of triumphs and defeats, the final result was heartbreaking, but still a triumph in the resiliency to be in a situation of heartbreak.

It spring-boarded year two of the Calipari era, with four players returning from the Sweet Sixteen squad. It further cemented Arkansas as a program that regularly wins in March. It proved that Calipari can and will still win in the NCAA Tournament. And it ignited the fanbase for what was to come and what could be possible in the future.

ALSO READ: John Calipari rants on state of college basketball

Gage Wood throws first no-hitter in College World Series since

The most historic moment of 2025 transcends Arkansas sports.

Gage Wood’s date with destiny and perfection in the College World Series against the Murray State Racers in an elimination game deserves a detailed rewind. Not only was it just the third no-hitter in CWS history and the first in 65 years, Arkansas needed every single bit of it too.

Arkansas led just 1-0 heading into the top of the seventh with the Hogs as the visiting team, leaving the Razorbacks in a precarious position and prone to some late walk-off heroics. Murray State, although making their first ever Omaha appearance, was one of the hottest offenses in the tournament, averaging nearly nine runs a game against premier college baseball teams like Ole Miss, Duke and UCLA ahead of facing the Hogs. 

Wood struck out 19 and only allowed one baserunner as the Razorbacks extended its season before falling in the semifinals to LSU. 

ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Monaco who was on the call, calling what essentially is the only televised no-hitter, sensed the no-hitter from the third inning and had a conversation with the production team will go down as one of the best foreshadowing moments of all-time. 

“I said out loud this could be really interesting for him,” Monaco said. “I remember writing down in my book actually the time that I said it and that we had that conversation in the booth. We were having it on headset as well that conversation with our producer and our director everyone in the replay room. I just checked my scorebook.

“I wrote down 1:54 PM out there and we said that we had that discussion. You never know how it’s obviously going to play out. Six more innings that anyone would need to finish that off, but it just looked so overpowering, and the fastball looked that good in particular, but then the breaking ball as well was really good. The sheer power and dominance of the fastball just made you think ‘Ok, this could really do something special.'”

Payton Burnham overcomes illness to throw 3-hit shutout in Supers

The Arkansas softball program is still looking for its first Women’s College World Series appearance after falling to Ole Miss in the elimination game of the Fayetteville Super Regional last May, but got a promising glimpse of the future with a gusty performance from true freshman Payton Burnham.

The Hogs got behind the eight ball, dropping Game One of the series to the Rebels, before Burnham dug deep in a Game 2 three-hit shutout performance before near-capacity crowd. Burnham went the distance for all seven innings, allowing just one walk, while striking out seven batters.

Not only did the Eugene (Ore.) native step up with the Hogs fighting for their season, she did so just hours removed from being bedridden due to food poisoning.

Burnham had her best outing as a Razorback thus far eight days prior to the Game 2 gem, becoming the ninth freshman in program history to twirl a no-hitter in a five-inning run rule win over Saint Louis. Burnham struck out six batters and gave up a single walk while twirling her first collegiate no-hitter and the only NCAA Tournament no-hit performance in program history.

“I had the defense to help and it has been easy all season with them behind me to help and letting me work through my stuff,” Burnham told the SEC Network following the shutout which was her first NCAA Tournament start.

Burnham, who was tabbed a Freshman All-American by Softball America, paired with All-American Robyn Herron gave opposing batters problems in 2025 and the duo hopes to do even more in 2026. Burnham posted a 16-2 record in 29 appearance during her freshman season with a 2.63 ERA, striking out 94 batters in 117.1 innings pitched.

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