A day before his team meets No. 7 Texas in Bud Walton Arena, Arkansas coach John Pelphrey met with the media. He plainly assessed that this would be the 11-1 Razorbacks’ toughest test to date — even tougher than then-No. 4 Oklahoma, which UA beat 96-88 last Tuesday night in Fayetteville.

Pelphrey covered a variety of topics:

• First off, Pelphrey wasn’t too broken up about Arkansas not being ranked. He said he’d obviously rather be ranked than not be ranked, but said he’s “not consumed with it.” By the way, Pelphrey has a vote in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. He didn’t even know if he voted for UA this week, though. He says “the staff” works on his ballot and joked about not recalling whether “the staff” had put Arkansas on his ballot. The Razorbacks received enough votes from the media to rank 28th and the coaches to rank 36th.

• He called Texas a more challenging foe than Oklahoma, saying “I think this is a different animal, no disrespect to Oklahoma.” Pelphrey praised UT 5-foot-11 senior guard A.J. Abrams, who leads the Longhorns with a 19.0 scoring average: “He’s going to get his attempts. What is really a bad shot for most is not for him.” Pelphrey also discussed the matchup problems posed by athletic swingman Damion James, a 6-7 junior who goes for 14.4 points and 8.9 boards.

• About the Arkansas-Texas rivalry, Pelphrey said he “had a sense of it, but certainly not the experiences.” He said the Razorbacks and Longhorns are scheduled to play another home-and-home series, likely continuing the next two seasons.

• On junior forward Michael Washington, the SEC player of the week for the second time, Pelphrey said, “Two big-time performances. Obviously, in Little Rock, he didn’t miss many shots at all, and we needed him.” Washington combined for 58 points and 22 rebounds in wins over Oklahoma and North Texas this past week. Washington also was named Dick Vitale’s national player of the week.

• There is a chance freshman guard Jason Henry could play tomorrow night, Pelphrey said. Just last Monday, Henry underwent arthroscopic surgery to clear some loose cartilege out of his right knee. At the time, Pelphrey speculated that Henry would miss two-to-three weeks, but Henry returned to practice Sunday. “We’ll have to wait and see,” he said. “I’m a little surprised that there’s even a decision to be made.”