Malik Monk and Bentonville have traveled to its fair share of name destinations and played a good number of high-profile opponents over the past two seasons.

The Tigers have been to St. Louis, Springfield, Memphis, California and Florida for tournaments and showcases where they’ve faced some of the nation’s elite teams.

But Friday is different. That afternoon, the ESPNU spotlight will be focused on Bentonville, marking the first time a high school basketball game in the state of Arkansas has been shown live on an ESPN network.

The national draw for the 4:30 p.m. game against Class 6A El Dorado is the matchup of two highly touted recruits. Monk is a Kentucky signee, a consensus top-10 player nationally in the class of 2016 and already generating lottery buzz for the 2017 NBA Draft. El Dorado 6-foot-10 forward Daniel Gafford is a consensus top-40 prospect in the class of 2017.

The matchup presents the two programs with an opportunity to showcase the quality of Arkansas high school basketball to viewers from across the nation.

“You definitely can feel it’s a big stage,” Bentonville coach Jason McMahan said. “We definitely want to perform well with this being the first nationally televised game in the state and obviously El Dorado’s really good.

“We look at it as really just a step toward improvement, playing on a big stage. The state finals is a big stage, lot of pressure. So we’re putting that us on as much as we can to make those free throws, make those box outs, make those shots that we have to, to be better for that. That’s one of our goals — to be better for Hot Springs.”

Doors open at 3 p.m. for fans with a season pass. General admission tickets for the 1,800-seat arena are $5 and go on sale at 3:30, first come, first serve. Students with a pass get out of class at 2:30 to come to the gym.

The game will also afford Bentonville a chance to show off some of the facelifts to Tiger Arena, improvements that have long been in the works and began in earnest over the summer.

The hardwood floor was re-done this summer for the first time in years. The gym’s lighting was recently replaced. But the most notable enhancement is the addition of a new 9-by-13-foot, HD video board.

The game will hopefully feature high-quality on-court action in a high-quality setting.

“We’re obviously excited about ESPNU coming to Bentonville,” athletic director Scott Passmore said. “It’s extremely exciting for us and our community. The timing is perfect for us and our facilities, because we have been doing some renovations.”

The game also provides Bentonville’s TV production an opportunity to shadow ESPN personnel working the game.

“It’s an awesome learning opportunity for those students,” Passmore said.

Bentonville had to make special arrangements in order to host the showcase game. The Tigers bumped their 7A-West home matchup with Rogers back a day to Saturday in order to accommodate ESPNU. The El Dorado game along with Monday’s game against national No. 9 St. Anthony’s, one of the most storied programs in the nation, mean the Tigers are playing four games in six days when including their two standard conference games.

But the short turnarounds and momentarily packed schedule is worth the chance to show off two of the nation’s best talents and two of the state’s better programs to a national audience.

“I knew (if) you plug these two games into the middle of conference, that means you’re not doing all you can do in conference,” McMahan said. “And so for us, it’s about being tough and getting better each step of the day.”
