It was going to be an uphill battle for the Fort Worth Funk in their inaugural appearance in The Basketball Tournament. A big underdog against a veteran Team Arkansas team, the Funk struggled out of the gate, quickly falling behind 7-0 in the opening minutes.
But the nucleus of Alex Robinson, Brandon Parrish, and JD Miller got their team back in it, riding the hot shooting of late addition Al Johns (Pepperdine/UC Davis) to score eight straight and take the lead. The two teams traded blows in the first quarter, with Arkansas closing the first quarter on a 9-2 run across the final 2:41 after the two teams deadlocked at 13-13.