Counce to be honored in Nashville

FAYETTEVILLE – Former University of Arkansas basketball player Jim Counce will be honored on Thursday evening at Arkansas’ first-round Southeastern Conference Tournament game as an SEC Men’s Basketball Legend.

Counce, a four-year letterman and Academic All-America selection, will be introduced at halftime of Arkansas’ Thursday evening game with Georgia at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville Tenn. The Arkansas-Georgia matchup is scheduled to tip at 8:45 p.m.

A member of Eddie Sutton’s first recruiting class, Counce lettered from 1975-78. He was a starter in 1977 and 1978 and was usually designated to guard the opposing team’s best offensive player. Counce played in one of the most successful eras in Razorback basketball. The 1977 team went 26-2, including 16-0 in the Southwest Conference winning the SWC regular season title and the SWC Tournament title. In 1978, the Razorbacks posted a 32-4 record, repeating as SWC champions on the way to the NCAA Final Four.

Counce later returned to the Arkansas bench as an assistant coach under Sutton in 1981 and 1982. During his coaching tenure, the Razorbacks won two SWC crowns and earned consecutive berths to the NCAA Tournament.

Counce earned his BA in chemistry from Arkansas in 1979 before earning his MD from the University of Medical Sciences in 1986. He currently resides in Northwest Arkansas and is a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon.