FAYETTEVILLE — Few big men in Arkansas basketball history had the impact and all-around game of Big O.
Oliver Miller played on Razorback teams that had a combined record of 115-24 and won regular-season conference championships each season from 1988-92 — three in the Southwest Conference and once in the Southeastern Conference — as well as SWC Tournament titles his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.
Miller helped Arkansas to the 1990 Final Four as a sophomore, earned SWC player of the year as a junior in 1991 and was a senior when the Razorbacks won the SEC in their inaugural season in the league.
Miller died Wednesday after a battle with cancer. He was 54.
Matt Zimmerman, who was a team manager during Miller's first two seasons with the Razorbacks and now is Arkansas' basketball radio color analyst, said Miller had been placed in hospice care in the Phoenix area within the past week. When Miller's former Razorback teammates learned of that, Zimmerman said, they began fasting as a group.
“[Former Arkansas assistant coach] Scott Edgar said, ‘I think we all need to fast for him and to God. We’re hoping for a miracle,’” Zimmerman said. “When he sent that out, [former teammate] Arlyn Bowers said, ‘When are we going to start, Coach?’ This was at nighttime and [Edgar] said, ‘We’re going to start tomorrow morning.’
“Those guys have been fasting for four days, five days, sunup to sundown, liquids only for Oliver Miller, because of their love for Oliver and trying to save Oliver.
“I was so inspired by his teammates. These are grown me in their 50s that were tough, hard-nosed guys and NBA players. They played on this basketball team in that era, and they were so deeply wounded by what was happening to Big O that they weren’t even eating, just hoping for a miracle. I thought that was the most beautiful tribute.”
When the 1990 Final Four team held a reunion in Fayetteville on Feb. 22 during the Arkansas-Missouri basketball game, Miller was unable to make the trip due to his health. After those in attendance were introduced on the arena floor, a video tribute to Miller was played on the video board.
In his final social media post Feb. 27, Miller posted the video and wrote, “Means a lot. Still [in] tears.”
“He wanted to come to the reunion so bad,” Zimmerman said.
Oliver Miller is guarded by Robert Horry of Alabama during a 1991 NCAA Tournament game in Charlotte, N.C. Miller played on teams that had a combined NCAA Tournament record of 9-4. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)Miller grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, idolizing the play — and particularly the passing ability — of Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson.
“I used to always emulate Magic and practice passing and do all the passes he did,” Miller told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2020. “I also passed the ball a lot playing football.
“As the biggest kid in the neighborhood, I didn't want to be an offensive lineman. I wanted to play quarterback. That's how I got my ball-handling skills — playing quarterback and playing like Magic.”
Miller's passing ability at 6-9 and a playing weight that often exceeded 300 pounds caused him to stand out. Kevin Garnett, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who played with Miller for the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2003-04 season, once called him “one of the best-passing big men I've seen.”
At Arkansas, Miller's versatility was on display as he averaged 12.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.2 assists and 1.1 steals per game during his career.
“I would say he’s the most versatile big man we’ve ever had,” Zimmerman said. “That sounds funny to say about a huge guy that people didn’t think could move, but he really could move.
“I think most big men that you throw out there, they were darn good players, but I don’t know if they did all the things he did.”
Nolan Richardson, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach who coached Miller at Arkansas, called him one of his smartest players during a 2020 interview.
“A lot of guys play the game, but they don't really understand it,” Richardson said. “Oliver understands it. His basketball IQ is off the charts.”
Miller's best season with the Razorbacks was as a junior in 1990-91 during Arkansas' farewell tour of the SWC. He made 254 of 361 shot attempts to lead the NCAA in field goal percentage with a 70.4% clip that year, and averaged career highs in points (15.7) and rebounds (7.7).
He also became the only Razorback with at least 100 blocks and 100 assists in the same season. His 112 blocks led the SWC and are a single-season Arkansas record, and his 294 rebounds tied Joe Kleine for second most by an Arkansas player in a single season at that time.
SWC coaches voted Miller their player of the year in 1991 and he was also named SWC Tournament MVP after the Razorbacks defeated Texas A&M, Rice and Texas by an average of 39 points. Miller averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds at the conference tournament in Dallas.
Associated Press voters gave their 1991 SWC player of the year award to Miller's Arkansas teammate Todd Day.
“Oliver helped make Todd a hell of a player. He helped make Lee [Mayberry] a hell of a player,” Richardson said in 2020. “For a lot of centers, when the ball goes in to them, it doesn't come back out. But Oliver always found the right person to get the ball to if the defense collapsed on him.”
Miller's impact on the Razorbacks' program can be found in the media guide that lists his name 66 times. He is Arkansas' career leader in field goal percentage (63.6%) and blocks (345), and ranks third in rebounds (886) and ninth in points (1,674).
During a January 1992 game against LSU at Barnhill Arena, Miller — matched up against Shaquille O'Neal — nearly recorded the school's second triple-double with 12 assists, 11 points and 9 rebounds. The assist total is the most by an Arkansas player who did not play guard.
“His matchups with Shaquille O’Neal were legendary,” Zimmerman said. “Shaquille O’Neal was dominating everybody and we beat him every time with Big O.”
Miller is tied for the Razorbacks' single-game blocked shots record with 10 at Texas in February 1990, and he also blocked 9 shots in a game twice. He had 23 blocks during NCAA Tournament games.
Miller played in six NCAA Tournament games during his junior and senior seasons and scored in double figures each time. He scored 21 points and made 10 of 11 shot attempts — a program postseason record for shooting percentage — during a first-round victory over Murray State in 1992.
He was inducted to the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor in 2016 and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame in 2024.
As a sophomore, Oliver Miller helped Arkansas to the 1990 Final Four in Denver. The Razorbacks lost to Duke 97-83. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)Miller was drafted in the first round of the 1992 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns with the No. 22 overall pick. He played nine seasons in the NBA, which included stints with the Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings and Timberwolves. He spent three seasons each with the Suns and Raptors.
“He holds a special place in our history as a member of our inaugural team in 1995, and we are so grateful for all his contributions,” the Raptors said in a statement.
Miller was a rookie when the Suns, led by Charles Barkley, won the Western Conference in 1993 and lost to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. Down 0-2 to the Lakers in the best-of-5 opening series, Suns coach Paul Westphal increased Miller's minutes and they rallied to win the series 3-2.
Phoenix won 112-104 in overtime in Game 5 behind Miller's 17 points, 14 rebounds, 7 blocks and 3 assists off the bench. Nine of his points were scored in overtime.
“I didn't want the season to end,” Miller said in 2020. “I wasn't ready to go home yet. I was going to leave it all out there on the court.”
In 493 NBA regular-season games, Miller averaged 7.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 blocked shots. He shot 53.4% from the field for his career.
“It was a good experience,” he said. “I had a nice career.”
His post-NBA career included several playing stops, including internationally, with American Basketball Association teams in Little Rock and two stints with the Harlem Globetrotters.
When Arkansas' basketball team won the 1994 national championship by beating Duke in Charlotte, N.C., Miller was in attendance and spent the game in President Bill Clinton's box. Within moments of the game ending, though, he was on the floor hugging players.
“He was so happy for the Razorbacks,” Zimmerman said. “Those guys [Miller and his teammates] set it up.”
The late Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports reporter Bob Holt contributed information to this report.