A Cal-culated victory? UK win over Arkansas follows coach’s ejection.
Did he or didn’t he? To borrow from the author after a Shakespearean drama disguised as a basketball game, that is the question lingering after Kentucky’s 73-66 victory at Arkansas on Saturday.
With an 11-point second-half lead gone and a sellout crowd screaming in delight, UK Coach John Calipari was hit with two technical fouls and an automatic ejection with 8:19 left.
Mason Jones made three of four technical fouls to put Arkansas ahead 47-44. The crowd, which had encouraged the comeback with six standing ovations (and one Calling of the Hogs chant) in the first 12 minutes of the second half, seemed ready — and destined — to celebrate.
But less than 90 seconds later, Kentucky went on a 15-0 run to take a double-digit lead into the final four-plus minutes.
Did Calipari seek to inspire a rally by getting ejected? Or was he simply reacting to Arkansas having shot 15 free throws to that point while Kentucky had shot none? Maybe worse, UK point guard Ashton Hagans got hit with his fourth foul and went to the bench with 15 minutes still to play.
Associate coach Kenny Payne, who guided UK to the finish line, was asked if Calipari wanted to get ejected to spur the team.
“I seriously doubt it,” Payne said before adding, “I wish if he had done it on purpose, he would’ve given me a heads-up. But he didn’t.”
The two players who answered questions, Nick Richards and Tyrese Maxey, said they could not read Calipari’s mind or divine the UK coach’s intentions. It was the third time Calipari had been ejected while at Kentucky, the two previous times coming in games at South Carolina.
“I just think he was speaking his mind at the time,” Maxey said of Calipari’s ejection. “And, I mean, it happened and we had to rally to win the game.”
Kentucky, 13-4 overall and 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference, had lost a 14-point second-half lead and the game at South Carolina three days earlier. An Arkansas crowd thirsting for a statement victory in the team’s first game against a ranked opponent ratcheted up the stakes.
“It was definitely pretty loud at times …,” Maxey said of the atmosphere. “And when Coach Cal had his three technicals, I don’t know how many he had (it was two), it was super loud.”
Payne tried to be a calming presence in the huddle as Calipari departed, Maxey said.
“He was just saying, ‘relax, we’re going to win this game,’” Maxey said. “That’s what he said. He sat down. He put his clipboard down and was saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to fly and we’ve got to get every single rebound that comes off the rim.’”
Payne explained the breakout 15-0 run as something of a surprise attack.
“What we talked about was, ‘Look, it’s crunch time. It’s an execution game,’” he said. “‘So, the last thing they’re expecting us to do is rebound and push the ball up the court.’ Well, that’s what we did.”
Arkansas, which lost at home for the first time this season, fell to 14-3 overall and 3-2 in the SEC.
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said Calipari’s ejection was pivotal if not intentional.
“I thought the whole momentum changed after that in Kentucky’s favor,” he said. “In every way, shape and form. So, yes, we had the momentum during the dead ball. And, after that, it completely changed.”
When asked how big a mountain UK had to climb with its coach gone, its point guard on the bench with four fouls and a sellout crowd roaring, Payne said, “I think it was a huge mountain.”
As Keion Brooks suggested on Friday, the size advantage Kentucky enjoyed “means we can pound them inside.”
That’s what happened in the first half as Kentucky went into intermission with a 36-27 lead. But, recent history suggested a Kentucky victory was not assured.
Arkansas rallied from eight down with seven minutes to go to win against Ole Miss last weekend, and from 11 down to beat Indiana on Dec. 29.
Foul trouble complicated Kentucky’s effort. EJ Montgomery, Maxey, Hagans and Nate Sestina all picked up their third fouls inside the first five minutes of the second half.
Then Hagans picked up his fourth with exactly 15 minutes left. To the bench went the UK player Musselman had called “the heartbeat of their team.”
Perhaps frustration with the officiating — in particular a (phantom?) foul on Montgomery — caused Calipari to receive two technical fouls and an ejection with 8:19 left. At that point, the referees had whistled UK for 11 fouls, and Arkansas none.
One of Arkansas’ players congratulated UK on the comeback.
“That’s what great teams do, a top-10 team in the nation,” Jones said. “We thought we got them rattled. But they weren’t rattled.”
Next game
Georgia at No. 10 Kentucky
7 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN)
This story was originally published January 18, 2020 at 8:52 PM.
