Five things you need to know from No. 12 Kentucky’s deflating 89-79 loss to Arkansas
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Game day: Arkansas 89, No. 12 Kentucky 79
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Arkansas in Rupp Arena.
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Five things you need to know from No. 12 Kentucky’s 89-79 loss to John Calipari and Arkansas in SEC men’s basketball:
1. Calipari laughs last. It turns out, the old coach is not as washed up as some Kentucky backers have claimed.
Back in his old Kentucky home for the first time as coach at Arkansas, John Calipari recorded what has to be one of the sweetest victories of his Hall of Fame coaching career.
Calipari, 65, who left Kentucky after 15 years last spring after failing to coach UK out of the the NCAA Tournament’s first weekend since 2019, delivered an emphatic “How do you like me now?” to a jam-packed Rupp Arena.
Give the devil his due.
With a full week to prepare, Calipari came to Lexington with a sharp offensive game plan.
Physically, Kentucky had no matchup for 6-foot-8 forward Adou Thiero.
Calipari got Thiero in a lot of isolation opportunities, and the ex-Cat responded by scoring 20 points.
Meanwhile, former FAU star Johnell Davis — who had been one of the bigger transfer portal disappointments of 2024-25 — found his game in Lexington. Davis finished with 18 points, five rebounds and six assists.
In his days as a rising coach at Massachusetts, Calipari built his reputation as a master motivator who could build belief that allowed his players to exceed what was expected from them.
It turns out, Cal still has that capacity.
That’s how Arkansas, 1-6 in the SEC entering the game, left Rupp Arena with the win.
2. Ex-Cats thrive. In addition to Adou Thiero’s big game, the other Arkansas players with Kentucky ties all came up big.
Zvonimir Ivisic, the 7-foot-2, former UK big man, hit four of seven 3-pointers and scored 14 points.
Former Kentucky point guard D.J. Wagner had 15 points — all in the second half — and eight assists.
Meanwhile, ex-UK signees and current Arkansas freshmen Karter Knox, 10 points and four rebounds, and Billy Richmond, four points, also contributed to the Hogs’ win.
Added to the 11 points scored by ex-Cat Aaron Bradshaw in Ohio State’s 85-65 pounding of Kentucky in December, former UK players have made life hard on the Wildcats this season.
3. Arkansas shoots out of its mind. The Razorbacks entered the game shooting 32.5% this season on 3-point shots.
On Saturday night, the Hogs hit 13 of 25 treys, good for 52%.
It will be interesting to see if Arkansas shoots that well from behind the arc in another game this season.
4. Amari Williams puts up a big fight. Kentucky, which was the victor Tuesday night in a highly physical contest at Tennessee, appeared “not to have its legs” on Saturday night.
The exception was Amari Williams, the 7-foot UK center. Williams finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
5. John Calipari joins a group of three in UK basketball history.
As best I can tell, Calipari — who previously went 1-4 vs. UK as Massachusetts head man and was 1-0 against the Wildcats at Memphis — joined Josh Cody and Tom Crean as the only coaches to lead at least three different teams to wins over Kentucky.
Cody beat UK at four different schools in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s.. He went 1-1 vs. UK at Mercer; was 3-10 against Kentucky during two separate stints at Vanderbilt; went 1-4 vs. the Wildcats at Clemson; and 2-4 against UK as Temple coach.
Crean was 2-0 vs. Kentucky as Marquette coach; 2-4 against the Cats as Indiana head man; and went 1-4 vs. UK while coaching at Georgia.
This story was originally published February 1, 2025 at 11:24 PM.
