Former Cats Help Arkansas Upset No. 12 Kentucky in Emotional Showdown

By Jamie H. Vaught

Thunderous Rupp Arena was full of emotion Saturday night with the return of John Calipari.

With many Kentucky fans not so happy with Calipari’s coaching performance in recent years at UK, Coach Cal, now in his first year at Arkansas, received mixed reception from a boisterous crowd of 21,266 when he walked to the floor from the dressing room. And the rabid Big Blue Nation simply wanted to see the Cats beat the Hall of Famer at home.

Amari Williams of Kentucky tries to grab a rebound against Big Z of Arkansas during Saturday night's showdown at Rupp Arena. (Photo by Kara Ball)

After leaving Kentucky less than 10 months ago, Calipari, who will turn 66 later this month, was emotional because he had so many fond memories during his 15 years in Lexington.

And you can add his unranked Razorbacks’ 89-79 upset win over the No. 12 Wildcats to a long list of Calipari’s memorable moments at Rupp Arena with Arkansas supporter John Tyson, the CEO of Tyson Foods, sitting in the front row behind the visitor’s bench. 

“We needed to win a game. It didn’t matter who it was against. I made it clear," Calipari said of his emotions in a postgame news conference. "It was a privilege and an honor to coach here. We had 15 unbelievable years and a great run. The fans supported us, the families that trusted us with their sons. I got 190 texts by the time the game ended. I’m guessing a bunch of them are former players, not that they are ever going to cheer against Kentucky. They went to school here, but they also have a relationship with me. The only emotion I had was to win the game.”

Three former Cats – Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner and Ivisic Zvonimir -- saw significant action for hot-shooting Arkansas, which hit 55.2 percent of its field goals while forcing UK to commit 14 turnovers (compared to Arkansas’ eight). Thiero, the team’s leading scorer, had team-highs 21 points and eight rebounds. Wagner and Big Z added 17 and 14 points, respectively. 

Before the game, Calipari, whose team improved to 13-8 overall and 2-6 in SEC, said he had a conversation with these three players.

“Well, I called them in together and I said, ‘Are you guys okay going back here, are you gonna be okay?’ And they all said, ‘We’re fine, coach. We’re worried about you.’  That’s the kind of team I have," said Calipari. "That’s the kind of players they are. They were worried about me. I said, ‘I’m fine.’ So no, they were good. They played well today. They all three played well.”

Added Wagner, “I felt a lot of emotions, that’s the thing. Just walking back in the gym for the first time, being on the other side, on a different team, shooting around as a different team, so it kind of felt like a little weird. Once that was over, it was a little bit easier to lock in and stuff like that and just playing today. The atmosphere was just great.”

Kentucky coach Mark Pope praised the Razorbacks for their performance.  

“Congrats to Arkansas,” said Pope. “I thought they played great basketball tonight. Played

really tough, really hard. Our guys are pretty disappointed.”

Kentucky, which only hit nine of 18 free throws, featured two players with at least 20 points for the second time this season. Amari Williams recorded his sixth double-double of the season with a season-high 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Jaxson Robinson pumped in 20 points, including 4 of 6 three pointers.

Ansley Almonor added 12 points, including 3 of 5 three-pointers.

Kentucky coach Mark Pope discusses his team's disappointing loss to Arkansas Saturday night at Rupp Arena. (Photo by Jamie H. Vaught)

The Wildcats, playing without injured starting point guard Lamont Bulter for the second straight game, have lost three of the last four games.  For the record, UK is now 15-6 overall and 4-4 in SEC. 

“For my guys tonight, it was super painful,” Pope said of the disappointing loss.  “My guys were really hurting in the locker room. They know what this building means, they know what this jersey means.  They see everything and hear everything and they know what matters.  They're getting an up close look at how much it means to the people they are playing for.  I have a locker room that's down tonight. Not down, down is not the right word.  Like hurt, as we have all season long.”

On Pope’s overall message to the team after the loss, Robinson commented, “Obviously everyone is upset so there wasn’t much to say. We know what we did wrong, and we have a game coming up soon, so we need to move on. With it being conference play, Tuesday we have another big Top 25 game. We just need to focus on how to get better.”

The Wildcats will visit No. 23 Ole Miss in Oxford Tuesday night. The 7 p.m. ET game will be shown on ESPN.

Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About The Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro., he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.