Last Saturday evening John Calipari led his unranked Arkansas Razorbacks back into the belly of the snake den, aka, Rupp Arena, and escaped with the biggest dub of his brief stint as the Hogs’ head coach, beating his former employer, the University of Kentucky, in front of a house packed fulla Wildcat fans.
Entering the game as a solid double-digit underdog (by as many as 12.5 points according to some odds makers), the Hogs broke out of a shooting slump that had plagued them throughout SEC play and upended the 12th-ranked home team, coming out on top, 89-79.
UK, fresh off an upset of Tennessee, was flying high and firing on all cylinders, while the Razorbacks were stuck with one whole win through eight conference games and most recently lost to a not-so-good Oklahoma team in Nam. So there was no reason to expect any sorta upset would take place.
To say that Arkansas has shot the rock poorly this season is a gross understatement, particularly from on the 3-point arc. But on Saturday the team hit the majority of their jumpers, lay ups, dunks and free throws; additionally, they were 13-25 from the suburbs for a scorching 55%. Every player who attempted a 3ball, made one with Big Z leading the way, connecting on four outta the seven he let loose.
The teams battled evenly during the first period, and Arkansas led by a single point at halftime, thanks to a late, step-back 3 by Karter Knox, who finished with a season-high 10 points.
That initial 20 minutes of game time saw very few personal fouls called on either team, as the refs appeared to swallow their whistles and allow more contact than usual. Through the Hogs’ first eight conference games, an inflated average of 35 fouls/game were called, including a ridiculous 49 in Arkansas’ lone SEC win over Georgia.
When whistles blow so often, it is nearly impossible to create and maintain any sense of flow in play, and the game resembles bowling more-so than hoops. But this game saw only 29 fouls called, a scant 11 on the Wildcats. Matter of fact – two Kentucky players managed to play more than 30 minutes apiece without committing one, single, solitary foul (I know, amazing, huh?) Yet somehow, the Razorbacks found a way to win this one, despite shooting fewer free throws than their opponent.
Many Kentucky fans believe their team is the cream of the crop, and that the ghost of Adolph Rupp roams the sidelines, still. Granted, the Wildcats do hold down the top spot in most of the meaningful statistical categories, trailing only UCLA in number of Nattys, and North Carolina in total NCAA Tournament wins, but those days are long gone, as the amount of parity in college hoops has grown exponentially, since. So it was extremely gratifying to watch all the blue-clad faithful filing outta the arena with their tails between their legs and the game still in progress.
Any way you slice it, beating Kentucky was a must if the Razorbacks plan on playing any meaningful postseason ball. With a whole week off before the game, Calipari had a chance to prepare his team for a return to the scene of the crime, so he called the three former Wildcats into his office to check on their psyche leading up to Saturday. “I asked them if they were OK going back to Rupp. And they said they were good but were worried about me,” he chuckled. “That’s just the kinda team I have.”
Here’s to more of that attitude and play dominating the rest of the season. And with baseball right around the corner, there’ll be even more reason to stand up and call those Hogs!
Wooooooooo . . .