John Calipari was booed heavily (twice) before the game, but the former Kentucky head coach ended the night with the last laugh as his Arkansas Razorbacks upset the Wildcats 89-79 Saturday night.
Arkansas (13-8, 2-6 SEC) took a 46-45 lead into the halftime locker room. Early in the second half the Razorbacks extended the lead and Kentucky was never able to get back in the game.
The three former Cats on the Arkansas roster were also booed heavily, but each player was a huge part of the upset victory. Adou Thiero led the Razorbacks with 21 points and 8 rebounds. D.J. Wagner had a huge second half, finishing with 17 points and 8 assists. Zvonimir Ivisic added 14 points, including some dagger three-pointers late.
Johnell Davis contributed 17 points for Arkansas.
After the game, Thiero and Wagner admitted that the intense Rupp Arena atmosphere motivated them and fueled their need to play harder for Calipari.
“Nobody wants to come back and lose, getting that dub, we had to do that for him (Calipari),” Thiero told the media after the game. “He’s always had our backs, we felt like tonight we had to really have his.”
The story of the night, and really the week leading up to the game, was how John Calipari would be received by Kentucky fans in his return to Rupp Arena.
The first time Calipari walked out of the tunnel, there were some fans booing and some fans clapping:
When Calipari and the former Wildcats were introduced, they were angrily booed:
The entire scene seemed to fuel nervous tension in Kentucky fans, and the game ended with some fans booing their own players as they exited the arena several minutes early.
Amari Williams led the Wildcats (15-6, 4-4) with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Jaxson Robinson added 20 points. Ansley Almonor chipped in 12.
Kentucky once again played without starting point guard Lamont Butler. After the game, Mark Pope didn’t give an encouraging answer when asked about the long term status of Butler’s injury.
“I just don’t know. I’m not sure. We are trying to just navigate the space,” Pope said. “There’s a lot to it because I’m not going to share because it’s his stuff. We are trying to figure out how to proceed right now. We will see, I would tell you more, but we just really genuinely don’t know yet. We’ll figure out more in the next couple of weeks.”
At the very least, it sounds like Butler could be out for another few weeks.
Kentucky will have to regroup quickly as a trip to No. 23 Ole Miss is on the scheduled for Tuesday.
“This grieving process that we go through and for our guys they care so much, it really is a grieving process, a five-step process. It has to happen fast, it has to happen in the next 12 hours or 16 hours and we will have some time to spend tomorrow where we can help each other do it because we’re going on the road to another top 25 team,” Pope said after the game.
