GAME STORY: 10-seed Arkansas upends 7-seed Kansas, 79-72, in NCAAT first round

By Kevin McPherson

Tenth-seeded Arkansas got the best of 7th-seeded Kansas in yet another NCAA Tournament upset pitting the two schools against each other as the Razorbacks came from behind late to carve out a 79-72 win over the Jayhawks on Thursday in NCAAT West region first-round action in Providence, R.I.

Trailing 67-64 with under 3 minutes play after blowing an 11-point second-half lead — it was 55-44 Arkansas with 17:12 remaining — the Hogs outscored the Jayhawks 15-5 in the final 2:56 to give first-year Arkansas coach John Calipari a 1-0 NCAAT record as Head Hog, matching his total number of NCAAT wins in his last five seasons at Kentucky.

The Razorbacks forced 6 Kansas turnovers while making 10-of-10 free throws in their 15-5 game-ending run.

Arkansas (21-13) advances to Saturday’s West region Round of 32 and will play 2-seed St. John’s at 1:40 p.m. CT on CBS. The Red Storm were an 83-53 West region first-round winner over 15-seed Omaha in Thursday’s late game.

The Razorbacks have reached the Round of 32 for the 23rd time in school history, and they will seek the program’s 15th Sweet Sixteen berth with a win over the Red Storm on Saturday.

The Hogs’ win over Kansas (21-13) marked Arkansas’ second Big Dance upset victory over the Jayhawks spanning the past three NCAATs (UA upset then-No. 1 seed and defending national champion KU, 72-71, in the ’22-23 NCAAT to advance to the Sweet Sixteen). Thirty-four years ago in the ’90-91 NCAAT Elite Eight, Kansas upset No. 1-seed Arkansas, 93-81, to advance to the Final Four.

“Good win,” Calipari said. “Gutted it out. They went zone. We ended up shooting too many jumpers. They had to do some different things. Went a little triangle and 2, also. Screwed us up a little bit. The kids fought. Nelly (Davis) makes a shot, makes a couple free throws. Jonas (Aidoo) makes free throws. Took us three times to get it in. I don’t care. We won. If it took us four, you know what we didn’t do? We didn’t turn it over. So it took our third out-of-bounds play to get it in. That’s fine.

“We learned some stuff today, didn’t we, boys? I told them after, ‘There’s stuff going forward that’s good for us.’ This was a good one. That was an NCAA tournament game, two teams battling it out, making shots, making plays and we got away from them at the very end.”

The Razorbacks unofficially improved to 2-0 against Kansas this season, counting Arkansas’ 85-69 home win in a charity exhibition game in October.

The Hogs have won 6 of their last 8 games as they improved to 7-9 away from home (that’s 4-6 in true road games, including a final 3-6 mark in SEC road games, and now they’re 3-3 in neutral-site tilts).

Down to seven rotation pieces in recent weeks playing without leading scorer and leading rebounder Adou Thiero (left knee injury) as well second-leading scorer and assists leader Boogie Fland (thumb injury), Arkansas was able to expand its rotation back to eight with the return this week of Fland, who had missed the team’s previous 15 games.

Arkansas’ one-two frontline punch of veteran bigs Aidoo and Trevon Brazile was once again formidable. Aidoo led all scorers with a season-high 22 points (10-of-19 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws) to go with 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 blocks, and a boxscore plus-5 in 39 minutes. Brazile battled through first-half foul trouble to register yet another double-double — 11 points, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and a boxscore plus-7 in 27 minutes.

The Razorbacks also got big games from guards Davis (18 points including 4-of-9 shooting from 3 and 4-of-4 free throws to go with 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 1 block, and a game-high boxscore plus-13 in 31 minutes) and DJ Wagner (14 points including 3-of-3 free throw shooting to go with a team-high 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, and a boxscore plus-7 in 40 minutes).

Fland — he had not played since mid-January — came off the bench to contribute 6 points (2-of-7 field goals, including 0-of3 from 3, and 2-of-2 free throws), 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 rebound, ZERO turnovers, and a boxscore plus-6 in 24 minutes.

Freshmen wings Karter Knox (6 points on 2-of-3 field goals and 2-of-3 free throws to go with 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 turnovers, and a boxscore plus-2 in 16 minutes) and Billy Richmond III (2 points on 2-of-2 free throws to go with 4 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers in 19 minutes) both chipped in production for the Hogs. Sophomore center Zvonimir Ivisic did not record a stat but did foul twice in his 4 minutes off the bench.

In that final 15-5 game-winning run, Fland scored on a transition layup after getting a steal (making it 67-66 KU with 2:56 to play); Adioo blocked a shot at one end before making both free throws at the other (making it 68-67 Arkansas with 2:14 left); Davis hit his fourth triple after a Wagner steal (making it 71-67 Arkanass with 1:47 to play); Davis collected a steal before making both free throws (making it 73-69 Arkansas with 44 seconds remaining); Wagner made both of his free throws after Brazile’s defensive rebound (making it 75-69 Arkansas with 21 seconds to play); Davis made both free throws after a KU made triple (making it 77-72 Arkansas with 10 seconds left); and Richmond made both free throws following a missed Jayhawks shot attempt (setting the final margin at 79-72 Arkansas with 0:02 showing on the game clock).

Arkansas finished the game shooting 28-of-65 from the field (43.1%) after hitting better than 54% of their shots in the first 20 minutes. The Hogs were 6-of-24 from 3 (25.0%) and 17-of-20 at the free throw line (85.0%), the latter of which included 12-of-15 shooting on freebies (80%) in the second half. Kansas shot 25-of-58 from the field (43.1%), including 8-of-17 from 3 (47.1%), and 14-of-16 at the foul line (87.5%).

The Razorbacks won turnovers (16-10), second-chance-points (16-9), points-in-the-paint (34-28), points-off-turnovers (16-14), offensive rebounds (12-11), steals (11-5), and blocks (6-3). The Jayhawks won total rebounds (38-34), bench scoring (19-8), and assists (18-13).

The win over Kansas moved Arkansas to 7-8 in the all-time series between the two programs, which now includes a Hogs three-game winning streak against the Jayhawks (NOT counting the charity exhibition win in October).

“TB was really good,” Calipari said. “How active is he? Jonas was really good. Nelly, Boogie for not playing what? How many months? He practiced without — there was no contact now. We can’t have contact because if someone gets hurt I’m down to five. So he practiced but there was no contact and he went in and did what he did today. I had to get on him a couple times in zone. He didn’t want to shoot it so he put himself 42 feet out. Then you can’t shoot it. But that’ll be fine. We’ll be able to show him on tape.”

Aidoo outplayed his frontline counter part — All American 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson, who finished with 11 points (4-of-13 field goals, including 1-of-4 from 3, and 2-of-2 free throws), 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 turnovers, and a boxscore minus-12 in 29 minutes. Guard Zeke Mayo led Kansas with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 4 turnovers. Wing AJ Storr had 15 points, and senior forward KJ Adams tallied 13 points and 4 rebounds before leaving the game for good with a lower leg injury in the late stages. Senior guard Dajuan Harris, Jr, scored all 8 of his points in the second half and he also notched a game-high 7 assists.

Aidoo and Dickinson matched up for the first time after both had missed the teams’ exhibition game in October while recovering from injuries.

“I knew it was going to be a big matchup from the jump, had to help the team out for sure,” Aidoo said after the win.

Calipari started Aidoo, Brazile, Knox, Wagner, and Davis.

Arkansas led by as many as 7 points in the first half of a high-octane offensive game, and the Hogs were up 47-44 at the break.

Aidoo had 16 points and 2 rebounds, Wagner had 12 points and 3 assists, and Davis had 8 points and 3 rebounds to lead the Razorbacks in the first half.

The Hogs shot 19-of-35 from the field (54.3%), including 4-of-11 from 3 (36.4%), and 5-of-5 from the free throw line (100%) in the opening half. Kansas shot 14-of-32 overall from the field (43.8%), including 6-of-11 from 3 (54.5%) in the first half. The Jayhawks hit 10-of-12 freebies (83.3%) in the first 20 minutes.

Arkansas dominated points-in-the-paint (24-12) and won turnover turnovers (6-3), but lost rebounds (19-14, including 8-4 on the offensive glass) in the first half.