GAME STORY: Hot-shooting Hogs stun No. 12 Kentucky, 89-79, in Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena on Saturday

By Kevin McPherson

In a stirring performance in the team’s biggest game of the John Calipari era, Arkansas stunned No. 12 Kentucky, 89-79, on Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., as the Razorbacks’ secured their second Quad-1 win of the season against a ranked team in a matchup that drew a flood of attention from the sports world in light of the first-year Head Hog’s return to the venue where he coached and excelled spanning the previous 15 years.

Behind an unexpected offensive explosion that included brilliant shooting, both beyond and inside the arc, the Razorbacks stretched their one-point halftime lead into an 11-point advantage, 58-47, early in the second half and later expanded that to a 12-point lead, 75-63, while never really facing a valid challenge from the heavily favored Wildcats in the final stages of the contest.

Former Kentucky Wildcats and current Hog starters in junior 3/4-combo forward Adou Thiero (21 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, boxscore plus-15 in 34 minutes); sophomore guard DJ Wagner (17 points, game-high 8 assists, 3 rebounds in 37 minutes); and sophomore center Zvonimir Ivisic (14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, boxscore plus-10 in 25 minutes) each played with determined purpose while contributing big production on high efficiency, as did preseason All SEC pick and starting senior guard Johnell “Nelly” Davis (18 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals in 38 minutes) and former ‘Cats signee and starting freshman wing Karter Knox (10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals in 34 minutes).

Arkansas (13-8, 2-6 SEC, NCAA NET No. 59) has won two of its last three games, which includes a split in a couple of recent home contests — a dramatic 68-65 come-from-behind victory over Georgia on Jan. 22 followed by a dramatic 65-62 loss to Oklahoma on Jan. 25.

“Well, it’s hard to win here and I’ve got to be honest with you, and Adou, he said the same thing: I looked up a couple of times and I thought we were losing because I kept looking at Kentucky instead of Arkansas (on the scoreboard),” Calipari said after his team’s impressive win. “And I told them I did that and Adou said, ‘Coach, I did the same thing.’ It was 15 years here, you know.

“Coming back and playing this well, we played well. We did. It’s not, you know … We made a lot of shots. But we’ve lost a lot of games because we were like 0-for. It’s like, ‘Guys, you’ve got to make some.’ So it’s nice to know they can play this way. We had a great week of practice and I told them, ‘You’re primed for this now. Let’s go.'”

A course-correction may very well be underway to rekindle Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament at-large-bid hopes following an unprecedented string of five straight losses to begin SEC play.

The Hogs are now 2-7 in Q1 games (includes 2-4 against ranked teams counting the team’s 89-87 win over then-No. 14 Michigan on a neutral court in December), 1-1 in Q2, 2-0 in Q3, and 8-0 in Q4.

Arkansas improved to a respectable 3-5 away from home (includes a 2-3 mark in true road games and 1-2 in neutral-site tilts). They’re 10-3 at home (includes 9-3 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville and 1-0 at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock).

The win over Kentucky (15-6, 4-4 SEC, NCAA NET No. 10) moves Arkansas to 15-36 in the all-time series between the two programs.

Calipari added another victory to his all-time record for most wins by a coach in Rupp Arena (now at 259 triumphs). His wins-losses tally in that venue during his 15 seasons at Kentucky was an astounding 248-26. He also improved to 17-9 in games he’s coached in involving Arkansas and one of the three programs that he previously led – Kentucky, Memphis, and UMass — which is to say prior to Saturday he was 16-9 against the Hogs in such matchups.

The Razorbacks’ 89 points and 13 made three-pointers easily surpassed the team’s high-water marks in league play as they shot 32-of-58 overall from the field (55.2%), including a blistering-hot 13-of-25  from 3 (52.0%). That effort included 64.0% overall and 57.1% three-point shooting in the second half when the Hogs opened up what was a one-possession-margin game at the break. It was an Arkansas team that came in shooting only 24.8% from distance. The Hogs were also solid from the foul line (12-of-16 for 75.0%) while the ‘Cats had an off night on freebies (9-of-18 for 50.0%).

“It (three-point shooting) really wasn’t a big emphasis, like Coach just said to come with energy, play with confidence and have fun,” Wagner said after the win. “Through the season, some of the games, we struggled from the three-point line, but Coach always said in practice, just from how much work we put in in practice and stuff like that, shots won’t fall one game or shots won’t fall some games, but we can’t really focus the game on that, missing shots.

“A big emphasis was really just defense and fighting, because that’s what makes us who we are and playing defense and fighting, and if shots are falling, it’s going to be good for us.”

Arkansas excelled in transition, too, winning fastbreak points by a whopping plus-13 margin (18-5). The Hogs also won steals in a big way (10-2) as part of dominating the turnover battle (14-8]. Arkansas won the blocks category (2-1) and dished out 17 assists on its 32 made field goals, while Kentucky had only 11 assists although the ‘Cats did shoot a solid number from the field (30-of-62 overall for 48.4%, including 10-of-23 from 3 for 43.5%) while winning rebounds (33-30), offensive rebounds (9-4), second-chance-points (14-3), points-in-the-paint (38-32), and bench scoring (10-9).

Thiero shot 5-of-10 from the field, including 1-of-3 from 3, and a clutch 10-fo-12 from the foul line for his team-high 21 points. Davis was 7-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-6 from 3, and 1-of-2 free throws for his 18 points. Wagner was 7-of-13 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3, and 1-of-2 at the line for his 17 points. Ivisic hit 5-of-8 shots, including 4-of-7 from 3, for his 14 points. Knox was 4-of-7 from the field, including 2-of-3 from 3, for his 10 points.

“I called them (the former-UK-turned-Hogs trio of Thiero, Wagner, and Ivisic) in together and I said ‘Are you guys okay going back here?'” Caliapri explained. “Are you going to be okay? And they all said, ‘We’re fine, Coach. We’re worried about you.’ That’s the kind of team I have and the kind of players they are. They were worried about me and I said ‘I’m fine.’ So no, they were good today and they played well today. They all three played well. DJ played and so did Z and so did Adou. Adou played as though, that’s how we want him to play every game. Hard to play that way every game. But we put it in his hands in spots where he could drive the ball and we also ran. A bunch of points in transition. Nelly was playing like we’ve all expected him to play.

“Kentucky is a really good team. We’re fortunate. We had to shoot 70%, 55 and 52 to win the game. If we don’t do that we lose the game. They’re very, very good. They went to Tennessee with this same team and won. And then Tennessee comes back and beats Florida by 20. This league is crazy.”

Thiero said his emotional experience returning to Rupp played out on Friday night when the team first arrived to the storied venue.

“I kind of got my emotions out of the way last night when we came in, just taking a look at everything, embracing everything like that,” thieor said. “A lot of memories were made here, but coming into the game today, just try to come in and play as hard as we can, try to get the W and we were able to do that today.”

Arkansas also got 5 points (2-of-3 field goals, including 1-of-2 from 3), 2 rebounds, 1 block, and 1 steal in 10 minutes from junior forward Trevon Brazile, and 4 points (2-of-3 field goals), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and a boxscore plus-10 in 10 minutes from freshman wing Billy Richmond III. Preseason and returning All SEC pick and senior center Jonas Aidoo played off the bench and did not score although he did block a shot and alter several other close-range field goal attempts during his 10 minutes on the court.

Kentucky was led by veteran big man Amari Williams (game-highs with 22 points and 11 rebounds) and former Hog wing Jaxson Robinson (20 points, including 4-of-6 shooting from 3).

Next up for the Razorbacks is another road game as they’ll face Texas on Wednesday, Feb. 5, in Austin, Texas.

Calipari started Ivisic, Knox, Wagner, Davis, and Thiero against Kentucky.

Arkansas matched the Wildcats’ vaunted offense with hot three-point shooting, overcoming an early 18-12 deficit to outscore the ‘Cats 34-27 while building a 46-45 lead at halftime.

Davis had 12 points, Thiero 11, and Knox 8 as the trio hit 6 of Arkansas’ 9 triples to lead the Razorbacks in the first half.

The Hogs shot 16-of-33 from the field (48.5%), including 9-of-18 from 3 (50.0%), and 5-of-6 from the free throw line (83.3%) in the opening half. Kentucky shot 17-of-29 overall from the field (58.6%), including 7-of-10 from 3 (70.0%) in the first half. The Wildcats hit only  4-of-8 freebies (50.0%) in the first 20 minutes.

Arkansas won fastbreak points (14-5) and turnovers (8-4) while Kentucky won rebounds (17-14) and points-in-the-paint (20-10) in the first half.