LEXINGTON — John Calipari, yelling directions and pacing the sideline. Adou Thiero is a driver who steps to the line, draws fouls, and makes free throws. D.J. Wagner cutting and passing to teammates who are open. Swishing shots outside the 3-point arc by Zvonimir Ivišićc. Billy Richmond III, a five-star freshman, grabs a rebound and throws a highlight-reel pass to Karter Knox, another five-star freshman, who finishes the play with a two-handed dun.k. Assistant coaches Chuck Martin and Chin Coleman welcome players as they exit the court during game breaks.n. Employee Tyler Ulis is delivering his trademark Energizer Bunny-style quips.S.
During the 2024–25 season, Kentucky basketball supporters anticipated seeing and hearing these things from their favorite team.
The team they had in mind ten months ago, anyway.
That team played at Rupp Arena on Saturday night. However, players weren’t dressed in blue and white. Calipari also wore a crimson sports coat.
Not the 2024–25 Kentucky Wildcats, but the 2024–25 Arkansas Razorbacks.
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When Calipari abruptly departed the UK after leading the school for 15 seasons to establish a presence in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last April, he put this moment into motion.
Would Calipari be applauded or jeered during the pregame with all the anticipation leading up to Saturday’s matchup? (It turns out, both.) The other team put on a show. Could Arkansas, a double-digit underdog who has had a forgettable season so far, really make it to a game?
Calipari’s new club sent his former one, along with its supporters, into the cold Kentucky night to grieve.
Just before the first half ended, Arkansas took a one-point lead and never looked back, pulling off an upset victory 89-79.
“My guys were really hurting in that locker room,” stated Mark Pope, the coach for the United Kingdom. “They understand the significance of this building. They understand the meaning of this jersey. They can hear and see everything. They are aware of what is important. They’re seeing directly how important it is to the folks they’re performing for.
Kentucky supporters looked through the looking glass of what may have been on a bizarre night. For Year 16 in Lexington, Calipari stayed with the squad they may have loved and been fixated on.
It was hard to ignore Saturday’s alternate-universe reality that may have happened to the Wildcats.
Kentucky (15-6, 4-4 SEC) was connected to four-fifths of Arkansas’ starting lineup: Ivišić, Thiero, and Wagner were Wildcats the previous season, while Knox was a new recruit.e. Richmon wasd. Not to mention another recruit from the UK who moved to Arkansas: point guard Boogie Fland, who was already regarded as one of the top freshmen in college basketball until sustaining a hand injury that ended his season in January.y.
The Razorbacks scored 89 points, with 66 of those points coming from the quintet that played on Saturday. Four of them scored ten points or more, with Thiero leading the way with a team-high twenty-one points (along with a game-high eight rebounds and three steals). When the squad arrived at the arena on Friday, Thiero said he “got my emotions out of the way” and returned to Rupp for the first time since he hit the transfer portal last year.
“A lot of memories were made here,” he stated.
Wagner agreed, stating that it was “a little weird” at moments during Friday’s shootaround to be at Rupp while wearing the visitor’s locker room.
“Once that was over, it was a little easier to lock in,” Wagner said after finishing with 17 points (surprisingly, all in the second half) on 7 of 13 field goals and eight assists, which not only led all players on Saturday but also his most since joining the Razorbacks.
In addition to the players, the Razorbacks had three other former Wildcats on the bench: Coleman, Martin, and Ulis were among Calipari’s last staff members at UK before following him to Arkansas (13-8, 2-6).
Calipari had little to show for his first season with the Razorbacks before Saturday. In eight attempts, they only managed one Quad 1 win (against Michigan in New York). Additionally, they lost six out of seven conference games. Now, Calipari won a kind of personal Super Bowl, regardless of what else occurs this season.
In his postgame news conference on Saturday, Calipari, who is known for his blustery demeanor, couldn’t have been more serene or modest.
No “Swaggy Cal” could be found.
He quickly diverted focus away from himself when asked to explain his feelings just 30 minutes after his 235th victory at Rupp Arena, which was his first as an opposition coach. It has to do with his team. With only one victory since the calendar turned to 2025, it was in dire need of any kind of positive news going into Saturday.
“I stated unequivocally that coaching here was an honor and a privilege. We had fifteen amazing years. A fantastic run. We had the support of the supporters. “The families that trusted us with our sons,” he continued without completing his sentence, adding that by the time the final buzzer sounded, he had received almost 200 text messages praising him, many of which he knew were from previous UK players. “It is unlikely that they will ever support Kentucky. This is where they attended school. However, they are also connected to me.
But as the night wore on, that was the last thing he was thinking about.
According to Calipari, “I was into the game,” “I was going play to play, trying to drag us over the finish line.”
For the UK, the loss doesn’t change anything.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 12 in the USA TODAY Coaches and Associated Press Top 25 rankings, weren’t doing much on Saturday other from trying to gloat about their former coach. If it began next week, Kentucky would be guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament based on its seven Quad 1 victories, which rank third among all teams in the nation. As it pursued a Sweet 16 trip for the first time since 2019, a top-three seed would be in store. A Final Four appearance, if everything goes according to plan, would be the first since 2015, when Calipari’s legendary squad won its first 38 games before losing to Wisconsin in the national semifinals.
But with ten more regular-season games and the SEC Tournament ahead of the UK, that is still more than a month away.
However, Kentucky’s players were consumed by the excitement surrounding Saturday’s game and their reunion with Calipari. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to filter it out. Center Amari Williams said he and his teammates tried to unwind by watching other games on TV before stepping onto the court for pregame warmups. However, Williams claimed that it seemed like every pause in play gave the commentators a chance to talk about Calipari and the Wildcats, as well as the Wildcats and Calipari.
On and on.
Williams recorded a double-double with game highs in points (22) and rebounds (11). “I feel like the only distraction was seeing all the cameras on Cal when we were trying to do layup lines,” Williams shared. “So that was a bit annoying.”
The result was far more annoying to the Wildcats.
Expectations at Kentucky are always extremely high. The supporters of the most successful college basketball program in history are driven to win every game. Some are simply more significant than others.
Saturday is definitely eligible.
Ansley Almonor, a senior forward, stated, “We know how much the fans wanted this win,” Not being able to go out there and get the desired outcome, then? It’s awful.
Pope, who never holds back when expressing his admiration for the United Kingdom, his alma mater, and his admiration for Calipari, his predecessor, acknowledged that Saturday was challenging for everyone. Only a select few programs have ever had to confront the man who was Lexington’s most successful coach since Adolph Rupp turned it into a superpower.
“If there’s anything about tonight, it was just all kind of complicated, conflicting, upside down, twisted-up feelings with everybody in BBN,” said Pope, “and certainly our guys had that come out of this game.”
After defeating his old boss, Calipari had the option of gloating, taunting, belittling, or boasting, but instead he stood up for his replacement.
Nobody is more familiar with the pressure and intense scrutiny Pope faces on a daily basis than the man who has occupied his chair for the past 15 seasons.
“Mark Pope is performing admirably. Poor work. Excellent work,” Calipari remarked. “Today? Today, we sort of got them. Simply move forward. The next game. This is a single game.
“And if somebody interprets it as something more? You’re insane. There is only one game.
Ryan Black is the reporter for Kentucky men’s football and basketball. You can reach him at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
