FAYETTEVILLE — John Calipari spent part of his postgame news conference Saturday night praising the fight of his Arkansas basketball team.
The Hall of Fame coach applauded his team’s ability to erase a 13-point first-half deficit and hold on for a second straight SEC game without freshman star Boogie Fland, but that didn’t It wasn’t enough.
The Razorbacks (12-8, 1-6 SEC) fell to Oklahoma 65-62, failing to capitalize on the momentum of a conference-opening victory over Georgia on Wednesday night.
In Calipari’s eyes, Arkansas did enough to win, but key errors in the second half prevented the Hogs from putting the game to bed and they couldn’t get across the finish line.
“One mistake. Two mistakes, but guys, this is going to last all year,” Calipari said. “That’s what it’s going to be. So some of the things you would say, ‘oh my God, why did he do that?’ These are things we cannot do.”
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The most decisive blow came midway through the second half.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic gave the Hogs a 50-44 lead with 10:06 remaining. Bud Walton Arena was buzzing like a hornet’s nest, and Ivisic’s 3-point shot looked like the kind of tide-turner that could turn a close game into a blowout.
But Arkansas made two painful mistakes that ruined any potential run. On Oklahoma’s next two possessions, Johnell Davis and Ivisic fouled the Sooners on 3-pointers. Oklahoma’s Luke Northweather and Jeremiah Fears made all six free throws, and Arkansas’ biggest advantage of the night disappeared in a flash.
“We fouled two 3-pointers and I have to watch the tape, but I guess they fouled or they wouldn’t have called them,” Calipari said. “At the end of the day, we did some good things, maybe we didn’t finish them.”
The Sooners and Hogs went back and forth after the two costly fouls. Neither team led by more than two points until less than a second remained on the clock.
Later, an offensive foul by Oklahoma gave Arkansas the ball with 27.3 seconds remaining and one behind. After a Calipari timeout, Arkansas tried to feed Ivisic on a post-up. The 7-foot-2 big had seven points in the second half and a pair of successful short hooks, but Oklahoma played tight defense and denied the entry pass. No other players were able to break free and Calipari called another timeout.
The result was a wild layup attempt by Davis, cutting off a backhand pass from Ivisic. He got to the paint, but Davis’ shot was out of control and Oklahoma turned the miss into a dunk on the other end to seal the victory.
The Hogs had two late chances to create a quality shot. In both cases, a sloppy possession ended with the ball not even touching the rim.
“We messed things up a bit,” Ivisic said. “I don’t know, concentration or something. I don’t even know. We always fought.”
Ivisic believes Arkansas is still on the right track. Without Fland, he and Davis came back to life offensively. Davis scored a season-high 18 points on Saturday, while Ivisic played his best game on the SEC roster with 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and three blocks. DJ Wagner scored 13 as Arkansas went 9 of 27 from 3-point range and had just nine turnovers.
Calipari said after the game that those numbers should lead to a win, but mistakes got in the way. Now, Arkansas falls further down the SEC pecking order as the calendar turns to February.
The Razorbacks begin on the road next month against No. 9 Kentucky for Calipari’s reunion, hoping the “right path” paves the way for a meaningful victory in this first year of a new era.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Costly 3-point fouls ruin Arkansas basketball’s comeback attempt against Oklahoma
