Lexington, Ky. – Kentucky fans walked in Rupp Arena for their last home match ready for the coronation of coach Mark Pope.
Arkansas basketball was to be the sacrificial lamb. After a 15 -year race with the Wildcats, John Calipari was on the opposite touch line. Kentucky was a two -digit favorite. The place has been exhausted. It was supposed to be the time of assertion that a proud program was on a better track, without head coach who won six dry titles, reached four final ovens and won a national title with Big Blue Nation.
This confirmation could possibly materialize, but it did not do it on Saturday evening.
In the return of Calipari to Rupp, he played the role of spoiler because the razorbacks (13-8, 2-6 sec) never followed in the second half of a victory of 89-79 on the Wildcats n ° 12 (15-6, 4-4).
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After the match, Calipari continued the humble tone and grateful that he has since left Kentucky.
“Good team. Good shoot. The big children play well. Mark did very well. He was the right guy for work,” said Calipari. “Today? We have some sort of them today. Continue something. The next game. This is a match.”
It is a graceful statement in victory, and although Caliapri stressed that it was another victory, it was much more.
There is no soul in the base of Arkansas fans who would call the first chapters in the history of Calipari with the Razorbacks success. The start 1-6 in the SEC associated with large criticism from the university basketball media. Everyone was ready to add more water to the Calipari and Arkansas partnership. A national writer said that he had a story of 1,200 words already prepared, but that he should stay in the outlines after the result.
Calipari’s move to Arkansas also fueled the online drama which has somehow produced a booming rivalry between the two schools. The two parties want to prove that they are better lotis. The Kentucky has the upper hand, but the Arkansas struck the match in-head.
“He probably feels good about it; Super,” said Adou Thiero about Calipari. “No one wants to come back where you had been a long time ago, and he won it. Tonight we really had his.”
Behind Thiero, the Hogs played their best game of the season. They pulled 55.2% in the field and made 13 3 points.
Thiero scored a summit of 21 points, while the former DJ Wildcats DJ Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic also reached 17 and 14 respectively. The Arkansas only committed eight reversals and forced the Wildcats in 14.
Kentucky fans have proven that Calipari’s prediction was true by crying hooks on their former coach when he entered the ground three minutes before the TIP. When there were three minutes in the regulations, many Wildcats fans have sank for outings.
There was also a handful of hoots for their own team, disgusted with the disappointing result in front of a national audience. They will have to wait to keep the rights to boast against their former coach.
It was a very necessary victory for the Arkansas, from the locker room players to the fans who filled Bud Walton Arena.
Now they must prove that it will not be an ephemeral moment but rather a turning point.
If the rental of Calipari will operate in Fayetteville, Saturday evening inside her old house, will be the foundation.
“It’s good to know that they can play this way,” said Calipari. “We had an excellent week of practice and I said to them:” You are ready for this now. Let’s go. “”
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: John Calipari spoils Mark Pope’s Kentucky Coronation | Column
(Tagstotranslate) John Calipari (T) Arkansas (T) Kentucky (T) Mark Pope (T) Adou Thiero (T) Razorbacks (T) DJ Wagner
