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A shorthanded Arkansas basketball team found a way to get a huge win on Tuesday night on the road against Vanderbilt. Head coach John Calipari and his Razorbacks are fighting to make the NCAA Tournament, and a road win against a team that is firmly in is going to go a long way on Selection Sunday. Arkansas is dealing with some difficult injury trouble, but they got it done on the road, winning 90-77.
That was an impressive win for the Arkansas basketball team, especially because of their injury trouble. The Razorbacks have dealt with a lot of injury issues this year, and for head coach John Calipari, it's like coaching different teams.
“This is about my fourth team this year,” John Calipari said after the game, according to a post from Pig Trail Nation. “Like now Boogie [Fland] and Adou [Thiero] are out. I got a new team. Said to the guys, ‘Why am I still tweaking stuff?' And they said, ‘Well, you're looking at tape.' No, we're a different team than we were two weeks ago. We got to figure out how we have to play to win. You know, defending and doing some of this stuff has to be what we do, and again just so you know, we got smoked by South Carolina so bad, I never looked at the tape. And I told the team, the reason I didn't look at the tape. That wasn't my team (at South Carolina). So why would I watch it? That's not my team. We even missed free throws, missed layups, missed one footers, missed everything. (We) shot 15 percent. Look. It was a dud. Next game.”
After the win, Calipari gave credit to Vanderbilt and head coach Mark Byington. The Commodores are having an impressive season, and this was a really good win for the Razorbacks.
“Vandy is obviously a pretty good seed in the NCAA tournament,” Calipari said, according to an article from FanSided. “They've gone in this league and done some unbelievable stuff. We needed to win a game, and we did. But they're good, and they're well coached. They run great stuff. … He's a he's a terrific coach — really good guy. He's come in here, and you could see a culture that he's building and what he's doing.”
Calipari knows how important this win was at his team is right on the NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks have one more regular season game, and it's a big one as they are hosting #25 Mississippi State. However, Calipari doesn't seem happy about the way these two games were scheduled.
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“We had to win one of these two,” Calipari said. “We won this one. Now, hopefully, we'll show up for an 11:00 a.m. game. They're sending us home at three in the morning, and we play 11 a.m. game. I know they've done that to other teams in the league. Not!”
Regardless of when the game is, it's impressive that the Arkansas basketball team has put themselves in a position to make the tournament after the way this season started.
“Well, what they've been through, we started 0 and five. Like, it's over. (The team) stinks,” Calipari said. “He can't coach. They can't play. He stinks. That kid stinks. And they were some of the guys taking bazooka shots at some of these kids. And they withstood it. They persevered. And I kept telling them, when you get through this, you're gonna be so much stronger — mentally tougher — that there'll be things later in life that happen to you that won't phase you. That would knock you on your back if you hadn't gone through this. And so now for me, for them to win the game like this when they had to and do it together.”
Arkansas has played their way into contention, but it will likely be a nerve-racking Selection Sunday for John Calipari and the Razorbacks.
