John Calipari's No. 23 Arkansas Razorbacks suffered a 24-point blowout loss against the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers on Friday. In the post-game press conference, Calipari was asked what he would do differently if he had to play Tennessee once again.
The response from Calipari triggered Wildcat fans who felt the coach was not serious and was making excuses once again. They bombarded the comment section, pouncing on Calipari, and started recalling their own experiences from when Calipari was at Kentucky.
"I don't miss this bullshit at all", said one fan
"Was the shoot-around optional? If it wasn’t then the 4-5 kids blew off a scheduled practice. If it wasn’t scheduled then Coach Cal half-assed it. It’s one or the other.", said another fan
"I'm sorry Arkansas fans…and you thought we were just being salty"
"If you allow it then its your fault", said one frustrated fan
"What a JOKE of a coach. Most overrated coach in history of CBB.", said another unhappy Kentucky fan
"Why would he ever let the media know about this", said one baffled fan
"What an awful coach", said another fan
No shoot around vs the number 1 ranked team in the nation? Conference game too. Coach Cal is unserious about winning", added another fan
"Don't miss this #BBN", said another Kentucky fan (BBN means Big Blue nation, a term used to refer to the Kentucky fans collective)
What did John Calipari say that infuriated Kentucky fans?
Upon being asked what he would have done differently in the game against Tennessee, John Calipari would have done a shootaround given how they struggled on the floor.
"The one thing I would do different in this game, and all night, tossed and turn," the coach said. "We didn't do a shootaround today, and I just felt our body time is noon. Pretty early. If I had to do it over again, we would have shot a shootaround, because we had three or four guys like, kind of no-show.
"So basically, they slept, had breakfast. Never really — you know, you play this team, you better be coming in ready to fight. And I don't mean fist fight, I mean battle. You better be first to the ball. You better be blocking out. You better run and get some free baskets, or it's going to be a hard game for you. And we didn't."
What happened in the Arkansas vs Tennessee game?
One of the primary concerns John Calipari brought up in the post-game press conference was rebounding. Calipari expressed his frustration that Tennessee had more offensive rebounds than all of the Razorbacks' rebounds combined.
In the 76-52 loss, Arkansas had 24 rebounds as a team, meanwhile, Igor Milicic Jr. of Tennessee alone had 18 rebounds in the game. The Volunteers combined for 45 rebounds. John Calipari said the offensive rebounds were backbreakers for any momentum Arkansas tried to build.
Calipari even criticized one of his favorite players on the Arkansas roster, Adou Thiero for scoring only six points. Chaz Lanier led all scorers with 29 points (more than half of what Arkansas scored as a team). Dajuan Wagner Jr. and Boogie Fland led the offense for Arkansas with 17 and 12 points respectively.
With the win, Tennessee extended their unbeaten run to 14 games this season. They will face the No. 6 Florida Gators on Tuesday, whereas Arkansas will face Ole Miss on Wednesday.
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