Recapping everything John Calipari said after Arkansas suffered major Ole Miss upset

Ole Miss v Arkansas - Source: Getty
John Calipari coaching during the Wednesday loss to Ole Miss. - Source: Wesley Hitt, Getty

To his dismay, coach John Calipari is still winless in the SEC in his first year with the Arkansas Razorbacks. Their 0-2 conference record thus far comes from a Wednesday 73-66 home loss against the Ole Miss Rebels that put the squad's overall record to 11-4 for the season.

During the post-game press conference, Calipari talked about how confident he is about how good his team is despite losing their first two conference matchups. The only thing they've got to figure out, according to him, is how to get significant contributions from all of his players.

"We got a good team. But, everybody's got to play well. All nine (players) got to give us something. They don't have to play out of their minds but they can't play poorly. You can't have three or four play poorly, or one not give you anything and another. We're gonna have to play better as a group," he explained. (0:45)

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Arkansas was led by junior forward Adou Thiero's 17 points on an efficient 7-for-12 shooting clip. Unfortunately, however, the whole team after him shot just 32% collectively from the field. For John Calipari, the lackluster production from the team as a whole is something they'll closely work on as they prepare for their next opponent.

"Tomorrow will be our day for us. Friday, I'll work on the next opponent. Right now, we got to get better at how we're trying to play, and some of it's talking them (the team) through, showing them tape, some of it will be drilling them at what we're doing and why. But, we just go to play winning basketball," he detailed. (4:05)

Already looking at how to respond to losing a game he really had wanted to win, the 65-year-old tactician shared how hard the SEC is, having already coached in the league for years prior with the Kentucky Wildcats.

"I got work to do. I didn't think this would be easy, didn't think it would be this hard. But, it's hard. This league this year, it's hard. You got no breaks so we'll see what happens moving forward. I knew this would be a tough game but it was one that I said, 'All right, let's do this.' But, they were the better team today," John Calipari said. (6:48)

As conference play heats up further and further, John Calipari may need to retool his current Razorbacks game plan to have a shot at returning to the win column.

John Calipari believes his team will respond because they're "good kids"

When asked about how confident he is that the Razorbacks will bounce back from such a tough loss, John Calipari assured reporters that they will:

"They're all good kids. They're all working ... They don't like to be taken out but you're so exhausted, we'll probably start subbing a little bit earlier to give us a break and you got to count on the guys coming off the bench. That's why I'm saying to you, you got to have everyone giving you something," he expressed. (8:00)

The Arkansas Razorbacks return to action on Saturday, Jan. 12, when they host the AP No. 8-ranked Florida Gators on their home floor.

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Edited by John Maxwell
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