While John Calipari believes he ought to "do a better job", Arkansas coach is "not cracking" despite fourth consecutive SEC loss 

For the first time in John Calipari's coaching career, he has lost the first four games of conference play for his team. Despite this current situation with Arkansas, he refuses to crack.

The Razorbacks suffered their latest defeat to the LSU Tigers by a 78-74 score on Tuesday, falling to 0-4 in SEC play after previous losses to Tennessee, Ole Miss and Florida. However, Calipari remains focused on winning games as he refuses to let the setbacks break him.

“I thought we played more joy than we have. I know I coached that way. Like I said, I got to do a better job and I told them after the game, 'I’m not cracking'", Calipari said postgame. "So let’s just keep going. Let’s get ready for the next one, we got a day off tomorrow, in two days. And Missouri on the road, another road game."

John Calipari trying to recreate winning success he had at Kentucky

Arkansas may still have an 11-6 record which is on pace to be an improvement from last year's 16-17 finish, but the 0-4 start in conference play is far from the standard John Calipari set for himself at Kentucky, not counting his other stops.

For 15 seasons, he led the Wildcats to a 410-123 record (198-65 in league play) as they made the NCAA Tournament 12 times. This includes one national championship in 2012, one national runner-up finish, four Final Four appearances, and three Elite Eight runs.

He'll have to figure out how to translate that success over to Arkansas, who haven't reached the mountaintop since 1994. The furthest they've gotten in the 21st century was in 2021 and 2022 when they made back-to-back runs to the Elite Eight. As for their time in the SEC, they are still searching for their first conference tournament title since 2000 and their first regular season title since 1994.

Arkansas is currently averaging 78.1 points on 47.9% shooting from the field and 34.3% from beyond the arc, beating teams by a margin of 10.5 points per game. Adou Thiero leads the way with 16.7 ppg and 6.0 rpg, while Boogie Fland follows closely with 15.7 ppg, 5.7 apg and 3.4 rpg.

Looking for their first win in SEC play, John Calipari and the Razorbacks face the Missouri Tigers next at Mizzou Arena on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. ET.