Carrying a 23-5 record and AP No. 6 ranking into Fayetteville, Ark., Saturday, it became clear rather quickly for Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari that his Wildcats were going to have their hands full against No. 18 Arkansas. Despite trailing by double-digits in the first half and having to default to Oscar Tshiebwe for a heavy portion of their production on the day, Kentucky still nearly squeezed out a victory before enduring a 75-73 loss to the Razorbacks.
On a day which Tshiebwe went off for 30 points — that was tied for a game-high with Arkansas’ JD Notae — three of Kentucky’s starters were held to three points or less in the loss. TyTy Washington (10) and Sahvir Wheeler (14) additionally ended the day in double-figures off the bench, but no other bench players were able to find the scoreboard. Tshiebwe, Washington, Wheeler and Keion Brooks accounted for 68 of Kentucky’s 73 points in the loss, and Calipari was quick to remind everyone postgame that even his best players are still human.
“They are not robots,” Calipari said of his team after the game. “They are not machines. And they did not play well. They didn’t. And there were a couple guys. Well, that hurts us. After I saw the start of the game, I said we’ll throw it to Oscar every single time in the game. If you’re timid and you don’t want to do stuff, throw it to him. Let him go. And that’s what we did.”
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Below is a full recap of everything Calipari had to say following the defeat.
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