By Robert Lastella
If you thought that John Calipari’s team wouldn’t come to play in March, you thought wrong, as the 10-seeded Razorbacks marched into Providence and handed 7-seed Kansas their earliest NCAA tournament loss since 2006. As has been the story all year for Arkansas, it wasn’t perfect, but in the same way, they battled through their struggles earlier in the year, the Razorbacks fought in this game and came out on top with a 79-72 victory.
Arkansas found themselves trailing 67-64 with 3:55 to play and Kansas looked to be rolling with momentum, holding the Razorbacks without a bucket for over four minutes, however with 2:56 to play, Boogie Fland stole it away from Hunter Dickinson and went coast to coast, to bring UA within 1, 67-66. That bucket ignited a 7-0 run for Arkansas that flipped the game completely in their favor, as by the end of it a Johnell Davis triple had them leading 71-67 with 1:43 to play and forcing Bill Self into a timeout which was to no avail as Kansas was never able to tie or bring it within one over the final minute and change.
After their up-and-down season, doubts began to creep into Arkansas’ head, according to Calipari. For them to win this game, it required belief, something Cal had to instill in his players through his own actions.
“Every one of us, including me, had doubts and we all had to convince ourselves we’re going to do this. I had a card I read every morning and every night before I went to bed, and it said I've been blessed throughout my life. Forget basketball. I have been blessed. I'm gonna have a great attitude. I'm going to enjoy this journey and grow as a coach from it, I am going to make sure I keep an eye on my players, and let's write our own story. And then the end it said, Have faith. And I read it in the morning, and I read it when I walk my dog, which I do twice a day. I think he walks me, but I think I walk him, but I think it's the other way. And before I go to bed, I have it with me here, and to keep me in that frame of mind, if I want them in that frame of mind, I gotta be in that frame of mind,” Calipari said.
Arkansas got a diverse scoring effort against Kansas, getting 4 players in double figures and they were led by their big man Jonas Aidoo, who finished with 22 points and 5 rebounds, giving Hunter Dickinson everything he could handle in the paint. Outside of Aidoo, Johnell Davis finished with 18, including a big triple to give the Razorbacks a 4 point led with less than 2 minutes to play, as well as 4 free throws to put the game on ice, and DJ Wagner (14) and Trevon Brazile (11) both finished in double figures as well.
As mentioned, it wasn’t a perfect effort for the Razorbacks tonight, as they finished just 25% from beyond the arc, assisted on less than 50% of their field goals, and lost the rebound battle, but in March you need to find a way to win no matter the circumstances are and that is exactly what they did.
Aidoo played with a chip on his shoulder tonight for Arkansas and if you ask Aidoo, he’ll tell you the whole team has something to prove and they’re ready to do exactly that in the tournament.
“We all know we have something to prove. We went through a lot of adversity with injuries and missing players, we let a couple of games go. Starting 0-5 in the conference, so, you know, just all those things that helped us, you know, build our confidence, build our strength, and get us ready mentally for the rest of the season,” Aidoo said.
Next up for Arkansas will be a battle with Rick Pitino and Saint John’s, a game between two storied schools and coaches alike. The road to advancing as a 10 seed is never easy and Calipari’s Razorbacks will have to take down back-to-back hall-of-fame coaches and their teams if they want to keep their bounce-back season alive.
If you’re Arkansas you have to keep finding ways to improve even if that’s little by little, as the injuries have left the Razorbacks undermanned which makes practice reps less physical. That is why situations like Boogie Fland succeeding in a late-game scenario, going coast to coast with a steal and score is crucial, as if he can ramp up with in-game reps, it will only help the Razorbacks continue their run.
Calipari’s takeaway following this one and heading into the Round of 32 is that his squad learned something and although he didn’t elaborate on what that was, he noted that it will be good for his squad moving forward.
“We learned some stuff today, didn't we, boys? We learned some stuff today, and I told them after there's stuff going forward that’s good for us. This was a good win. That was an NCAA Tournament game, two teams battling out, making shots, making plays, and we kind of got away from them in the very end,” Calipari said.