Calipari, Arkansas have ‘heart-to-heart’ after loss
Feb 15, 2025, 05:08 PM ET COLLEGE STATION, Texas– Arkansas coach John Calipari took a seat with his group after its 69-61 loss to No. 8 Texas A&M Saturday for a “heart-to-heart.”
The Hall of Popularity coach wanted the Razorbacks to understand that they let a significant opportunity escape with the defeat.
“For us to bust through, we’re going to need to beat someone,” he said. “We can say what we want, [however] I wanted to ensure they weren’t happy [believing] we’re going to be okay. No, if we won that game … we remain in the competition.”
He then repeated that sentence before raising his voice.Editor’s Picks
“So, it’s not okay to say we’ll be all right,” he wailed. “Now you’re going to have to go get someone else.”
Calipari, who has actually taken six teams to the Last 4, knows that his Razorbacks will need a signature win to even reach the tournament in his very first season at the school.It isn’t an
simple task playing in the Southeastern Conference, where 5 teams are ranked in the leading 10 of the AP Top 25 poll, consisting of the top three.Saturday’s loss
to A&M dropped Arkansas to 15-10 overall and 4-8 in league play.The game was tied with about 10 minutes left Saturday before the Aggies utilized a 9-0 run to pull away in the success. This defeat came a week after the Razorbacks suffered a four-point loss to No. 3 Alabama.”Usually you say you are what your record says you are,”Calipari stated.”But in this league, the way this is, you just got to get it addressing the right time and I thought we did. Alabama, they’re really good. This team is truly excellent. Think what? We had an opportunity at both of them, however we didn’t [win]”As for if he thinks he got through to his team with his postgame talk, Calipari said just time will tell. “I needed to say it, and then they got to respond to it,” he stated.
“It wasn’t imply, I wasn’t cussing, I wasn’t shouting. Was [like] appearance, do you understand this was the game? So, it’s not OK. This was it, and you had your opportunity.” Arkansas will not have to wait wish for a possibility at
another signature win. The Razorbacks see top-ranked Auburn Wednesday night.