Calipari on Ark. fans’ ovation: ‘Have not lost a game’

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterOct 26, 2024, 01:55 AM ET Close Covers college basketball
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

As John Calipari got in Bud Walton Arena for his very first game at Arkansas on Friday night, the home crowd erupted as the 1990s Chicago Bulls intro music played in the background.Although No. 16 Arkansas’85-69 win over No. 1 Kansas was a charity exhibition, the buzz surrounding the coach’s arrival in Fayetteville– after a prolonged stint at Kentucky– was palpable.But Calipari downplayed Friday’s ovation, which he got from the 19,200 fans who participated in the sold-out affair.”I have not lost a game,”he said about the crowd’s favorable

reaction.Though both groups were short-handed– Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo didn’t play for Arkansas, and Hunter Dickinson and Alabama transfer Rylan Griffen were both out for Kansas– Friday marked a brand-new chapter for Calipari and Arkansas. His rocky exit at Kentucky unfolded after he followed a nationwide title run in 2012 and a string of Last 4 looks with multiple first-round exits in the NCAA competition.< img height="320"width ="570 "src ="https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/42007928/

“/ > Although Arkansas ‘win over Kansas on Friday night was a charity exhibition, the buzz surrounding coach John Calipari’s first game at Bud Walton Arena was palpable. Nelson Chenault/Imagn Images

However he regrouped rapidly at Arkansas, where first-class prospect Boogie Fland, previous Kentucky guard D.J. Wagner and veteran Johnell Davis, a standout for Florida Atlantic in the 2023 Final Four, anchor his brand-new squad.Wagner and Fland combined to score 46 points against a Kansas group that showed up without two of its finest players. But Arkansas has actually also dealt with numerous injuries; Calipari stated his group has been unable to hold complete practices for the previous two weeks.”We’ve played against [graduate assistants],”Calipari stated after the game, which helped raise cash for a pair of kids’s medical facilities in the groups ‘respective communities.Although his Kansas team struggled( 7-for-23 from 3 )in the four-quarter exhibit, Jayhawks coach Costs Self said he was not worried about the result because of his team’s workers challenges.But he included he was uncertain he would deal with a better backcourt this season than the one Arkansas boasts. He likewise said Calipari’s 2024-25 Razorbacks might be one of the most talented teams of his career.” I really believe this team is much better than a few of the ones he’s had at Kentucky,”Self said.”We have actually played them at least every other year for the last 10 years.

There were a number of [Kentucky] groups that were elite, elite, elite. This group, to me, has an opportunity to be fantastic and maybe more skilled than a few of the groups that [Calipari] had at Kentucky. Not all of them, but a few of them. I think they have a real possibility.”Calipari stated that analysis may be premature. “I actually believe this team is much better than some of the ones he’s had at Kentucky. … There were a couple of [Kentucky] groups that were elite, elite,

elite. This group, to me, has an opportunity to be great and perhaps more gifted than a few of the teams that [Calipari] had at Kentucky. Not all of them, but some of them. “ Kansas coach Costs Self”That’s really early to make that statement,” he said in reaction to Self’s comments.”Very early to make that statement.” But the energy in the crowd,

and the promise within the roster, was clear Friday, with a success over the No. 1 group in America in his first game as the brand-new Arkansas coach.”All I know is when you have really great guards, you usually have a truly excellent team, “Calipari said.