Everything John Calipari Said after Losing Double OT Game at Alabama

No. 25 Alabama and No. 20 Arkansas played in an epic two-overtime game inside Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday night. Despite a 49-point performance from Razorback freshman phenom Darius Acuff Jr., the Crimson Tide prevailed 117-115 in double overtime.

Arkansas head coach John Calipari spoke with the media after the game. Here's everything he had to say:

Full transcript

How did the foul trouble make things difficult, especially in overtime?

"It makes it hard. I don't want to talk about the fouls and all that just because I don't want to get in trouble. Give Alabama credit. They fought until the very end. Give my team credit. They fought. I told them after, 'I'm proud of you. You fought.' Never gave up. We had a chance right down until the end."

On Alabama's offensive success in second half and OT...

"We were not staying in front of people. You have a guy, we kept saying, 'He likes going left.' And he kept going left. And he kept going left. And they kept calling fouls. And he kept going left. So we know. They tried to switch up the pick-and-roll stuff to try and slow Darius down. I think he had 50, so I don't know, I mean... They did some good stuff. We had to adjust. We had to put Billy and stuff. Fouling guys out–– that's going to hurt this team. And you know that–– everybody watching teh game, doing the game. You call a lot of fouls like that, you know, rough, rough game. We're gonna be down two, and the rent is due."

Karter Knox and Isaiah Sealy both missed the game with injury. How much did that affect depth?

"I don't want to do that because they beat us, and they deserved to win the game."

Updates on Knox and Sealy?

"I'm going to wait until we get back. When we get back and find out. I don't want to say something that's not truly accurate."

On Darius Acuff's performance...

"He was in a boot for two days and still did that. I said, 'Do you think you might have to miss this game?' And he said, 'Are you nuts?' He doesn't care–– hurt, whatever it is. He was in a boot for two days."

How difficult is to play against Alabama's pace?

"At halftime, we had 11 points in transition, they had two. We're really fast, too. We've got two really fast teams."

On Meleek Thomas' performance

"Meleek Thomas, too, and then he got in foul trouble. Again, it was a mucked up kinda game. I'm shoving you into the screen, and I'm moving, and you're fighting for your life to get through stuff. You know, that's what the game ended up being. You could either accept getting nudged and the guy moving on it, or you fight like heck. And they did. You've got to give them credit. The kids fought. Got us in some foul trouble, but you had no choice. You had to fight for your life."

How did Alabama slow down Arkansas in second half?

"Well, they started saying, 'We're gonna put guards in these pick-and-rolls and anything, so we can swtich and at least stay in front.' That's what they were trying to do. But again, we shot 3s. We make more 3s than they made. We make more field goals than they make. We only have seven turnovers. They out-rebounded us by a few. Both of us, we have six blocks, they have one, and you get beat."

On Jaden Karuletwa and Elmir Džafić getting late minutes because of foul trouble...

"It wasn't fair for them. There's times they're not playing in practice. To get in the game... and I told Jaden, if you're open, shoot it."

On Acuff...

"His body language, his ability to make everybody better, his will to win and make big baskets. Like, he thrives in that, and there's not many. And I've coached some really good guards over the years, and I've had a few this way, but he's right there with 'em. I'm just telling you, he's unique and special. I would imagine everybody saw it today. But, you know, it was a good game.