All Hogs

Live Reaction: No. 15 Arkansas Razorbacks vs. Kentucky Wildcats

On the fly observations of one of SEC's biggest rivalries as John Calipari, Mark Pope square off
Kent Smith|
Former Kentucky coach and current Arkansas coach John Calipari hugs Wildcats coach Mark Pope before the game Saturday Feb. 1, 2025 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
Former Kentucky coach and current Arkansas coach John Calipari hugs Wildcats coach Mark Pope before the game Saturday Feb. 1, 2025 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Kentucky WildcatsArkansas Razorbacks

Welcome to this evening's live reaction blog of the Arkansas Razorbacks' SEC battle with the Kentucky Wildcats. This will update live and often as there are actions worth a reaction with video available when possible.

The relatively consistent Hogs are currently second in the conference standings while trying to keep pace with a Texas A&M team that blew up on Georgia late in the noon game today. Meanwhile, Kentucky is a bit streaky.

Pope's team most recently ran off five straight before getting throttled in Nashville by Vanderbilt without the Commodores' second best player, Duke Miles, on the floor. Pope looks to avoid hitting a losing streak, but to do so will require keeping them from going on one of their patented cold streaks to start the game that has plagued the Wildcats the past several weeks.

Kentucky Has Clear Weakness Arkansas Must Capitalize Upon

Currently, Calipari and Pope have the exact same record since arriving at their current schools. Both even went to the Sweet 16 last year while Arkansas and Kentucky are dead even this decade at 4-4 after the Hogs' upset in Rupp Arena last season.

The great equalizer will be Bud Walton Arena. That will be the first thing we look at just before tip-off to get a feel for how this is going to play out.

Arkansas fans are usually solid for most games, although ticketing practices as of late have hurt the atmosphere quite a bit, but when it comes to Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee and Kentucky, along with any blue bloods that might wander through from out of conference, the arena tends to go as close to old school craziness as can happen in this era.

The building is its own opponent when it comes to these games. Duke lost to what was Eric Musselman's worst team by a mile simply because the Blue Devils couldn't handle 20,000 people losing their minds and willing them to an inexplicable loss.

Early observations

It should be noted that it's been in the teens for most of the day in Northwest Arkansas today with lots of leftover snow and ice hanging around making for cold, slippery conditions. Will be interesting to see how the line for student tickets plays out.

They will be there, but will they warm back up enough for the beginning of the game?

Former Arkansas Razorback Blake Eddins is bringing back an truly old school tradition. Nolan Richardson used to wear cowboy boots during games back when the Hogs first entered the SEC and let Kentucky know it was immediately second tier in a conference it had dominated forever.

The Hogs marched into Rupp and crushed the Wildcats, 105-88. Arkansas won three of the first four games, three of which were in Lexington because the conference used to let Kentucky host the SEC Tournament.

Well, it looks like our first question has been answered. Even though Arkansas fans can't see it because they are scrambling around trying to find the Hogs on the ESPN App since the network refuses to schedule games properly, Bud Walton is rocking already.

It's ridiculous that fans have to do this literally every game. Either schedule the game for 6 p.m. or spread out the ownership among multiple networks. They refuse to do it because they don't want to pay analysts to to speak for a few minutes between games. They would rather fans just miss the beginning over and over.

Well, we knew two things for sure.
1) Kentucky was going to try to get off to a hot start because their cold shooting at the beginning of games has made things difficult as of late.
2) Arkansas is weak on defense in the paint, so that is where the Wildcats were likely to attack.

Well, despite this obvious knowledge, the Wildcats are off to a hot start, up 14-5, after attacking, get this, in the paint. The Hogs look like they didn't expect this effort or to see a fight come at them in the paint. Hard to comprehend, but Arkansas now chasing with Darius Acuff looking a little off. Have to wonder if the Hogs will settle down.

Arkansas fans left to channel hop again. For any of those of you who are lost, it went back to ESPN.

Out of the timeout, Brazile hit a three, but Oweh went back down the floor, attacking the paint, and put Kentucky back on the board with a response in literally just a few seconds.

Just consider it a reverse Vanderbilt. Hogs have no interior defense.

Acuff is ice cold, 0-for-5 right now and Kentucky can't miss. A three has the Wildcats up by 13. Arkansas responds, but gets beat again in the paint, unable to stop the offensive rebound. It's looking brutal for the Hogs down low. It's not on Acuff to save them. The rest of the team will need to pull it together and also remember how defense works to pull this out. Otherwise, this is going to get ugly real quick.

In a repeat of last season, veteran guard DJ Wagner comes in and immediately settles the game. Hogs rip off a quick 4-0 run, look immediately better on defense and Wagner also draws a foul against Kentucky. Wagner brings a much different dimension to the game. He is a better attacking guard. He is either going to score or put teams in foul trouble. No longer a double-digit lead at 26-17.

Brazile caught a little bit of the heat as well.

Wagner drives in and throws a perfect lob to Richmond. The veteran is bringing energy back into the building and for the first time all game the Hogs feel like they have a shot. Even Acuff catches the juice and hits a jumper. He follows that by missing a free throw, but made the second lay-up in as many tries on a great tip pass from Ewin. Kentucky might want to stop and think about it.

Richmond has already passed his season average with nine points. He caught it at the three-point line, took a step inside, then suddenly turned into a dust devil, spinning his way quickly to the rim to cut it to four at 29-25.

Acuff follows, trying to keep up the pressure, by attacking the rim. The problem is he isn't as aggressive as Wagner, so instead of drawing the foul, the ball gets knocked out of bounds. Now, instead of shooting free throws and making the defender even more nervous, Mark Pope challenges, wins, and it's Kentucky ball. He can't be scared of contact.

Wagner attacks the paint, goes high off the glass, then Richmond draws a double-team, so he throws one up to Ewin who catches it behind him and tomahawks it to cut the lead to three. Richmond is having a monster game and Ewin is starting to find his place on the team as well. Big news for the Hogs.

Kentucky is missing a lot down low. Somehow they can't make lay-ups. However, the Hogs just can't block anyone out, so they are getting worked on the glass. They block a shot every now and then, but they can't keep expecting Oweh, Moreno and Dioubate to keep missing shots up close. Although, Wagner tried to block out Moreno and he bent him over from behind, literally, then went over him to snatch the rebound with no foul called.

Kentucky starting hot from three. Perhaps they fall in love with it and go cold, but it has bailed them out after missing several shots in the paint. Although Trent Noah just popped onto the floor, nailed a three and then told the student section to get quiet. Students came back at him with choice words while Oweh missed a three instead of driving inside.

Kentucky has quietly stretched the lead back out to 37-29. Arkansas not only needs to chip away at that during this last 1:39 in the half, but need to get over 30 points for mental purposes.

Speaking of mental purposes, the players are losing their cool and there's a lot of shoving and jawing. Brazile started it with a light shove of Oweh. Then he starts jawing at Richmond, then Ewin before he slaps away hands.

They get them broken up, but Richmond and Ewin each get a technical foul. It's only the first foul on Richmond, but Ewin's second, which could come up later. Apparently it was all over Oweh being in the way of giving the customary hand slap to the free throw shooter, although, to be fair, Oweh was standing in the top block right next to the shooter on the free throw, so his step in the lane was going to do that no matter what.

Kentucky gets a quick basket after all that posturing, then Chandler gets Wagner in the air with 35 seconds left, hits the jumper and the free throw and all the work the Hogs have put in has melted away with an extreme lack of focus to close the half. Wildcats up 42-33.

Kentucky leads at the half on the road for the first time all year. The Hogs lacked discipline and it's showing on scoreboard.

Arkansas shouldn't be leading, but the lack of toughness shown by the Razorbacks in the paint and the inability to lock down after a made basket has the gap much larger than it should be. Arkansas is way more athletic, but every time the Hogs remember, Kentucky lulls them into forgetting.

Can Arkansas win? Yes. Will they win? Not without an attitude adjustment.
They have to get into the Wildcats' heads and Oweh and Moreno have each had moments that show it can be done.

2nd Half observations: 42-35

Kentucky goes right back to the paint and Moreno hits an easy baby hook to start the half, showing the Hogs learned nothing at the half. The good news for Arkansas is Acuff went down and hit a quick basket, so that's a good sign, but Pringle becomes the second Hog to intentionally get a hard bump on a Kentucky player, but first to get called, although the announcers think it was a bad call.

Acuff is heating up now. He drives at Chandler and chips him before his high floater gets blocked on the way down. He got just enough contact to draw the foul, although you'd like to see him get it a little more solid to be sure and gets the the goal tending call. If he can get hot and somehow find a way to play defense somewhere, Arkansas can get this under control before the next timeout.

Every time the Razorbacks chip the score down low, they lose focus for a second and the Wildcats make them pay. Get this, it's usually in the paint. Kentucky has scored 32 points in the paint so far. They only have 51 points.

The Hogs lure Garrison into a technical foul where he decided to push Acuff with his legs while Acuff was on the ground and then look down on him and talk trash as Acuff made his way up. At first it looked like it might be on Oweh, which would have meant he was done. The mind game is going to be big the rest of the way.

Now a tech on Dioboute, but this one doesn't make sense. He blocked Acuff's shot, then went crotch first at a camera, although not on purpose, talking trash to it. Acuff was several feet away and not a target. Kentucky fans must be furious. That's three Wildcats who have a chance to be gone with a tech, and now we've got a tech on Mark Pope following a 10-second violation call where his players didn't get the ball across the line.

He said something with a little bite as the referee was about to be past him while he ranted and now it's a 50-51 Kentucky lead that Richmond immediately erases by powering his way down the lane against five Wildcats and he stuffed it home with all but one left behind at his back. Kentucky was pouting and Richmond was scoring. First lead of the night for the Hogs.

Kentucky snatches the lead back, but Oweh picks up his third foul, which is something to watch, then Acuff rocks Oweh to sleep and drills a three over him, then he drives to his right and burns a pair of Wildcats to put the Hogs up 57-53. He has 13 in this half after a rocky first half. If he can lock in on defense, this one may swing in the Razorbacks' favor fast. Arkansas on a 10-2 run.

Acuff is wobbling around like his ankle might be bothering him. Will be something to watch.

Final 10 minutes

It became clear heading into what would be the fourth quarter that free throw shooting is going to be a big deal in this game. The refs are ready to blow the whistle for anything. That's a huge problem for Arkansas. We mentioned a week or two ago that free throw shooting needed to be a focus in practice. It may have been, but if so, there has been no improvement. Hogs are terrible at the line tonight. Currently 12-of-20 overall, but only shooting 54% this half.

Kentucky just got to shoot six free throws without a single second going off the clock, which has allowed the lead to drift out to 68-63. Then the Wildcats went at an Arkansas team that is uneasy about being aggressive on defense now for an easy bucket and it's a 7-0 run.

It's not looking likely for the Razorbacks. Kentucky is going to win if this becomes a free throw shooting contest. However, Brazile slices to the glass and leaves a pile of players in his wake while he knocks it down high off the glass. Ref swallowed his whistle on that one. Odd choice the way this has been called.

Acuff drives to the rim to cut it to three. He used his arm to shield off the defender which is something the referees aren't picking up on yet.

Can't help but notice it's Tennesse and Auburn's turn to try to chase their game around the network and the app. There has to be some way to force them to schedule either a two-hour and 30 minute window or at least a two-hour and 15 minute window. They know there is absolutely no way a game is going to wrap in two hours. It's bad service that shows they don't care about viewers.

Just put them all on YouTube and be done with it. No worrying about games running over there.

With Kentucky up by seven with 2:30 to play, it feels over. Arkansas keeps fouling and failing to get rebounds so the Wildcats are getting multiple possessions. There's just not enough time in the game to come back from that. Plus the Hogs are cold right now.

Earlier this week there was talk that former President Clinton might show up similar to how he used to stop by in 1994. However, he may have seen the free throw shooting and checked the temps and decided it wasn't going to be worth it the day before.

Let's consider it over and wrap this up. The Razorbacks have to learn that some nights they will come out cold. In that case, they have to attack the rim, draw fouls, hit free throws, be obsessive about rebounds and play clean defense. They can pull out tough wins if they do that.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. It was quite the opposite and the Wildcats were able to drag the lead back out to double digits. This is the exact opposite of how things played out last year. Now it's all about how the Hogs respond to their first loss in Bud Walton this year.

It's certain an attention getter that should clear away any illusions of being better than this team actually is. Egos should be left at the door from this point forward.

The Hogs get a couple of softer games coming up, although Josh Hubbard can be a bit of a nightmare in Starkville. Then Arkansas hits a stretch of four games that includes Auburn, a road trip to Alabama and SEC leader Texas A&M. When those couple of weeks pass, Calipari will know what kind of team he has.

It will be clear whether this will be another quick exit of a Calipari team or whether there's a mental constitution that will allow the Hogs to go on a run.

Final Score: Kentucky 85, Arkansas 77

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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