Razorbacks May Not Have Been Ready for What Florida Was Bringing at Home

Hostile crowd lined up early to face Arkansas and John Calipari may have had an idea what they'd be facing and couldn't handle.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari against the Florida Gators during the second half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. | Travis Register-Imagn Images

Arkansas coach John Calipari saw what was coming before he even got into the gym Saturday afternoon against Florida.

The Gators' students and fans were lined up outside of Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Fla. Calipari has been there before and he knew the Razorbacks were going to face something they really hadn't seen this year.

He still didn't expect to see what happened, though, in a 111-77 loss. It's either the worst loss he's ever had as a coach or tied for it. Reports differ a little bit on that one, but it was clearly bad.

"This is not the team I've been coaching," he said later.

But he had been there before with some of his Kentucky teams and playing games that were huge. The Hogs haven't had an awful lot of that on the road this year. In maybe the biggest game they had against the Wildcats, Arkansas was kicked around Bud Walton Arena in an 85-77 loss.

Against a team many are saying will be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, the players knew that part. What they couldn't simulate was a hostile crowd. They haven't seen one like what they walked into down in Gainesville.

"It was a great atmosphere," Calipari said. "Students were in the rain, parked outside. I made sure my team saw it like this is you coming to town. This is what it's supposed to be like."

They played well for a few minutes, then folded up like a cheap lawn chair in a tornado.

"It was going to come back to our will versus their will, and if you stop playing, they keep moving their feet and put you in bad positions," Calipari said. "Yhey did that to us a bunch. We had some opportunities to rebound where they just beat us to a ball. It was us and them and they got it."

Part of it was shellshock for the Razorbacks. The other part was the Gators simply being better than anything the Hogs expected to see. By the time they got a feel for what was going on it was simply too late to do anything about it.

"Look, I've done this so long, stuff happens," Calipari said. "I told them we had a great February. We got two games left. Let's get out of here and go. I said it wasn't my team. I did tell some guys, you got to do some soul-searching and be honest with yourself. Why did you play the way you played?"

Oklahoma's Xzayvier Brown (1) and former Razorback now with Texas Tramon Mark (12) scramble for a loose ball in the second half of a game beween the Sooners and Longhorns at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

They have the chance Wednesday to flip the script. A Texas team that is reeling comes into Bud Walton Arena.

Since a lot of Arkansas fans love to hate the Longhorns more than they love to embrace the Hogs you can bet a similar situation could be at Bud Walton Arena. This time, though, it could be a situation that energizes the Razorbacks.

They'll be doing everything in their power to make Texas feel the way the Hogs felt down in Gainesville. That's basketball this time of the year.

Don't worry, though, Arkansas is probably squarely in the March Madness field for March. There is the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., but nothing they do there will keep them out of the biggest tournament.

Calipari is just hoping they play like the team he's coached all year. That one will be okay.