John Calipari Wishes Loss to Florida 'Would Have Gone Faster'

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- With College GameDay in town for two ranked teams and an SEC regular-season title on the line, a 34-point differential was hardly what anyone expected between the Florida Gators and Arkansas Razorbacks.

Yet, that was exactly what happened, and as the seventh-ranked Gators built its lead, Hall-of-Fame Arkansas head coach John Calipari watched in agony.

“They took it to us," Calipari said. "Now, I will tell you that that certainly didn’t look like my team, the one I was coaching today.”

The 34-point drubbing matched Calipari's largest margin of defeat in his 34 years as a head coach, which includes his two seasons at Arkansas, 15 at Kentucky, nine at Memphis and eight at UMass. A 118-84 loss to Duke on Nov. 6, 2018, while Calipari was at Kentucky was his first 34-point loss.

“I wish it would have gone faster," he said.

The Florida Gators on Saturday clinched at least a share of its first SEC regular-season title. — The Florida Gators on Saturday clinched at least a share of its first SEC regular-season title since 2014. | Kyle Lander / Florida Gators on SI

As the score indicated, Florida utterly dominated for most of the game. Trailing 16-11 early in the first half, Florida eventually took a 19-point lead at half. Seven players scored in double figures for the first time since 2017, while the Gators out-rebounded Arkansas, 51-31. The win gave Florida at least a share of its first SEC regular-season title since 2014.

A win over Mississippi State on Tuesday would clinch the outright title over Alabama, while also continuing to push Florida towards a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

"We're playing for a lot still. We got a lot to still accomplish," UF head coach Todd Golden said. "This can't be the best thing that happened to us this year.

Not in the stat book of Florida's thrashing of Arkansas, its second-highest margin of victory in SEC play this year, was the sheer level of intensity inside Exactech Arena. As the intensity from the crowd of over 11,000 grew, so did the intensity on the court as Florida played aggressively in all facets of the game.

It also fed into the coaches as both Golden and Calipari were called for technical fouls after disagreements with the officials and jawing towards each other.

"Both of us were just coaching our team," said Golden, who joined Calipari as one of three head coaches to win an SEC regular-season title, SEC Tournament title and national championship in his first four years. "He's obviously a Hall of Fame head coach. He's an incredible coach. And we're just out there competing. I don't think either of us thought twice about it after it happened and it was a little bit part of the game tonight."

Florida head coach Todd Golden and Arkansas head coach John Calipari each receive technical fouls as things get spicy in Gainesville. 🏀🔥pic.twitter.com/CYoUAVyUkX
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 1, 2026

The win also gave Florida its ninth in a row and completed a perfect 8-0 record over February. Since its 5-4 start, the Gators have gone 18-2 and own the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, a result of owning the tiebreaker over Alabama. Still, Golden and the Gators know winning at least a share of the regular-season title cannot be the main goal, especially with a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament still up for grabs.

Florida has never had a No. 1 seed in the tournament in back-to-back seasons.

"Didn’t lose in February, got to try not to lose in March either,” Golden said.