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John Calipari’s team fought, but ultimately choked away a prime SEC Tournament opportunity vs. Ole Miss
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John Calipari can continue to say that he doesn’t care about the SEC Tournament. Fine.
But if you think the Arkansas coach wasn’t gutted to watch Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla drill a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in Thursday’s SEC Tournament thriller, well, you’re lying. If for no other reason than wanting see his depleted team pull out a gritty, resilient win, Calipari was gutted. Believe that.
Arkansas choked away a chance at not having to sweat out Selection Sunday. You can argue that the Hogs, who entered the second-round matchup as a 9-seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, had already locked in that bid by beating South Carolina on Wednesday to avoid another loss to the 16-seeded Gamecocks. Time will tell. What can’t be argued is that the Hogs blew a prime opportunity to sleep even easier going into Selection Sunday.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Calipari’s team missed free throws in a crucial moment and then allowed a clutch bucket in the final seconds.
OK, so that wasn’t exactly the Memphis-Kansas National Championship all over again. Those legacy-defining stakes were a bit different than an 8-9 matchup in the conference tournament.
Still, though. Trevon Brazile, a 58% free-throw shooter, missed a pair of free throws to potentially take the lead for Arkansas in the final 8 seconds. That set up the ensuing triple from Pedulla, who up to that point looked more like an ally in Arkansas’ furious comeback attempt than a last-second hero for Ole Miss.
Welcome to March.
Calipari knows it all too well. His team entered the day with only a 7-man rotation available, and between Jonas Aidoo fouling out (on a very debatable 5th foul call) and Zvonimir Ivisic limited with a thumb injury, an already banged-up roster was on its last leg in those final minutes. But don’t get it twisted. That’s not an excuse for fouling on a shot up 3 with 20 seconds to play, nor is it an excuse for the missed free throws or the extra air space that Pedulla got for that game-winning shot.
As Jay Bilas said on the broadcast, Arkansas has been an unrecognizable team from half to half. It overcame a 15-point deficit and looked like it would’ve been a real thorn in 1-seed Auburn’s side if it could’ve won on Thursday. Of course, that assumes that Calipari would’ve been able to field a 5-man rotation for its 3rd game in as many days. But it also showed the side that’s been at the forefront of a herky-jerky first season in Fayetteville.
The bad? It’s real bad.
Thursday’s bad wasn’t “get run out of the gym by South Carolina” bad, but it was a reminder why Calipari’s teams haven’t been for the faint of heart in the 2020s. Yes, that includes those Kentucky teams. As in, the ones who won just 1 SEC Tournament game in the 2020s.
Ah, but remember. Calipari “doesn’t care” about the SEC Tournament.
Perhaps there’s a method to Calipari’s madness. His comments reflect that he’d rather his team not tense up and instead of treating the conference tournament like an all-or-nothing experience. His sideline demeanor reflects… uh, not that. It’s been the biggest knock on him during his decline in the 2020s. At Kentucky, Calipari was criticized for having too short a leash with players. If those UK teams in the 2020s — the ones that won just 1 NCAA Tournament game — had a eulogy, that sentiment would’ve been an annual staple.
You couldn’t exactly apply that knock to Thursday’s showing because Calipari was a turned ankle away from going full Norman Dale in the final few minutes (I hope everyone reading this knows that’s a “Hoosiers” reference). But for whatever reason, March’s unkind ways continued for Calipari.
He’s right that his team will ultimately be defined by how it performs in the NCAA Tournament, assuming it makes the field. He’ll have to wait 3 days to find out about that.
But Thursday felt like a chance for Calipari’s squad to continue what’s been an impressive 6 weeks. A stretch that began with his ultimate revenge victory in Lexington was part of an 8-4 stretch entering Thursday. Falling behind 9-0 early to Ole Miss and rallying back to advance to the quarterfinals would’ve felt like a microcosm for a season that began with an 0-5 mark to SEC play.
Instead, though, it served as a reminder that nothing has come easy for Calipari since the turn of the decade. Nothing was going to come easy for anyone in a historically deep SEC Tournament field. In all likelihood, whatever roster that Arkansas had left for Friday would’ve been climbing uphill against a rested Auburn squad. Calipari and Arkansas fans can spin Thursday’s loss as a chance to get healthier — getting its 2 leading scorers back might not be in the cards unless a deep March run awaits — and go into the NCAA Tournament with more late-game experience after what it endured vs. Ole Miss.
Call me crazy, but Calipari would’ve cared if his team closed out Thursday’s thriller instead of choking it away.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
