Feb 1, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope reacts to the action during the second half against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images
Kentucky basketball suffered an upset loss to Arkansas on Saturday night in John Calipari’s homecoming to Rupp Arena, falling 89-79. After the opening few minutes, the Wildcats never really looked the same. A 12-4 lead early turned into a run by Arkansas, and it was mostly a game of trading baskets. The Razorbacks shot an unusual 13-25 from the field, making 9 of those in just the first half. Kentucky never regained the lead in the second half, and a lot of the slippage can be pointed to rotation issues.
Especially with the guards, Lamont Butler being out with injury right now is leading the Kentucky staff to figure out the right rotation. As far as rotation players go, Collin Chandler played 17 minutes, which is much more than he usually plays, and Travis Perry played eight minutes. With Andrew Carr back from injury and playing full minutes for the first time in a couple of games, that led to no minutes for Trent Noah on Saturday, who provided a huge spark in Kentucky’s win at #8 Tennessee, to not see a minute of action. Kentucky’s three starting guards all played 29 minutes or more. Jaxson Robinson played 34 minutes, Otega Oweh saw 31 minutes, and Koby Brea played 29 minutes.
Mark Pope says they are trying to figure out the rotation with what they have right now, and he wished he had started the rotation earlier against Arkansas than he did. Fatigue caught up to Kentucky’s guards, especially.
“I thought Andrew (Carr) made some steps forward tonight. I was proud of him. It’s the first time he ever had any contact in the game where you could feel his presence a little bit. And yeah, trying to figure out this guard rotation right now. Normally I’ve gone to sub one of these three (starting) guards out to start the rotation earlier. There was a little bit of high intensity to this game but it was a little bit slower pace wise. I thought we could withstand it. I probably needed to start that rotation a little bit earlier. It did feel like we ended up with three tired guys all at the same time. That’s hard. …With (Andrew Carr) coming back and Ansley (Almonor) playing so well, I wonder if there is some space for Trent, actually at the three and I think that something to explore as we kind of reconfigure everything we are doing right now on the fly. He’s played well and there’s definitely space for him and it’s my job to find the right space.”
– Pope on Kentucky’s rotation vs Arkansas.
Kentucky made some subs, but it wasn’t until the 12-minute mark in the first half they had a backcourt sub. After leading 18-12 with just under 15 minutes to go in the half, that was when Arkansas made some ground, and stuck with Kentucky from then on, leading at halftime, and then when the Wildcats started flat in the second half, they had to play catch up for the rest of the game. Arkansas had the answers when Kentucky wanted to fight back.
Published 1 Minute Ago|Modified 1:26 PM EST
