GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Arkansas coach John Calipari needed DJ Wagner’s 3-pointer in the final minute to avoid the most lopsided loss of his career.
Still, Saturday night’s 34-point drop to No. 7 Florida matched Calipari’s worst margin of defeat in 34 years.
“Wait a minute. I had to have some of that my first year at UMass,” Calipari quipped after a 111-77 loss to the defending national champion Gators.
no A few 30-pointers, but nothing like this or Kentucky’s November 2018 loss to Duke. Calipari was coaching the Wildcats at the time.
“Look, I’ve done it this long, things happen,” Calipari said, in his second season at Arkansas after 15 years at Kentucky, nine at Memphis and eight at UMass. “I told them, ‘We’ve had a great February. We’ve got two games left. Let’s get out of here.’ I said it is not my party. Not the team I coached.
“But I told some people, ‘You need to do some soul searching and be honest with yourself. Why did you play the way you did?’ You can’t do anything else.”
It was a rout for most of the game, with Florida building an early double-digit lead, stretching it to 30 midway through the second half, and then celebrating at least a share of the Southeastern Conference title.
The biggest play was Calipari and Florida coach Todd Golden yelling at each other early in the second half and drawing a double-technical. Calipari’s assistants had to drag him from midcourt. Golden, meanwhile, turned and started to rage up the home crowd.
Both coaches said they couldn’t remember what started the exchange.
“Who knows? We’re both competitors,” Calipari said. “He did a great job. I can tell you: he outplayed me today.”
No. 20 Arkansas (21-8, 11-5 SEC) lost for just the second time in February. Seven Florida players scored in double figures as the Gators outshot the Razorbacks 51-31 and controlled the paint throughout.
“It’s going to come back to our will versus theirs,” said Calipari, who had won his six previous trips to Gainesville. “And if you stop the play, they move their feet and put you in bad positions. And they did that to us a bunch. We had some chances to rebound. They beat us by one ball. … They outshot us by 20. Come on. You’re not going to win that game. You’re not.
“I wish it had gone faster.”
Billy Richmond III led the Razorbacks with 22 points, including 14 in the first 15 minutes. Darius Acuff Jr., who leads the SEC in scoring and assists, finished with 17 points and six assists.
But forwards Travon Brazile, Nick Pringle and Malik Eun spent much of their time trying to defend Florida’s strong frontcourt of Thomas Huff, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinielu.
“They’re not afraid to throw you around,” Calipari said of Florida. “That’s how they play. You can’t play in this game if you avoid their contact. And we had a bunch of guys try to get to the sideline and then back and back. You can’t play that way.”
