Frustrated John Calipari after Arkansas gets "hit in the mouth" by Illinois: "Didn't do a very good job"
Arkansas coach John Calipari was not pleased with his team's performance in their 90-77 loss to unranked Illinois on Thursday night. In the Thanksgiving Hoops Showcase at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, the Razorbacks were outmatched by the Fighting Illini, who controlled the game from the start.
Illinois came out of the gates firing, jumping out to a 12-0 lead to open the game. Brad Underwood's men continued to pour it on, leading 49-34 going into the break. Although the Razorbacks fought back in the second half, they were unable to overcome the deficit.
John Calipari addressed the media after the Thanksgiving loss and was frustrated with the slow start from his team.
"You have to give Illinois credit. They came in and literally played to win the game, and we kind of went in to try to show my stuff," Calipari said. "We didn't do a very good job, did we? We left corners. We don't ever leave corners. I mean, literally left corners and they made them.
"Again, you got to give them credit — they had great motion, they were creating switches, and we didn't rotate fast enough," he added. "But, there's a lot to learn from this. I'll be honest — getting hit in the mouth like this, you got to play a certain way ... we didn't create enough 3s because we didn't find people ... and there were opportunities."
Arkansas only had 17 attempts from the 3-point line and made only five compared to Illinois, which went 15-of-31 from the deep.
Analyst breaks down issues in John Calipari's approach against top teams
John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks have struggled to find their rhythm against top-tier opponents this season. They started the campaign 5-2, with their two losses coming against No. 17 Baylor and Illinois.
In both of those defeats, the Razorbacks found themselves on the wrong end of double-digit deficits in the first half.
Matt Jones — a Kentucky Sports Radio host — posted a tweet after Arkansas' poor performance against Illinois on Thursday and compared the game to those of Calipari's Kentucky teams in the last few years.
"This Arkansas game is literally every neutral site UK game against a decent team of the last 5 years of the Calipari era. Same consistent 10 point deficit…same giving up open threes…same long twos…same lack of Offense on key possessions," Jones wrote.
The Razorbacks will play another struggling team, the Miami Hurricanes, next in the ACC-SEC Challenge at the Watsco Center on Dec. 3.