John Calipari starts 0-4 in SEC play for first career amid Arkansas’ struggles | News, results, highlights, stats and rumours

The Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball team’s struggles continued on Tuesday night as they fell 78-74 to the LSU Tigers on the road.

That dropped Arkansas to 11-6 overall and 0-4 in SEC play on the season, and according to BR hangersmarked the first time in his career that head coach John Calipari started an SEC slate with an 0-4 record.

The Razorbacks went an impressive 11-2 in non-conference games, but have since taken losses against Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida and LSU, putting them all alone in last place in the SEC standings.

While Calipari is in the middle of his first season at Arkansas, he has been a major college head coach for 33 seasons and has been in the SEC since 2009.

Coach Cal enjoyed tremendous success during his 15-year run at SEC power Kentucky, going 410-123 with 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, six SEC regular season titles, six SEC Tournament titles, four trips to the Final Four and a national championship.

Calipari’s one national title came in his third season at Kentucky in 2012, and although he came close several times, he was unable to reach the top of the college basketball mountain again.

The final few seasons of Calipari’s Kentucky tenure saw the Wildcats go from a perennial SEC power to a team that was no longer dominant.

Kentucky did not win an SEC title of any kind during Calipari’s last four seasons, and while they reached the NCAA Tournament three times during that stretch, they had two first-round exits and one second-round elimination.

Calipari seemingly struggled to adjust to the one-and-done nature of college basketball as he consistently put together top-notch recruiting classes, only to see his best players leave after one season in most cases.

With the Wildcats unable to retain quality players over multiple seasons, it was difficult to create continuity and a team capable of contending for championships.

The 65-year-old Calipari made the somewhat surprising decision to leave Kentucky for SEC foe Arkansas at the end of the 2023-24 season, instantly making the Razorbacks a destination.

Sore 247 SportsArkansas had the no. 4 overall recruiting class in college basketball this season, and the No. 1 transfer class.

Arkansas already has, too no. 4 overall class for 2025, landing commitments from two 5-star recruits and one 4-star.

Strong recruiting initially appeared to pay dividends for Calipari and the Razorbacks, but their slide at the start of SEC play suggests Coach Cal could run into some of the same problems he had at Kentucky.

Still, Arkansas has undeniable talent and a chance to turn things around, even in what might be the toughest conference in college basketball.

The Razorbacks beat then-No. 14 Michigan and lost by single digits to then-No. 23 Ole Miss and no. 8 Florida, so they have been competitive against top teams.

Junior Adou Thiero and freshman Boogie Fland have led the way for Arkansas this season, combining to average over 30 points per game. game, but no other Razorbacks player is averaging more than 10.4 points per game. game, suggesting that Calipari needs more out of his supporting cast.

Calipari’s next opportunity to make his SEC debut at Arkansas comes Saturday when the Razorbacks take on the Missouri Tigers.

A win in that game could go some way toward getting Arkansas on track, but the games only get tougher from there, as the Razorbacks still have to go up against No. 23 Georgia, no. 8 Kentucky, no. 4 Alabama, no. 11 Texas A&M, no. 1 Auburn and no. 15 Mississippi State.