The No. 21 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks survived a scare on Tuesday night, as they eked out an 84-83 win at home against Winthrop, and head coach John Calipari thinks they have to get back to the basics – like, the basics of basics.
“I think we’re going to do eighth grade s—,” Calipari said after the game about changes he may need to make. “We’re going to go eighth grade. You got to pass it five or six times. Coach [Bob] Knight had a lot of fun doing that. That’s how they played. The ball’s moving, you’re screening … I’m not talking about in transition. You know, in transition, we’re as good as anybody in the country, but until you rebound better and defend [it’s not going to matter] …
“It’s almost like I got to draw stuff up to get them to go from one side of the court to the other to do it. It’s on me. It’s not on them, so I got a lot of work to do.”
This win came after a mere four-point victory at home over Samford. The Razorbacks’ two other wins this season have come against Southern University (109-77) and Central Arkansas (93-56). Arkansas, which is out to a 4-1 start in the 2025-26 college basketball season, lost its lone road game of the season thus far, 69-66, to now-No. 17 Michigan State.
As for the early Arkansas standouts, Meleek Thomas is averaging 19.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.8 steals per game; Darius Acuff Jr. is averaging 18.2 points per game and shooting 42.9% from behind the arc; Trevon Brazile is averaging 14.3 points, seven rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.
Calipari is in his second season at Arkansas after spending the previous 15 seasons at the helm for the Kentucky Wildcats, highlighted by winning the National Championship in 2012 and four appearances in the Final Four. Last season, the Razorbacks finished 22-14 overall and 8-10 in SEC play but managed to earn a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the March dance, Arkansas upset No. 7 Kansas and No. 2 St. John’s before losing a tightly contested matchup against No. 3 Texas Tech.
Prior to SEC play, Arkansas has four more ranked opponents on its schedule: No. 2 Houston, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Lousiville and No. 15 Texas Tech. We’ll see if that “eighth grade s—” shows in these out-of-conference bouts.
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