LEXINGTON — John Calipari's return to Rupp Arena was the main point of conversation among the media over the past week, but it was the players he brought with him to Arkansas that shined the brightest in the Razorbacks' (13-8, 2-6 SEC) win over the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats (15-6, 4-4 SEC) on Saturday evening.
Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic, who all played for Kentucky last season, each turned in incredible performances in their homecoming. Their play was a main reason the Razorbacks were able to get the upset win.
Thiero led the Hogs in scoring with 21 points and was a frequent visitor of the charity stripe, as 10 of his points came off of free throws. He also added a team-high eight rebounds and three steals in the 34 minutes he played.
"That's how we want (Thiero) to play every game," Calipari said postgame. "It's hard to play that way every game, but we put it in his hands and got him in spots where he could drive the ball."
As the team was warming up, some Kentucky fans targeted Ivisic with chants of "Z you suck," but he got the last laugh. He got pushed around a little bit down low on the defensive end, but he more than made up for it with his accuracy from deep.
Ivisic hit a team-high four threes in the 25 minutes he played and added four rebounds and a steal. That first three came in the first minute of the game and pushed Arkansas ahead 6-3 early on.
Wagner's 17 points were impressive and tied a season-high for the second-year guard out of New Jersey, but what was more impactful was his facilitating of the ball as point guard. He finished with eight assists and consistently found his teammates who were able to capitalize on those opportunities.
"I was really just finding my teammates when they were open," Wagner said postgame. "They made it easy for me. A lot of those assists were just them catching it and making plays off my passes."
In the first half, Wagner was quiet. He hadn't scored and missed all five of the shots he took. But he flipped a switch and turned things up in the second half.
"My teammates, my coaches just telling me to stay confident," Wagner said was the difference in the two halves. "Play like you have amnesia, you just got to forget about the last shot, because that’s what’s coached from the beginning of basketball, you’re not going to make every shot, so just keep playing and focus on the other things.
"I just tried to focus on defense more than anything and help my teammates, but it was my teammates who helped me a lot."
There were obviously some emotions for the transfers, but they tuned out the excess noise and focused on the task at hand — winning a basketball game.
"I kind of got my emotions out of the way last night when we came in," Thiero said after the win. "Just coming into the game today, it was another regular game. Go out there and play as hard as we can and try to get that win and we were able to do that today."
Wagner agreed with Thiero, but also said he enjoyed playing in the raucous atmosphere of Rupp Arena.
"Today, the atmosphere was just great," Wagner said. "I feel like everybody loves to play in atmospheres like that, so it was fun for me. Going out there and seeing how crazy it was, how crazy everybody was going, it was fun.
The win over Kentucky was Arkansas' second conference win of the season and, for Kentucky, was just the second loss at Rupp Arena this season. There's still work to do, but if the Hogs can gain some momentum and play like they did Saturday on a more consistent basis, there's a chance they can play themselves back into the NCAA Tournament picture.
The Razorbacks will stay on the road and will face the Texas Longhorns in Austin on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game will air on ESPN2.
