LEXINGTON — A loud and boisterous environment was no issue to the Arkansas Razorbacks (13-8, 2-6 SEC), as they downed the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats (15-6, 4-4 SEC) on Saturday night at Rupp Arena.
Coach John Calipari's first game back at Rupp Arena since he took the head job with the Hogs was chock full of emotion, as a chorus of boos rained down from opposing fans for almost the entire game.
It wasn't just Calipari who fans were booing, though. Arkansas' transfer trio of ex-Wildcats — Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic — were also making their first trip back since leaving Lexington over the offseason.
"I kind of got my emotions out of the way last night when we came in, just taking a look at everything, embracing everything like that," Thiero said after the game. "A lot of memories were made here, but coming into the game today, just try to come in and play as hard as we can, try to get the W and we were able to do that today."
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The Hogs defeated the Wildcats in style and those three players stepped up in a big way. Thiero finished with a team-high 21 points, Wagner added 17 and Ivisic poured in 14 with four threes. Johnell Davis added efficient offense of his own with 18 points on 50% shooting from the field.
As a team, the Razorbacks shot 55.2% from the field and hit 13 threes, the most in a game since the Hogs hit 15 against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Nov. 25. Their defense was also top-notch, as they forced 14 turnovers and scored 12 points off those.
There's still plenty of basketball left before the season ends, but Saturday's win was big for the Hogs if they hope to play their way back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble.
Here are some of HawgBeat's takeaways from Saturday's win...
