Following his public bashing of the SEC Tournament, Arkansas head coach John Calipari's silly comments almost rubbed off on the Razorbacks' players.
Arkansas narrowly escaped a second loss in as many weeks to lowly conference foe South Carolina in the first round of league tourney action.
The No. 9 Razorbacks led by as many as 20 points, thanks to a dominant opening frame, but almost blew it in the second half. It felt like they took Calipari's remarks to heart based on their near-colossal meltdown.
Arkansas took John Calipari's SEC Tournament comments a little too literally
The Razorbacks had a lid on the basket for much of the final 14-plus minutes of action. After taking a 59-41 lead, they missed 11 of their next dozen shots, allowing the 16th-seeded Gamecocks to cut the deficit to within one.
It wasn't pretty, to put it mildly. Johnell Davis saved the day for the Razorbacks. The fifth-year senior guard scored the team's last six points to propel them to a 72-68 victory. But frankly, they were fortunate to leave this contest unscathed.
Addressing the media after the game, Calipari suggested his stance on the SEC Tournament was to alleviate some pressure off the Razorbacks. Nonetheless, Arkansas' sloppy, uneven performance versus an inferior South Carolina squad is a sign that something got lost in translation. They played with their food and came close to squandering the momentum built down the stretch of the regular season.
Calipari's message has ostensibly sent mixed signals to the Razorbacks locker room. He was trying to calm the group's nerves, which worked — too well. Arkansas practically let go of the rope entirely, and it could've cost them drastically, putting them in "First Four" territory.
Ultimately, Arkansas did just enough to prevail over South Carolina. It marks Calipari's first SEC Tournament win in Nashville in over 2,000 days, as noted by Kentucky Sports Radio's Steven Peake. Up next for the Razorbacks is No. 8 Ole Miss, who they beat on Mar. 8 in a thrilling 93-92 affair.
Hopefully, Calipari and Co. show up for their showdown with Ole Miss with more urgency. The opposition will only get tougher as we approach March Madness.