FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It’s truly hard to come up with some of the Arkansas-Kentucky rivalry’s greatest or most memorable moments.
After all, the Wildcats owned Arkansas for the most part, winning 18-of-20 games from 1995-2010. With the return of Mike Anderson, through the Eric Musselman years and now second-year coach John Calipari in charge, the series has been turned up a notch in producing wire-to wire-games in recent history.
That should continue for the near future as both teams are poised to remain on the national scene even with new coaches at the helm.
Calipari Returns Home
There have been plenty of emotionally charged rivalry games between Arkansas and Kentucky through the years, but the one from last season was different.
It featured Calipari returning to a place he roamed the sideline of for 16 years just to be booed by the home crowd at Rupp Arena. While this game was a back-and-forth affair through the first 12 minutes of action, the Razorbacks kicked into high gear and played with a sense of urgency unseen during their stretch of going 1-6 to begin SEC play.
Arkansas ultimately won in surprisingly dominant fashion, 89-79, as fans of Big Blue Nation headed for the exits early when hopes of a comeback bid appeared bleak.
This was a season changing win for the Razorbacks, sparking a 10-6 run down the stretch, including the program’s fourth Sweet 16 appearance in the previous five seasons.
Qualls at Buzzer in 2014!
Michael Quall’s extended Arkansas’ lead to three, 85-82, with just 24 seconds left to go. By the time Kentucky made it to the frontcourt in chaos, the Wildcats found James Young at the top of the arc for a game-tying three point basket with just over 10 seconds to play.
Then, it was Chuck Barrett’s call of the game winning dunk at the buzzer of overtime that will certainly never grow old.
“With 10.2 seconds to go, game tied at 85, the Hogs don’t have a timeout.
“Five seconds to go, [Rashaad] Madden, right side, three pointer on the way no good.
“But [Michael] Qualls with the dunk at the buzzer! It goes and Arkansas wins! It goes and Arkansas wins!”
Four Razorbacks finished the night scoring in double figures with Madden and Qualls going for 18 apiece, Alandise Harris with 12 and five-star true freshman Bobby Portis notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
While Young appeared to save the day for Calipari and Kentucky, his game-tying three helped him lead all scorers with 23.
Future NBA star Julius Randle was dominant in the post as he scored 20 points and pulled down 14 boards, including six on the offensive end that led to 12 second chance points.
Hogs’ Dominate in 1994
One of the hallmarks of legendary coach Nolan Richardson’s teams was its relentless full-court press style dubbed “Forty Minutes of Hell” which helped his Razorbacks to the 1994 National Championship.
But first, his Arkansas squad needed to escape the grasp of No. 4 Kentucky on the road at Rupp Arena for a midweek SEC tilt. Kentucky hit the ground running in the first half by taking a double-digit lead throughout the first 16 mintues of action.
Arkansas was able to pull with in six at intermission, facing a 47-41 deficit as Corey Beck, Scotty Thurman, Divor Rimac and Corliss Williams orchestrated a mighty comeback in what led to a dominant second half.
Thurman hit back-to-back threes at the 13:02 mark of the second half on his way to finishing with a game-high 26 points on 3-of-5 attempts from three.
The Razorbacks continued to unleash its full court pressure package, ultimately forcing Kentucky into 17 turnovers, and outscored them 49-35 in the second half to pull out the 90-82 victory.
Hogs Feed