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AUBURN, Ala. — The University of Arkansas men’s basketball team controls whether or not it will play in the NCAA Tournament.
That’s the way Coach John Calipari views it.
Arkansas will host Missouri at 7 o’clock tonight.
The Razorbacks lost 67-60 to No. 1 Auburn on Wednesday night at Neville Arena, taking a brief lead after the final media timeout just to see it wither away.
Arkansas trailed the Tigers by nine points late in the game but fought back — just to lose. The Razorbacks trailed by 18 points against Alabama on Feb. 8 before cutting the deficit to three points — only to fall.
Wednesday’s defeat followed much of the same script, with Arkansas (15-11, 4-9 SEC) closing in before eventually falling to a stronger opponent. Auburn (24-2, 12-1) did not play to its typical standard, allowing the Razorbacks an opportunity.
“Every goal that we talked about, we reached, except the rebounding,” Calipari said. “But they’re good, and they’re older than most of (Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl’s) teams. Probably that’s the right way to go. Just go get older players, retain the ones you have and go from there. They’re good. I think we’re pretty good.”
Like the previous losses to Alabama and Texas A&M, falling to Auburn likely doesn’t hurt Arkansas’ postseason hopes a considerable amount. That said, the Razorbacks are running out of opportunities, with a clash with No. 15 Missouri — which beat the Crimson Tide 110-98 on Wednesday — looming Saturday.
“Every game we play is an NCAA Tournament game now,” Calipari said. “Every game we play, it tells us what’s going to work and what won’t.”
Just before that, he put it more simply.
“It’s not going to be in the committee’s hands, it’s in our hands,” he said. “You either do it or you don’t.”
CAL’S WORDS
Arkansas Coach John Calipari was not mincing words after Wednesday night’s loss at Auburn.
“Win the game. Win the game,” Calipari said during his postgame radio interview. “There were two rebounds late. (Zvonimir Ivisic) doesn’t make one shot. I don’t care. Rebound that last shot and we win this game. Don’t tell me you were trying. You got pushed under the basket and the guy rebounds. Then the last play, they get it again. That was our ball. They missed.”
He continued. “Look, it was about six plays that cost us,” he said. “Karter (Knox) running down the middle and getting a steal and breakaway, (Trevon Brazile) not rebounding, then tipping the ball in for them, turning it over backto-back. We’ve got to get him out on a time ut. I mean we had plays like that. Karter doesn’t catch the ball on the sideline and they throw it ahead and boom.
“But I told them, ‘Look, I’m proud.’ “
Calipari reiterated that there are no easy games in the SEC.
“There are no gimmes in this league,” he said. “We just had the No. 2 team, the No. 8 team and the No. 1 team, and guess what? We had a chance to beat them all, but we didn’t. And they’re not going to say, ‘Well, you almost did.’ They’re not saying that.
“So we’ve just got to do what we’re doing. I believe we have a good team. I’m committed to dragging this over the finish line so we can play postseason. And let’s see what we are against the rest of the country.”
