How John Calipari wasted one of his best NCAA Tournament coaching jobs as Arkansas blows lead vs. Texas Tech

SAN FRANCISCO — Arkansas was up 16 points midway through the second half of its Sweet 16 game vs. Texas Tech on Thursday and appeared to be on its way to the Elite Eight. Making it to the West Regional Final would have been anther step in one of the best coaching jobs of John Calipari’s career and made the Razorbacks’ slow start in Calipari’s first season in Fayetteville a distant memory.

Instead, it’s the No. 3 seed Red Raiders who will face No. 1 seed Florida for the right to go to the Final Four after completely outplaying No. 10 seed Arkansas the rest of the game in Texas Tech’s 85-83 shocking overtime victory at the Chase Center.

“We gave up a lead but we did that a bunch this year,” Calipari said. “Up (16) and all of a sudden you turn around and it’s a two-point game.”

Calipari was previously 35-0 in NCAA Tournament games when leading by six or more points at halftime and the Razorbacks’ collapse gave the Red Raiders the third-largest comeback in Sweet 16 history. 

“I kept telling these guys in timeouts that we’re going to win the game,” said TTU coach Grant McCasland. “I told them we’re going to make it when it matters. I believe it with all my heart. That’s Red Raider basketball.”

Texas Tech outscored Arkansas 27-11 to end regulation and tied the game at 72 to send the game to overtime. In the extra period the Razorbacks fell behind again, but had one more chance to tie or win the game with the clock running down.

After Texas Tech star Darrion Williams converted a hook shot with 7.3 seconds left to give the Red Raiders a two-point advantage, Calipari elected not to use his final timeout and let the final sequence play out.

Arkansas guard DJ Wagner paused for a moment after sprinting with the ball across halfcourt — almost as if he expected his coach to call a timeout to set up a play.

Wagner drove right, crossed over left and shot a contested shot at the buzzer that missed off the front of the rim, to give Texas Tech the victory. 

Calipari defended his decision not to call a timeout with the game on the line.

“I usually let that go,” Calipari said. “Now, because it ended the way it did, yeah, I wish I would have called a timeout. But 99% of the time, I let that go because now I know what they’re doing, they know what we’re doing. That’s why we did it.”

The loss brought Arkansas’ late-season run in the rollercoaster first season under Calipari to an end. 

“I told them how proud I was of them and there’s nothing they could do to disappoint me,” Calipari said. “Yeah, there were plays I wish they had done differently or made, but these kids gave everything, even in this game they gave everything they had to try to win the game.”

The Razorbacks started 0-5 in SEC play and became the second team in the last 20 years to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament after dropping five consecutive games to begin conference play.

But then the Razorbacks began to turn around their season

Calipari won his highly anticipated return to Kentucky after spending the last 15 years roaming the sidelines at Rupp Arena. His Arkansas team was on the NCAA Tournament bubble down the stretch after losing to last-place South Carolina 72-53 just over two weeks before Selection Sunday.

But Arkansas made the NCAA Tournament and then won both games during the first week of the NCAA Tournament over No. 7 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed St. John’s, and it looked like Calipari’s team had hit its stride.

“We overachieved (to) what we were supposed to (do) after starting 0-5,” Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile said at his locker.

Maybe Arkansas did overachieve. After all, even making the NCAA Tournament seemed unlikely after Arkansas lost by 18 points to Missouri in mid-January, which dropped the Razorbacks to 0-5 in SEC play. 

But what should have been a jubilant celebration in the Arkansas locker room turned into anything but. Instead, it will be remembered as a massive “what if” for Calipari and his team.

While Arkansas was melting down, all Arkansas star Adou Thiero could do was watch. Arkansas’ leading scorer had missed his team’s last eight games after suffering a knee injury against Missouri last month. Thiero played all five minutes he logged in the first half and finished with one point.

“I felt if I was able to give it a shot, why not go out there and help my team,” Thiero told CBS Sports on his decision to play. “We have been through too much this year for me to just watch them. I had to give it a shot.”