John Calipari admits he never felt like Arkansas had a chance in game against Houston

Arkansas played the final big game of their non-conference schedule on Saturday against Houston in Newark, New Jersey. And, unfortunately for the ‘Hogs, this was the only one that John Calipari thought they never had a chance against with how the Top-15 matchup played out.

Calipari spoke postgame about the 94-85 loss for the Razorbacks to the Cougars, who were the fifth ranked opponent for them already, and fourth since just Thanksgiving. He said, while loving the competition posed to his team with that schedule, this is the only one of the five that he never felt they had a chance to win as the game went on.

“I love it. I love it. We played five ridiculous, top-ten teams – five. We’re 2-3,” said Calipari. “This is the only one I never felt we had a chance. The others, I felt like we could have won – both of them. This one kind of got away, and then their guard play kind of dominated us. That’s when you’re sitting there saying it’s hard. You’re doing everything right, and a guy just beats a guy off the dribble and shoots a layup. And so, I didn’t feel – but, again, I got to watch the tape.

“That team is better than us right now.”

As he noted, Arkansas went 2-3 in their matchups against Michigan State, Duke, Louisville, Texas Tech, and Houston. They lost to the Spartans by three in the second game of the season in East Lansing, to the Blue Devils by nine on Thanksgiving in Chicago, and to the Cougars by nine on Saturday in Newark. That’s after having beaten the Cardinals by nine as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge in Fayetteville, as well as beating the Red Raiders by seven the weekend prior in Dallas.

Still, of those five, Calipari knew this one was the worst outing for the Razorbacks. Arkansas got down as much as 23, as they never led again after around the time of the first media timeout at the Prudential Center. They ended up playing a pretty similar game statistically in the box score, but the Razorbacks dug themselves too much of a deficit in the first half, as he noted some uncharacteristic mistakes and miscues, to get out of in the end, especially as they went on to give up a season-high, and the Cougars scored their second-best total of the season, of 94 points.

“Couldn’t get it,” Calipari said of trying to cut into the lead. “We got it to eight, nine, and then had our chances.”

At 9-3 overall and still in the Top-20 of the AP Poll, Arkansas has little shame with that non-conference record, with them set to finish it at 10-3, with one more to go in a week after the holiday, with losses to three teams currently ranked in the Top-10. It now, if nothing else, only gives them what to improve upon going into conference play in the SEC that’ll be tipping off come January.

“Like I said, they’re a really good team. They’re a top-five, six, four (team). They’re that good,” said Calipari. “And we got work to do.

“We’ve got a good team. We got to have guys play better.”