John Calipari questions Arkansas' inconsistency in attitude towards games after Vanderbilt win

Just looking at the scoreboard on Tuesday night, it would be easy to assume Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari would be happy. After all, the Razorbacks beat Vanderbilt 93-68. That wasn’t the case, though, as frustration is mounting for Calipari regarding his team’s consistency.

Prior to answering any questions at his press conference, Calipari jumped to question why his team lacks consistency. That’s particularly concerning for him because he believes there’s a chance they could have a special team with that better play and focus throughout.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” John Calipari said. “Why do we get arrogant, win a game, play well, and then go and just act like the other team’s going to lay down? Are we just looking for the easiest way? I don’t want to come in every day ready to play. I just want to — when you have a chance to be a special team, and individually you have a chance to change your life forever, and you just, ‘I didn’t feel like it today.’ I don’t get it, I don’t understand it.”

Arkansas ended up scoring 46 points in the first half and 47 in the second half. They did that while giving up 35 and 33 points in each half, respectively. The Razorbacks shot 57.8 percent from the field, had 11 more rebounds than Vanderbilt, and two fewer turnovers. Arkansas also had 50 points in the paint alone.

This came as Calipari made some changes to the Arkansas lineup. DJ Wagner came off the bench. Then, Karter Knox ended up being a starter after coming off the bench in their previous two games.

“This team, bringing DJ off the bench, was for one reason. I needed to get him going. I wanted him to be the point guard. So, when he went in, he handled the ball. So, he had the ball more in his hand where he could just go play. He did great. Started Karter to get him going. I said to him, ‘Rebound, defend, block some shots. Don’t worry about this bag over here. Leave that over there. Just do these things. It doesn’t take skill. It doesn’t take confidence. Go do all this,” Calipari said. “And that other stuff will happen for you.’ Still took a couple of threes he didn’t need to take. What happened when he drove it? Head on the rim. Why wouldn’t you do that more, if that’s who you are? Unless you wanna show something — don’t worry about showing. Play.”

John Calipari would go on to directly call out Darius Acuff. In 34 minutes, Acuff had 17 points and five assists to go along with two rebounds. Still, there was an effort issue from Calipari’s perspective.

“I took Darius out in the second,” Calipari said. “Because he was going through the motions of playing. Well, then you’re not playing. I don’t care who you are. You’re going to sit and watch the game now. Then, he went in, he was mad at me, and he played well because he was mad at me… I love it. Be mad at me all the time. Just play like that.”

Arkansas now sits at 14-5 overall and 4-2 in SEC play. They’ve yet to lose a game at home, but are just 1-3 in true road games. The Vanderbilt win was a home game.

“If you would have been at practice yesterday, I wasn’t friendly. I come back to — I learned this from Larry Brown — you leave the gym when you’re pissed off by yourself. You make sure everyone in the building is,” Calipari said. “Including assistants, managers, trainers, every player when you leave, you don’t ever leave by yourself that way. Everybody yesterday left that way. I just said I’m not dealing with it. You’re not giving me that kind of effort. No way.”

On Saturday, January 24th, Arkansas will be in action at home again. There, the Razorbacks are set to host the LSU Tigers. Calipari will be looking for more consistent effort in that game from his team.