Iowa State alum Tyrese Haliburton trolls Kentucky fans after NCAA Tournament elimination

Tyrese Haliburton didn’t hesitate to pour salt in Kentucky fans’ wounds on Sunday after his alma mater, Iowa State, eliminated the Wildcats from the NCAA Tournament. The former Cyclones star specifically poked at former Kentucky players’ relationship with the program.

“Went to text the guys who played at Kentucky about this game and forgot they think they Arkansas alum now,” Haliburton wrote on X.

Before taking over at Arkansas, John Calipari coached at Kentucky from 2010-24. He produced 50 NBA Draft picks during his tenure, including reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 10-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis and Olympic gold medalist Devin Booker.

Although Calipari’s players attended Kentucky, their allegiance to the school has been in question since Calipari moved onto Arkansas. After Calipari led the Razorbacks to a win over Kentucky in Rupp Arena last season, former UK players Jacob Toppin, Davion Mintz, TyTy Washington and Ashton Hagans each voiced their support for their former coach.

Kentucky fans didn’t take kindly to the alumni’s comments, claiming their loyalty was misguided. UK fans only grew more frustrated when a photo emerged of Kentucky native and former Wildcat Reed Sheppard wearing an Arkansas shirt and Kentucky shorts on the day of the game.

In spite of Big Blue Nation’s protests, many players from the Calipari era have continued to side with their former coach in his messy split from UK. This past week, the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder each released videos of their players revealing which team they believe will win the NCAA Tournament this year.

Naturally, most of the players in both videos named their alma maters, even if the odds were greatly stacked against their schools. Alas, former Kentucky players Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo each named Arkansas.

In fairness, Gilgeous-Alexander and Adebayo also named Kentucky, but that didn’t prevent Wildcats fans from voicing their frustration online. Kentucky didn’t help its fans cheer up Sunday with its lackluster performance against Iowa State.

The Wildcats ultimately suffered a season-ending 82-63 loss to the Cyclones. Kentucky only trailed Iowa State by one point at halftime, but the Cyclones mercilessly piled points on the Wildcats in the back half of the game. Now, UK will have no choice but to use the loss as motivation as it heads into the offseason.