John Calipari drops ice-cold analogy after Arkansas' huge win over Mississippi State

03/08/2025 06:12 PM

With a down-to-the-wire victory over Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon, the Arkansas Razorbacks finish the regular season with a 19-12 overall record and an 8-10 mark in SEC play. And while 8-10 will only be good enough for the 9-seed in the SEC Tournament, considering that the Razorbacks started out 0-5 in conference action this season, this is one heck of a resurrection for a team that looked lifeless in mid-January. It helps that as John Calipari put it, nobody bothered to nail Arkansas’ metaphorical coffin shut at any point over the last month and a half.

“Everyone put us in a coffin after 0-5,” Calipari said during a post-game radio interview, per Jackson Collier of Rivals. “They just forgot the nails."

Damn! As the title says, that is a downright ice cold line delivered by one of the game’s most accomplished and outspoken head coaches. This 8-5 stretch to end the season included notable road wins over Kentucky — in Calipari’s return to Lexington — Texas and Vanderbilt, while victories in Fayetteville over the likes of Texas, Vanderbilt, Georgia, and today’s win over Mississippi State are solid NCAA Tournament resume boosters as well.

Even with the Razorbacks now set to prepare for their opening round SEC Tournament game against South Carolina, Calipari was able to take a moment after the win over Mississippi State to reflect on his first year at Arkansas… one which he claims is possibly ‘the most rewarding season’ of his career.

“I’ve done this a long time and this may be the most rewarding season for me.”

Coach Calipari, DJ Wagner, and Jonas Aidoo met with the media following Arkansas’ 93-92 win over No. 25 Mississippi State. Watch the full press conferences . #WPShttps://t.co/K5oyprviBOpic.twitter.com/MR6FMcQSlc

— Pig Trail Nation (@PigTrailNation) March 8, 2025

Pick nits in Coach Cal’s resume or approach if you’d like, but this statement is one from a guy who had been around for a while and clearly knew exactly what his team needed all season long.

Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament hopes are by no means secure, but compared to where this team was on January 18th after a fifth straight loss to open SEC play, it’s a lot better than most would’ve expected. And that’s all because everyone in the Southeastern Conference forgot to bring the damn nails.

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