Hogs go down 0-2 in SEC with 'personal' body blow by Beard's Rebels

It's been a nearly decade since John Calipari was inducted into the NCAA Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. So who can blame him for not realizing he'd be in for the fight of his still ongoing coaching career coming into the 2025 SEC basketball season — his first at the University of Arkansas?

But after falling to Chris Beard's Ole Miss Rebels (13-2, 2-0 SEC) in the Razorbacks (11-4, 0-2 SEC) home opener at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday, it's starting to dawn on Calipari his days of fighting to prove his worth are still ahead of him.

Everything John Calipari and Chris Beard said after Arkansas' loss to Ole Miss

"I've got work to do," Calipari told the press after the game. "I didn't think it would be easy but I didn't think it would be this hard. But you know what, it's hard. This league this year, it's hard. And you get no breaks. We will see what happens going forward. I knew it would be a tough game."

Every night in the SEC is a fist fight

"Round two of an 18 round fight is how we set it up for our team. The SEC is as good as advertised..."

Ole Miss Coach Chris Beard

The Razorbacks were "manhandled" by No. 1 ranked Tennessee in a 76-52 road loss in Saturday's SEC opener at the Volunteers' Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville. But after seeing Tennessee suffer their first loss of the season (a 30-point 73-43 thumping) at Arkansas' upcoming opponent No. No. 8 Florida on Monday, the Razorbacks hoped the home-court advantage would propel them past the visiting No. 23 ranked Rebels.

The Razorback crowd helped the team take control of Wednesday's contest early on. Arkansas led by double digits wel into the first half but didn't put the game away. A three-pointer by Rebel point guard Sean Pedulla tied the game at 33 a piece going into halftime. Ole Miss then came out in the second half and proceeded to take control of the game.

"Round two of an 18-round fight is how we set it up for our team," said second-year Rebels coach Chris Beard. "The SEC is as good as advertised so we played well tonight...It was a good win for us in round two. It’s so early in the league. We are just trying to stay poised and not get too high or too low. I’m proud of the team tonight. It was a team effort."

Arkansas was led in the game by junior forward Adou Thiero's 17-point and nine -rebound effort. Senior transfer guard Johnell Davis chipped in with one of his better performances since coming to Arkansas with a 15 points on 3-of-7 three point shooting. Fellow backcourt mates Boogie Fland and D.J. Wagner were also in double figures for the Hogs with 14 and 11 points respectively, however Calipari and the Hogs were left wanting.

Troubles in the post

"We've got a good team but everybody has to play well," Calipari said of his team's heralded nine player rotation. "All nine have to give us something. They don't have to play out of their minds but they can't play poorly. Or you can have three play poorly or four. And you can't have one guy not give you anything. We are going to have to play better as a group."

What Arkansas lacked most in the game was an inside presence. For the second game in a row, Arkansas allowed the opposing center to have a career night. Ole Miss junior forward Malik Dia scored 21 points and collected eight rebounds -- including shooting 50 percent from behind the three-point line. Against Tennessee, the Vols' Igor Milicic had a career-high 18-rebound, double-double night for the win.

Against Ole Miss, Arkansas' big men combined for nine points and nine rebounds.

"I've got to do a better job of teaching these guys how to win and how to finish off games," Calipari said. "...Historically, my teams get up 10 and at any point, they play to win. You're not playing just to make plays. You're not playing so when you're not playing well and now you're sad. And you give up things defensively."

Tonight was personal for Ole Miss

For his part Beard, who was in talks to take Arkansas job at the end of last year before deciding to stay at Ole Miss, let it be known his team had a personal agenda coming into Bud Walton Arena.

"We had some personal attachments to this game," said Beard, who coached the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Trojans from 2015 to 2016. He left UALR to take over at now SEC-rival Texas, but was forced to leave due to an altercation with his then-fiancé'. "My time in the state was real. A lot of Little Rock fans and supporters were at this game and we wanted to play well. We also had Wes (Flannigan) being from the state of Arkansas.

"Not that it was about me or Wes but every game should have a personal attachment. It certainly was an objective for all of us to play well in this state. (Former Razorback coach and hall of famer Eddie) Sutton’s son came in the locker room before the game. We have Sean on this staff from Texas Tech. Scott Sutton is a friend of mine. Eddie Sutton was a mentor and kind of a legend to me. There’s a lot of history in this building and to say that we didn’t try to take advantage of the opportunity would not be accurate."

Beard went on to add, "We knew where we were playing. We knew Arkansas would come out and fight after their first loss in the SEC being a little disappointing. But again, we are real proud of our players. It’s not always about the score. It’s about the approach and the preparation and the competitiveness within the 40 minute game. I was proud of the way our guys played today."

As for Calipari's Hogs, the "soul searching" which began with the loss at Tennessee, continues as they get back up off the canvas and brace for another top-10 ranked conference foe visiting on Saturday at 3 p.m.

"I still have a lot of faith in this group." Calipari said. "I'm disappointed but I'm not discouraged. This league is really good and you're going to take some knocks. That's just how it is. I was hoping we could get this game but we didn't. So now we move on. Right now we've got to get better. Some of it is talking them through and showing it on tape. Some of it will be drilling them on what we are doing and why."