The Kentucky Wildcats answer the bell and get a huge road win against the Arkansas Razorbacks. It was a gritty win against, probably, the second best team in the SEC as of today. It looked as if things were about to get super ugly following Cal’s ejection, as the Hogs had taken a four-point lead after Kentucky held an 11-point lead.

Kentucky played phenomenal defense on Isaiah Joe, who had been averaging over 17 points per game. He was a non-factor and didn’t score his first bucket until the second half. They also held Arkansas to below 34% shooting on the night.

It was a very complete performance by Kentucky and a must-win heading into next week in which they face Georgia at home and Texas Tech on the road. Kentucky moves to 4-1 in conference play thanks to the 73-66 win in Fayetteville.

Facing Adversity

The Cats faced probably their most adversity in a game this season. Cal was thrown out, Bud Walton is a tough place to play, and the shooting went cold. However, the Cats found a way to pull out the win. After Calipari got ejected, Kentucky ripped off a monstrous scoring run to boost their lead to 10 points. The run reached 15-0 at one point.

Won the Battle on the Glass

Kentucky dominated the glass today against the Hogs, including out-rebounding Arkansas 27-10 in the first half. Even more intriguing? Immanuel Quickley had seven first half boards and Tyrese Maxey had six first half boards. Immanuel Quickley hit ten rebounds and led the team. Kentucky held between a 15-20 board advantage all game long and is one of, if not the main, reason that the Cats pulled this one out. Keion Brooks chipped in 10 points and seven boards of his own in arguably his best performance of the season.

Immanuel Quickley (and the team) Goes Cold

Immanuel Quickley had been on a tear prior to today’s game, hitting 11 of his last 14 three point attempts. IQ went cold today. Quickley missed all but one of his three-point attempts and shot an abysmally low field goal percentage after he was on fire for about a two week span. The team shot a little over 35% from behind the line. However, IQ hit a big three to give Kentucky a 10-point lead late in the second half.

Fouls

Boy, where do we start (again?) The whistle was too bad in the first half, but at one point in the second half, the foul discrepancy was 7-0 in favor of Arkansas and was a very different whistle from the first half. It seems as if the objective for the officials was to clean up a game that did not need to be cleaned up. EJ Montgomery fouled out and Ashton Hagans played the majority of the second half with four fouls.

Cal Gets Ejected

For the first time this season, Cal got the axe from the officiating crew. And shockingly, it’s the first time he’s been ejected in Fayetteville. Cal got his two cents worth in after some questionable officiating and wanted to let the crew know exactly what he thought. Cal got ejected after a questionable ‘moving screen’ was called on EJ Montgomery. It was almost like Cal did this intentionally to give his team a little bit of an edge.