Pat Bradley Takes Issue with One Part of Calipari’s Victory Speech

Adou Thiero, Arkansas basketball, Arkansas vs Georgia
photo credit: Craven Whitlow

FAYETTEVILLE — It is only one game, but Arkansas may have discovered something Wednesday night.

For the first time since the calendar flipped to 2025, the Razorbacks managed to come out with a win, rallying from a 15-point deficit to knock off Georgia 68-65 inside a sparsely filled, yet raucous Bud Walton Arena.

Arkansas actually trailed by 12 at the break, which — according to HogStats — means it’s tied for the second-largest comeback (by halftime deficit) in the building’s 32-year history. That helped John Calipari’s debut squad avoid the school’s first 0-6 start to conference play in 54 years, giving it a glimmer of hope in what many had already written off as a lost season.

“These guys have fought all year,” Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari said. “They have not given up on any game, they just haven’t, and they didn’t give up on this game. … I just love the spirit of the team and it’s our chance to write our own story with how this thing finishes.”

The score tied at 65-65 when Adou Thiero grabbed an offensive rebound and got fouled going back up. With just 1.8 seconds on the clock, he calmly knocked down his first free throw to give Arkansas the lead.

He missed the second attempt, but got his own rebound and stuck it back in at the buzzer for good measure, capping a 35-17 run by the Razorbacks over the final 15:05.

That closing sequence perfectly encapsulated how they were able to pull off the comeback, as they shot 29 of 34 from the charity stripe and finished plus-10 on the boards for the game — two areas in which they’ve struggled this season.

Arkansas specifically dominated on the glass on their end of the floor, grabbing 18 offensive rebounds that led to 33 second-chance points. Those accounted for nearly half of its points.

“We had to take pride,” Thiero said. “Word around the SEC, you know, we’re soft. They’re going to try to come here and punk us. Nah. We had to fix that and show we have fight in us. You’re not going to come in here and punk us around, no matter what.”

You’ve got to believe those are especially welcome words to NWA native billionaire John Tyson, who played a huge role in bringing Calipari to Fayetteville in the first place. At the end the clip below, you can see a relieved Tyson hugging Thiero:

In addition to notching their most made free throws and offensive boards of the season, the Razorbacks also posted season highs in a couple of advanced stats — offensive rebounding percentage and free throw rate. They grabbed 45.0% of their own misses, easily topping their previous his of 38.6% at LSU, and attempted 58.6% as many free throws as field goals, narrowly edging the Florida game (58.3%).

That is how Arkansas was able to overcome a miserable shooting night, as it shot just 31.0% (18 of 58) from the field and made only 3 of 23 (13.0%) attempts from beyond the arc.

By any measure, it was an ugly win — but a win, nonetheless — and Calipari admitted in his postgame interview on the SEC Network that his team might have to play a more grind-it-out style, especially in Boogie Fland’s absence.

On SEC Now following the broadcast, Arkansas legend Pat Bradley disagreed with the Hall of Fame coach’s assessment. In his mind, there’s no “might” about it. To him, that is definitely the direction the Razorbacks must go.

“Coach Cal said, ‘We might be a grind-it-out team?’” Bradley said. “That’s how they are going to have to play. They haven’t proven to me they can beat people from the three-point line. … They have got to be workhorses. It can’t be pretty for this team.”

Still known by Arkansas fans as “The Shootah,” Bradley also harkened back to a favorite saying of his former coach — a Hall of Famer in his own right — Nolan Richardson: “I’d rather have a raggedy ride than a smooth walk.”

It’s a bit ironic that the program’s all-time leader in 3-pointers would diagnose such a solution and that an injury to Fland’s hand forced Calipari’s hand to play that way, but the result was encouraging: Arkansas finally has an identity.

Considering there’s only 12 SEC games remaining on the schedule, it might have come too late to salvage the season, but at least there’s reason for optimism now.

(READ NEXT: Can Arkansas make the NCAA Tournament? We analyze the advanced metrics to find out.)

Up Next

The Razorbacks have a legitimate shot at starting a winning streak with Oklahoma coming to town Saturday.

Despite a perfect 13-0 record in non-conference play that included four wins over KenPom top-100 teams, the Sooners are just 1-4 in SEC play. Their lone conference win was against the last remaining winless team in the league, South Carolina, but that was their last time out and they get a full week to prepare for the matchup inside Bud Walton Arena.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT Saturday and the game will be televised on ESPN2. KenPom and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index have each tabbed Arkansas as the favorite.

This will be the fourth straight year the Razorbacks have faced Oklahoma, but the first time they’ll meet as SEC foes. The last three times they played, it was in Tulsa and the Sooners won two of them.

Other Arkansas Basketball Tidbits

  • Not only was he the hero at the end of the game, but Adou Thiero was also Arkansas’ best player for the entire game. He posted a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, with five of those being offensive boards, plus had a critical block down the stretch.
  • That was the Razorbacks’ lone block of the game, which is surprising considering they entered the day ranked fourth nationally with 6.1 blocks per game. However, it was a massive one because it came in a tie game with 1:34 remaining and was on a point-blank attempt by Georgia star Asa Newell.
  • Speaking of Newell, the potential lottery pick scored a game-high 18 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the floor and 8 of 9 from the free throw line, plus grabbed 8 rebounds in 28 minutes before fouling out. His fifth foul was what sent Thiero to the stripe with 1.8 seconds left.
  • His final stat line doesn’t jump off the page and foul trouble limited him to just 11 minutes, but Trevon Brazile played a huge role in the victory for Arkansas. He actually provided the initial spark, knocking down a 3-pointer to cut into Georgia’s 15-point lead. Then, over the next 53 seconds, he got fouled after an offensive rebound and made both free throws, forced a turnover in the backcourt and grabbed another offensive board.
  • Back in the starting lineup, freshman Karter Knox was Arkansas’ only other player in double figures and he did almost all of his damage at the free throw line. While he was just 1 of 5 from the floor, he went 11 of 13 from the charity stripe. It’s worth noting that Knox was also the team’s second-leading rebounder with 6.
  • While his offensive struggles continued, shooting just 3 of 14 from the field and making only 1 of 10 attempts from deep, Johnell Davis provided some good defense Wednesday night. He finished with three steals, including one in the final minute and with the score tied.
  • A name Arkansas fans might recognize is Somto Cyril. The former top-50 recruit and 6-foot-11 big man was previously committed to Calipari at Kentucky and reportedly considered the Razorbacks before signing with Georgia. He played 18 minutes off the bench and contributed 5 points — all free throws — along with 4 rebounds, 2 blocks and 1 steal.
  • After going 3 of 23 (13.0%) from beyond the arc against Georgia, the Razorbacks are now shooting an abysmal 23.1% from 3-point range in SEC play. That ranks dead last in the conference and it’s not particularly close, with the Bulldogs being the closest at 26.3%.

See more here:

Plus, an Arkansas media icon had quite the take Thursday morning:

Arkansas vs Georgia Highlights

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Postgame Interviews

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Arkansas vs Georgia Box Score

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