Arkansas basketball’s John Calipari takes blame for slow start in loss to Georgia

The Arkansas basketball team lost a tough game to Georgia on Saturday. The Razorbacks struggled on defense and allowed 90 points in the contest. Arkansas head coach John Calipari took the blame for his team’s frustrating performance.

“On us, on me. Obviously if they’re not responding then I’m not communicating as well as I need to in that situation,” Calipari said postgame, per Pig Trail Nation.

"On us, on me. Obviously if they're not responding then I'm not communicating as well as I need to in that situation."

Head coach @CoachCalArk taking accountability after the 90-76 loss in Athens. #WPS

For the full post game press conferencehttps://t.co/9cej8CWjKq pic.twitter.com/VjQDLwDtSE

— Pig Trail Nation (@PigTrailNation) January 18, 2026

The Razorbacks needed a strong second-half performance to keep the game close. Arkansas allowed Georgia to take a 13-point lead into halftime. While Arkansas was able to get going offensively in the second half, it ultimately just wasn’t enough.

“If we hadn’t been down that much early, we would have been up more. Little different game,” Calipari said, per The Southwest Times Record. “You know, you go down 18 or whatever we were down, it’s hard.”

Arkansas has now lost two of their last three games. The Razorbacks are 13-5 overall, after dropping Saturday’s contest. Arkansas is also 3-2 in SEC conference play.

Arkansas basketball hopes to improve on defense moving forward

For the second time in the last three games, Arkansas gave up at least 90 points on Saturday. That followed a recent loss to Auburn, which saw Arkansas allow 95 points. Calipari was so frustrated with that Auburn loss he said he would burn the game tape afterwards.

Calipari is holding his team accountable following the Georgia defeat.

“I’m telling all the guys, ‘Just take responsibility, man. Look at your own game, take responsibility. I’ll do the same,'” Calipari said.

There were still some bright spots for Arkansas in the Georgia game. Darius Acuff scored 20 points and dished out six assists for the Razorbacks. He is averaging close to 20 points per game this season for Arkansas.

Arkansas next has a pivotal SEC game against Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Vanderbilt is coming off back-to-back SEC losses.

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