Kenny Payne conducts Arkansas postgame press conference amid John Calipari absence

Arkansas associate head coach Kenny Payne conducted the team’s postgame press conference amid John Calipari’s absence.

Following an 86-81 win over Texas, Payne answered questions afterwards. He didn’t address Calipari’s absence, thus not providing any reason why the head coach wasn’t present.

Calipari previously missed a postgame presser on February 12th due to illness, following a win over LSU.

“First of all, hats off to Texas, thought they played hard, they fought their tail off to get back in the game,” Payne said postgame. “They’re playing desperate, they’re trying like we are, to find a way to get in that tournament. And hats go off to them for fighting the way they did, could’ve easily went the other way.”

Adou Theiro did not play in the win over the Longhorns, so the Razorbacks needed some balancing on offense.

“We talked about success is when opportunity meets preparation, so somebody else had to step up,” Payne said. “And we really thought it’d be a multitude of guys, and it was, I thought (Trevon Brazile) did an unbelievable job of bringing us energy rebounding. Made a couple threes. His defense was pretty good. To get 12 and eight from him was special. I thought Jonas (Aidoo), to make those last two free throws sort of shocked me, but he stepped up and he made them, and we needed that from him, and that was great to have.”

Zvonimir Ivisic led the way with 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Johnell Davis added 14 points, four rebounds and two assists.

As Payne mentioned, Brazile put up 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Heck you can’t forget DJ Wagner, who put up 16 points, two rebounds and five assists.

Overall it was a solid win, but Payne was unsure when Thiero would return or what his status was.

“I don’t know the latest of what’s going on,” Payne said. “But we need him. We hope he comes back soon, and as we get more information, sure, we’ll know more.”

This season, Thiero has been one of the best players for Arkansas. He’s averaging 15.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. On the defensive end, he’s averaging 0.8 blocks and 1.7 steals per game. On top of that, he’s also shooting 54.8% from the field while drilling 26.2% of his three-pointers.

Thiero followed head coach Calipari from the Kentucky Wildcats to Arkansas through the transfer portal in the past offseason. After spending two seasons with Kentucky, he’s now in his third college season playing for Calipari.