Former Kentucky players DJ Wagner, Zvonimir Ivisic, Adou Thiero booed during warmups in return to Rupp Arena
Plenty of former Kentucky players and coaches return to Rupp Arena on Saturday night, as the Wildcats take on the Arkansas Razorbacks in a highly anticipated clash in Lexington. And as you might imagine, Big Blue Nation has had this date circled on the calendar for quite some time. And once they got the opportunity to boo DJ Wagner, Zvonimir Ivisic, and Adou Theiro in warmups, they didn’t hesitate to let them know their displeasure.
Here’s the video below posted by KSR’s Jacob Polacheck.
John Calipari has won many games at Rupp Arena, usually while coaching Kentucky. Saturday, however, he claimed a victory from the opposing bench as he led Arkansas to an 89-79 upset in his first game against his former team.
Lamont Butler did not play on Saturday night for UK due to an injury. He’s been one of the Wildcats’ best players for much of the 2024-2025 season.
Overall, Calipari was the coach at Kentucky for 15 seasons and compiled a 410-123 record, with many of those victories obviously taking place in Rupp Arena. He also won a national championship in 2012.
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However, the coach had fallen out of favor with the fan base over the past few seasons and had suffered a couple of embarrassing first-round exits in the NCAA Tournament. He decided to move on from the situation at the end of last year and landed on Fayetteville as his next stop.
It’s been a rocky start to the season for the Razorbacks, who started off SEC play with five straight losses and carried a 1-6 conference record into Saturday. This win certainly doesn’t make up for all that ground, but it’s got to be a big confidence booster that can hopefully get them going in the right direction.
Arkansas is next scheduled to face Texas on the road at 8 p.m. CT on Wednesday.
With the loss, Kentucky dropped to 15-6 overall, ranking them 8th in the SEC. Next up, they’ll prepare for a Tuesday night matchup with a Top 25 opponent, the 23rd ranked Ole Miss Rebels. That one is slated for February 4th and the game will be nationally televised on ESPN.
On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this article.