John Calipari says Kentucky fought 'like crazy' for fans after recent storms

Near hurricane-force winds ripped throughout the Bluegrass State Friday, causing massive damage throughout Kentucky and leaving hundreds of thousands without power from Paducah to Pikeville.

A dangerous storm brought winds over 75 miles per hour to Lexington as the Kentucky men’s basketball team prepared to travel to Arkansas for its regular season finale. The Wildcats are coming home victorious after an 88-79 win, and head coach John Calipari dedicated the dub to all of Big Blue Nation affected by the storm.

“I know a lot of Kentucky is still struggling as you recover from this latest storm, so I want you all to know our program is here for you and we wanted to fight like crazy yesterday to give you something to smile about,” Calipari tweeted. “We take pride in representing you all every game!!”

Calipari also revealed that he is still without power in his home following the storm, and he and his wife, Ellen, slept by the fireplace last night — although, she slept on the other side of the room.

Kentucky awaits its SEC Tournament opponent in the quarterfinals, which is set for Friday, March 10 in the late game slot, which is roughly 25 minutes following the conclusion of Texas A&M’s quarterfinal game at 7 p.m. ET.

Jacob Toppin breaks down ‘fun’ environment of Arkansas game

Kentucky forward Jacob Toppin said the environment of Saturday’s regular season finale against Arkansas was a perfect one to play basketball in. It wasn’t just because the Wildcats left Fayetteville, Arkansas, with an 88-79 victory of that he scored 21 points.

“It wasn’t just fun to win, it was fun to play in,” Toppin said. “That’s the type of atmosphere we love to play in. Even like when I’m back home playing in the city, that’s what it is. Everyone’s gritty. Everyone wants to win. It was good basketball today. We fought. We understood that they were coming into to beat us and we weren’t gonna let that happen. So we stayed together. We stay connected. We came out with the W.”

Antonio Reeves led the way with a game-high 37 points. Reeves played the entire 40 minutes of the game as he shot 12 of 17 from the field, 2 of 4 from the 3-point line and 11 of 11 from the charity stripe.

Toppin added his 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. Oscar Tshiebwe closed out his regular season with another double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds.

“What Antonio did I went back and hugged him, I didn’t know he had 37,” head coach John Calipari said postgame. “I know he had a bunch, I didn’t know he had 37. I hugged him and said ‘wow.’”