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Kentucky fans leave Rupp Arena early as John Calipari nears revenge game win

Chandler Vesselsby:Chandler Vessels•about 16 hours•

ChandlerVessels

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Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

With the outcome essentially decided Saturday, several Kentucky fans were seen leaving Rupp Arena early in the final minutes against Arkansas. There was still 1:30 remaining and the Wildcats were trailing by 87-73 when people began to leave their seats and file out of the building.

It was a big night for the Kentucky crowd as former coach John Calipari returned to Lexington for the first time after leaving for the Razorbacks this offseason. Ultimately, he got the better of the Wildcats in a 89-79 win.

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.

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.

Calipari was met with boos as he entered his old stomping grounds but didn’t let it faze him.

Entering Saturday night, Arkansas was one of the worst three-point shooting teams in college basketball. Their percentage of 32.5% ranked 259th in college basketball. Former Kentucky player Zvonimir Ivisic led the way with four makes from deep but as a team, Arkansas went 13-25.

The 89 points scored in the most the Razorbacks have put up against a power conference opponent this season too. A nonconference win against Michigan was at the top at 89. Every performance to surpass 90 points came against mid-majors.

Kentucky hired Mark Pope as Calipari’s replacement and has been doing well so far this season. But he couldn’t quite pull this one off Saturday night as the Wildcats will look to bounce back next week.

At different points of the game, Calipari actually still thought he was still playing at home. During his postgame press conference, he would look up at the scoreboard and see Arkansas with the lead and Kentucky down. In his mind, it means there was still work to be done before realizing he was now a Razorback.

Former UK player Adou Thiero did the same thing.

“It’s not easy to win here,” Calipari said. “I looked up a couple of times and I thought we were losing because I looked at Kentucky and not Arkansas. Adou [Thiero] did the same thing.”

You cannot blame Calipari for the mistake. After all, he spent 15 seasons calling Rupp Arena home. Every time he was looking for the score, “Kentucky” was the main focus. Being in the heat of battle probably did not give him a second to think until realizing he was now with Arkansas.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.