John Calipari explains three costly possessions down the stretch

Kentucky and Arkansas were in a back-and-forth slugfest in the second half of the Saturday afternoon game on CBS. It was feeling like ’95 the way the Cats and the Hogs were trading blows until the fight was decided by a costly turnover with a minute to go.

Kentucky was down one with the ball when Keion Brooks was whistled for an offensive foul on an inbound play. The call was a career highlight for Doug Shows, who was dying to blow that whistle. Arkansas got to the line on the other end and stretched the lead to three with 36 seconds left, followed by Brooks’ missed 3-point attempt to tie the game. The Razorbacks clinched the win with more free throws.

After the game, Calipari gave his thoughts on Brooks’ foul and his 3-point try, as well as another costly play that knocked Kentucky out of the game. Calipari admitted he still needed to watch the tape, but had instant reactions to three of the biggest missed opportunities in the final minutes.

We’ll start with the biggest one, the offensive foul.

Inbound play

There’s an argument for calling the foul because Brooks extended his arm to create space, but this is a pro-Kentucky Basketball website so we believe Shows could’ve let play go on given the circumstances. The game was on pace to be a classic and Brooks was 24 feet from the basket. The defender had already recovered.

“I know you’re going to ask me about the call with a minute to go; let me go watch the tape,” said Calipari in his opening remarks. “I’m not sure you should make that and it was the game, that play. It may have been the right call, we’ll see.”

Had the whistle not blown, Kentucky could’ve regained the lead and the entertaining show would’ve gone on.

Calipari added, “We were in really good shape to get something good. We really were. But they called the offensive foul with a minute to go in the game.”

The botched lob

Another backbreaker for Kentucky was the botched lob attempt. Again, Kentucky was down one when Keion Brooks mishandled a long alley-oop from Sahvir Wheeler. Though it looked like the perfect play, Calipari did not like the risky lob when Kentucky had been scoring at a high rate in the second half.

“We didn’t have to do that,” Calipari explained. “We were doing fine, shooting 60 percent in the second half. Why did you throw that? There were things like that where we hurt ourselves.”

Keion Brooks’ 3-point attempt

The intent is not to pile on Keion Brooks here, but he was behind Kentucky’s three biggest miscues (the third is when he got stripped before an Arkansas 3-pointer) in the game and he missed the open 3-point look to tie the game. Calipari didn’t mind the latter. He thought it was a good look to try to even the score with 23 seconds to go.

“It was fine,” said Calipari, although he added he wished Brooks had shot it straight. “It was a good shot for him. I wish he had made it, but it was a good shot for him.”

Hear more from John Calipari in his postgame press conference.