John Calipari not taking Arkansas rematch lightly: 'This is a trap game.'

The last time Kentucky and Arkansas met, the Wildcats had to mount a late comeback attempt in the second half before ultimately taking down the Razorbacks in Fayetteville, 63-57. It was an ugly win for Kentucky, which scored under 65 points for the second game in a row. The high-powered offense was suddenly nowhere to be found.

That was over a month ago now though. A lot has happened since then. At the time of Kentucky’s win, Arkansas dropped to 1-6 against SEC competition despite Eric Musselman’s squad entering the season projected to finish third in the league — one spot ahead of the ‘Cats. Arkansas hasn’t exactly recovered since that tough loss, now sitting on a 14-14 overall record with a 5-10 mark in the SEC.

The Hogs haven’t lived up to the preseason billing. There was almost too much roster turnover — and the untimely injury here and there — in the offseason, preventing Arkansas from building any consistency throughout the year. The Razorbacks currently rank 122nd in KenPom, third-worst among all SEC teams, and is coming off a loss to Vanderbilt, the lowest-ranked SEC program according to KenPom (192nd).

All this is exactly why John Calipari doesn’t want his group overlooking the Hogs when they come to Lexington this weekend. In the first matchup, Arkansas actually led the ‘Cats for over 25 minutes, was up by two at halftime, and led by six with 15 minutes to go. It wasn’t until the final 10 minutes that Kentucky began to take control and found a way to steal the road win.

“This game coming up, it is a really dangerous game because they had us beat down there, Arkansas,” Calipari said during his weekly radio show on Wednesday night. “I mean we were dead to rights and with three or four minutes to go it was a tie game and we ended up winning. This is a trap game.”

For those unfamiliar, a trap game is essentially one where, for varying reasons, a team overlooks the opponent. Oftentimes is because of what lies ahead on the schedule. For Kentucky, that could mean the regular-season finale against No. 4 Tennessee in Knoxville next weekend.

A trap game could also refer to a team not expecting a big challenge from the opponent, especially after said team just reeled off a positive stretch. For Kentucky, that could mean basking too much in big wins over Alabama and Mississippi State, and not locking in as much against Arkansas.

But whatever the case may be in this situation, this is certainly a game where Kentucky cannot afford to lack any focus. The ‘Cats now sit tied for fourth in the SEC standings alongside both Auburn and Florida. With three regular-season games left, Kentucky needs to go, at worst, 2-1 to have a chance at a double-bye in the SEC Tournament.

A slip-up against Arkansas could spoil that dream before it gets too real. The Razorbacks will step into Rupp Arena on Saturday as significant underdogs. KenPom currently predicts UK to win 91-76 with a 91 percent chance at pulling off the victory. CBS will broadcast the game. There will be plenty of eyes on the ‘Cats in this one.