
Vicky Graff Photo
Adou Thiero and DJ Wagner both had played plenty of games in Rupp Arena for coach John Calipari but Saturday was the first time they played a game in Rupp Arena when Calipari was coaching Arkansas and they were playing for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas was just 1-6 in SEC play entering the game and an 11-point underdog but beat the Cats 89-79.
Thiero scored 21 points and got to the foul line 12 times. He also had eight rebounds and three steals. His energy level was higher than any other player’s on either team and he was the best player in the game.
Wagner was DOMINANT in the second half when he scored all 17 of his points. Kentucky had NO ONE who could guard him or slow him down and he went 7-for-8 from the field in the second half. Maybe even more importantly he had eight assists in 37 1/2 minutes and just one turnover.
Here is what they both had to say after the historic win in Calipari’s return to Rupp Arena.
DJ Wagner
On shooting well from three…
“It really wasn’t a big emphasis. Coach said just come here and play with confidence and have fun. Throughout the season, some games we struggled from the three-point line, but Coach always said in practice, just from how much work we put into practice, stuff like that. Shots are going to fall one game, shots going to fall some games, but we can’t really focus the game on that: missing or making shots. A big emphasis was really just defense, just fighting because that’s what makes us who we are, playing defense and fighting, and if shots fall, then it’s going to be good for us.”
On the emotions coming into the game…
“I felt a lot of emotions, that’s the thing, just walking back in the gym for the first time, being on the other side, on a different team, shooting around as a different team, so it kind of felt like a little weird. Once that was over, it was a little bit easier to lock in and stuff like that and just playing today. The atmosphere was just great. I feel like everybody loves to play in atmospheres like that, so it was fun for me, going out there and just seeing how crazy it was, how crazy everybody was going, it was fun.”
On how sweet the victory is for Calipari and former players…
“Knowing we came from here, we came from this school, it just felt good to be able to come back, see some familiar faces and stuff like that, just being able to get the win here.”
Adou Thiero
On the emotions of playing in Rupp…
“I kinda got my emotions out of the way, you know, last night when we came in. Just taking a look at everything and embracing everything, like a lot of memories were made here. Just coming into the game today, it’s another regular game. So, we have to go out there and play as hard as we can, and try and get the W, and we were able to do that today.”
On how sweet the victory was…
“You know, we had a decent bit of W’s here while we were here, so it feels good to walk out of here with another one.”
On the talk about Coach Cal coming back…
“It was mostly like we all were coming back, either we were already here, or was supposed to come here. We were like, you know, we gotta go out and play. Everybody else on the team, you know, they just had our backs. Went in there, played hard, and we knew how much this game meant to all of us.”
2 Responses
The difference in this game was the absence of Boogie Fland. Arkansas is a totally different team without him…a much better team from top to bottom. Sure, Fland is good, but he was the tail that was wagging the dog…or the hog in this case. Congrats on the win…you deserved it.
Difference in this game was opposing team and coaching staff having a real game plan and ours not having a clue or interested in protecting home turf and coaching/play with UK pride. This one on the Popester.