Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

2/24/2011 at 12:30am

Image by Mark Wagner

Arkansas guard Rotnei Clarke scored 26 points to help the Razorbacks to a win against No. 22 Kentucky.

John Pelphrey didn’t have to explain what he meant this time.

Knocking off No. 22 Kentucky 77-76 in overtime was indeed an overachievement for the Razorbacks. Arkansas exceeded expectations with the victory Wednesday and ended a decade-long losing streak against the Wildcats.

Pelphrey did ask media — tongue in cheek — if it was OK to use the "O" word. Honestly, there seems like no better way to describe what Arkansas (17-10, 6-7) accomplished. Some observers viewed Pelphrey's frequent use of "overachieve" as an insult to his players. Others (like this guy) questioned if the word was being used in its proper context.

“Am I allowed to use it? Is it OK to say it? Overachieving is a mentality. It’s not a derogatory comment,” Pelphrey said. “… It’s a work ethic. It’s something all the great ones have — the programs and players. You can’t win in this league unless you overachieve.”

Arkansas did just that Wednesday as 14,073 looked on in Bud Walton Arena. No argument here.

Entering the night the team had lost four of five SEC games and appeared on the verge of again collapsing to close the year. Instead, the Razorbacks managed — at least for the night — to take some heat off Pelphrey, who was greeted on the way to the locker room by Athletic Director Jeff Long.

To make it sweeter, Pelphrey got a victory against his alma matter thanks to the Razorbacks turning in a performance that few expected. Pelphrey himself told a TV analyst prior to the game his team needed some “magic” to knock off the Wildcats. Certainly, the Razorbacks were fortunate Brandon Knight missed shots at the end of regulation and overtime despite scoring 26.

But it took more than Knight's misses for an Arkansas victory. Guards Julysses Nobles, Jeff Peterson and Marcus Britt all came up with unexpected plays to help the Razorbacks win their first overtime game of the season. Peterson came up with a loose ball on a failed Kentucky possession and got the ball to Britt for what wound up as the game-winning basket with 16 seconds left.

Nobles scored 10 points, including a game-tying bucket at the end of regulation. What Nobles might lack in talent he makes up for with a willingness to attempt clutch plays down the stretch. It showed when he got his own rebound on a missed shot and followed up with a score to make it 70-all before time expired in the second half.

No Arkansas player embodied the lay-it-on-the-line approach more than center Delvon Johnson. He was in the training room at 5 a.m. receiving treatment for a painful hip pointer, yet gritted out six points and seven rebounds in 34 minutes.

Johnson was injured in the first half of the Alabama loss. He tried to play in that game, but couldn’t and was a game-time decision against the Wildcats.

“I’m not sure people understand how courageous that effort was,” Pelphrey said. “He probably didn’t have any business playing. He was huge for us.”

Even regular contributors Rotnei Clarke and Marshawn Powell came up bigger than usual. Clarke scored 26, including going 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. Powell, who has looked uninterested at times this season, added 22 and grabbed 10 rebounds in a performance reminiscent of his all-SEC freshman team season last year.

It was the Razorbacks first victory against a Top 25 team at home since 2008-09. Surely you remember Arkansas knocking off No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas in the same week to improve to 12-1 that year. Inexplicably, things came crashing down after that. Arkansas entered Wednesday’s game against the Wildcats 32-32 since the week when so many of us proclaimed, “Arkansas basketball was back.”

Was knocking off Kentucky enough to keep heat off of Pelphrey the rest of the year and guarantee him a chance to coach that Top 5 recruiting class coming in? Can the victory against the Wildcats erase the pair of 30-point losses earlier this season? Does it negate the blown opportunities against Georgia and Ole Miss at home?

Those are tough questions to answer with three regular season games remaining. We do know if the team plays at Auburn, against Mississippi State and at Ole Miss like it did Wednesday against Kentucky, a 20-win season is still a possibility.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari lauded the Razorbacks for their toughness throughout his postgame session with media. Calipari, whose team fell to 1-6 on the road, noted the Razorbacks’ “fight” and pointed to that as the difference in the game.

The Wildcats held a 46-43 rebounding advantage, but failed to come up with some critical loose balls at the end of regulation. Calipari thought the Razorbacks played like their coach’s job was on the line.

“Anytime your team is up against it like this team was, to come out and play like that says a lot about John as a coach,” Calipari said. “They’re fighting for him. They’re playing for him.”

They Razorbacks did fight. They did play hard. And they did — as their coach has asked them to so often — overachieve.

Tagged: Kentucky Wildcats, Arkansas Razorbacks, Southeastern Conference, John Calipari, Julysses Nobles, John Pelphrey