Nick Richards led No. 10 Kentucky with 17 points and added nine rebounds, helping the Wildcats overcome the ejection of head coach John Calipari in the second half and beat Arkansas 73-66 Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville, Ark.
Calipari disputed a foul call with 8:19 to play in the game, and continued to argue before being sent to the visiting locker room. The Wildcats, down 47-44 after Mason Jones' two free throws, responded with a 17-2 run to take control of the game for good.
Richards made four free throws during the decisive run and Immanuel Quickley's only 3-pointer of the game with 4:11 to play made it 59-49 for Kentucky (13-4 overall, 4-1 SEC) before Keion Brooks Jr. capped the spurt with a jumper and a 12-point lead.
Ashton Hagans added 13 points, six rebounds and six assists while Quickley posted 13 points and 10 rebounds for Kentucky.
After Jimmy Whitt Jr.'s jumper with 7:14 to play gave the Razorbacks a 49-46 edge, Arkansas (14-3, 3-2) went scoreless for almost five minutes. Isaiah Joe's layup with 2:29 left ended the drought, but by then the Wildcats had a double-digit lead.
Jones led the Razorbacks with 19 points. Whitt added 14 and Joe 13 points. Arkansas made just 33.3 percent of its field goals for the game.
Kentucky led by as many as nine points twice in the opening half, and after going ahead 15-12 on a Nate Sestina 3 with 13:24 to go, never trailed until late in the second.
Kentucky lost an 11-point lead earlier in the second half, but Arkansas couldn't overcome poor shooting down the stretch. The Razorbacks, who made just 10 of 34 second-half shots (29.4 percent), lost for the eighth straight time to Kentucky.
Calipari's Kentucky teams improved to 53-13 following a loss. Kentucky fell to South Carolina on Wednesday.
--Field Level Media
Kentucky | Arkansas | |
Nick Richards 17 | Scoring | Mason Jones 19 |
Ashton Hagans 6 | Assists | Adrio Bailey 2 |
Immanuel Quickley 10 | Rebounds | Mason Jones 6 |
Immanuel Quickley 6 | Free Throws Made | Mason Jones 8 |
Tyrese Maxey 2 | Steals | Adrio Bailey 3 |
Nick Richards 2 | Blocks | Adrio Bailey 2 |