SAN FRANCISCO — John Calipari spent most of the final minutes with two hands raised to the sky, watching on from the sideline as a pair of bad habits ended his first season with Arkansas basketball.
The 10th-seeded Razorbacks (22-14) fell 85-83 in overtime to No. 3 Texas Tech on Thursday in the Sweet 16. A 3-pointer from Darrion Williams with 9.7 seconds left in the second half forced an extra period, and Williams won the game in overtime for the Red Raiders (28-8) with a right-handed spinner off the glass. Calipari didn’t call timeout after Williams’ bucket with seven seconds on the clock, and D.J. Wagner missed a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer.
But the game was lost well before Williams broke the Hogs’ hearts. Arkansas two Achilles’ heels throughout the season have been its defensive rebounding and its inability to hold on to big leads.
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Like a ghost through fog, both blemishes crept into the night’s storyline and eventually ended a dream turnaround to the Razorbacks’ season.
“We gave up a lead but we did that a bunch this year,” Calipari said. “Up 15 and all of a sudden you turn around and it’s a two-point game.”
Arkansas led by as many as 16 points in the second half. Johnell Davis scored a season-high 30 points, while Karter Knox contributed 20. The Hogs made 10 3-pointers and went 19 for 22 from the free-throw line. All those numbers form the perfect recipe for an Arkansas win, and the Razorbacks looked like they might cruise toward the finish line with a 69-56 advantage and 4:43 remaining.
But from there, Texas Tech closed regulation on a 16-3 run. A 3-pointer from Knox was the Razorbacks’ only field goal in the final four minutes. It gave Arkansas a six-point lead with 1:28 on the clock, and that still wasn’t enough.
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More: Arkansas basketball season ends with overtime loss to Texas Tech
Even in recent wins, blowing leads was a noticeable issue for the Hogs. In the first round, Arkansas led Kansas by 11 points early in the second half. Against St. John’s in the Round of 32, the Hogs held a 13-point advantage with 11:32 remaining.
Both games were within one possession inside the final minutes.
And the struggles began well before the NCAA Tournament and remained even as the Hogs engineered a late-season turnaround. Arkansas led Texas by 14 points before needing overtime. The regular-season finale was a one-point victory over Mississippi State after the Hogs held a 16-point lead in the second half. There were costly dry spells against both Ole Miss and South Carolina in the SEC Tournament.
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On the opposing sideline Thursday night, Texas Tech knew it always had a chance, no matter how much the Red Raiders fell behind on the scoreboard.
Mar 27, 2025; San Francisco, CA, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari directs a play downcourt during the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during a West Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images
“I’d seen Arkansas play enough to know that they were pretty volatile in the way the game goes. Get up big in the Kansas game, for example,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “They got up big and Kansas came back and got the lead. They went up big again. So it’s like I’ve seen this team let people in and I’m telling them this is what we want, we want them to get out to a big lead. We’ll find a way.”
The Red Raiders path to victory came on the offensive glass. They averaged 9.1 offensive rebounds per game entering the Sweet 16 and finished with 22 against Arkansas. The Hogs had a meaningful size advantage inside, but it was impossible to notice.
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There was one possession late in regulation when Texas Tech grabbed six offensive rebounds. Federiko Federiko grabbed four of them, and the sequence ended with an open layup that cut the Arkansas lead to 11. Even with the sizable gap, the Red Raiders could feel the impact of the moment.
“I think that’s what kind of started the party,” Texas Tech’s Christian Anderson said. “Shots weren’t falling. So we knew we had to make a point to go rebound our misses because it was such a big lead we had to overcome.”
A party for the Red Raiders is a funeral for Arkansas. An up-and-down season finishes in the Sweet 16, a place no one envisioned Arkansas could reach after an 0-5 start to SEC play.
It’s both fitting and stunning with how Calipari’s first season came to a close. The problems were predictable, but the end result felt completely avoidable.
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“We’re all kind of raw right now,” Calipari said. “I mean, I think they had visions of us continuing to play, and so did I.”
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@gannett.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas basketball can’t overcome bad habits in Sweet 16 loss to Texas Tech
