Arkansas basketball head coach John Calipari had plenty of nice things to say about Mark Pope, his successor at Kentucky.

Kentucky needed a win in the worst way against its former coach and earned a 85-77 victory Saturday

On Saturday, Kentucky upset No. 15 Arkansas, downing the Razorbacks 85-77 in Bud Walton Arena. The game was personal between the two teams. It’s only the second time Arkansas head coach John Calipari has faced Kentucky since leaving the program following the 2023-24 season.

Mark Pope brought his Kentucky Wildcats into Bud Walton Arena and beat John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks, snapping the Hogs' 17-game home win streak

It set the scene for round two between head coach Mark Pope and the Cats facing former UK head coach and current Arkansas head coach John Calipari. The Razorbacks won round one in Lexington last season,

Arkansas coach John Calipari has mentored some of the best college basketball players in the country, and the veteran coach sees the potential in Razorbacks freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. to become one of the dominant forces in the game in the 2025-26 season.

“I’ll tell you,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said on the Sooner Sports Network postgame show. “The last 72 hours, if people saw the gut punch we had there and to come back and try to prepare for this, I just feel for the guys. I feel for them to battle and everything and to be right there and not be able to get those stops down the stretch.”

Shortly after Auburn basketball and Steven Pearl beat Arkansas, John Calipari explained why he's rooting for his latest opponent.