Mark Pope has suffered his worst loss at Kentucky thus far. Pope’s No. 12-ranked Wildcats fell 89-79 at home to Arkansas Saturday afternoon — and it wasn’t an ordinary upset defeat. The contest marked Pope’s first meeting with former Kentucky head coach John Calipari, whom Pope replaced after Calipari left for Arkansas last April.

The Kentucky Wildcats have played eight SEC games and currently sit with a 4-4 record in conference play. If the Wildcats want to have a winning record in SEC p

John Calipari made his triumphant return to Rupp Arena, defeating Kentucky 89-79. It was a painful loss for many Kentucky fans, who were hungry to exact revenge on Calipari for leaving the program after initially saying he was returning for the 2024-25 season.

The Wildcats are beating expectations and playing pretty ball in Year 1, but their new coach's link with the fan base is powering the vibes.

You can argue that Pope was outcoached Saturday, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Arkansas attacked Kentucky’s weakness. The visitors’ unexpected 3-point success opened the driving lanes for D.J. Wagner, the former Kentucky point guard who scored all 17 of his points in the second half and was the key to the game.

The Kentucky basketball team dropped its third game in the last four outings on Saturday, this time a painful one against Arkansas and former coach John Calipari. The Razorbacks got hot shooting and never really cooled off.

The Wildcats have now given up more than 1.2 points per possession in 5 of their last 9 power-conference games. Since that streak began on Dec. 21, UK has gone 4-5 in such games and has a schedule-adjusted defensive rating that ranks 162nd nationally, per BartTorvik. Can this issue be fixed?

Mark Pope left BYU 10 months ago to return to his alma mater Kentucky, where he plied his craft at the direction of legendary coach Rick Pitino. Now, as head coach roaming the sidelines of Rupp Arena, that leap of faith is paying off big time.