NEW YORK — Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari has demanded patience and preached a process during his first season in Fayetteville.
But when push comes to shove, the Razorbacks can’t just rely on the hope of improvement. They need results, and they earned their most emphatic victory of the season Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.
Arkansas (8-2) rallied, then hung on for dear life in an 89-87 win over No. 14 Michigan inside Madison Square Garden. The Hogs trailed by 15 in the first half, led by 18 midway through the second and watched a buzzer-beater from Michigan’s Roddy Gayle Jr. brick off the front rim to avoid overtime.
The victory over the Wolverines (8-2) comes one week after the Hogs went on the road and rallied in the final minutes to beat Miami. These two finishes have Calipari feeling he vindicated his desire for tranquility among the Arkansas fans despite a slow start to the year.
“Having a will to win, that’s when you know,” Calipari said. “We have a will to win. Let’s get the rest of the stuff together. These kids haven’t stopped fighting all year.”
According to Michigan coach Dusty May, Arkansas’ physically sparked the will to win Tuesday.
Despite going against a team with two 7-footers, the Hogs won the rebounding battle 34-32. Their determination to prevent easy baskets and hold up on the glass sparked a 12-0 run to open the second half. In total, Arkansas outscored Michigan 66-33 during the middle 20 minutes.
But the comeback started in the first half, when Arkansas fell behind by double figures for a fourth straight game against a Power 4 team. The Hogs turned Michigan’s 15-point lead with 8:58 on the clock into a four-point deficit at halftime.
“We ran and played faster and we spread the court, we made some baskets, made a three, and then we got our wheels underneath us,” Calipari said.
Physicality and transition offense can only get a team so far, though, and the players made sure to leave their mark on the win.
The backcourt tandem of Boogie Fland and DJ Wagner controlled the game during the Hogs’ hottest spurt. Fland had 20 points and seven assists on the night, while Wagner chipped in 16.
“We’re going to always feed off each other,” Fland said. “I feed off his energy and he feeds off mine and we’re just going to be the best guards we can be.”
Trevon Brazile was one of the other heroes for Arkansas. Yes, he missed three critical free throws in the final minute that could have put the game to bed, but he also had a game-saving block on Vlad Goldin to maintain a one-point lead in the dying seconds.
Add it all up, even with the stumbles across the final 10 minutes, and this is what Calipari envisioned for his team. Arkansas 50% shooting overall, 39.1% from 3 and forced 17 turnovers.
There aren’t any marquee non-conference games left on the schedule. The Hogs will face Central Arkansas, NC A&T and Oakland before opening life in the SEC against No. 1 Tennessee.
Calipari wouldn’t put any added emphasis on the win over Michigan to his triumph over Miami, but in a packed Madison Square Garden in front of a national audience, the Hogs needed to find a way.
They did just that, and now they can build off their will to win.
