John Calipari prepared for "really hard" matchup vs. Arkansas

It’s been an up-and-down season for Eric Musselman and the Arkansas Razorbacks. Coming in with three five-star McDonald’s All-American signees, expectations were understandably high, with dreams of an SEC title run potentially within reach.

The Razorbacks started the year 11-1 and found themselves ranked as high as No. 10 in the NET, a real threat not just in the league, but all of college basketball. And that was with blue-chip freshman Nick Smith Jr. limited to just five games due to a knee injury. What could they be with him back at full strength when conference play rolled around?

They learned the hard way just how tough things would be without the star guard, losing five of six games to open the SEC schedule, three being 13-plus-point losses. That point, John Calipari says, is where you learn who you are as a team and as a coach.

“They were ranked really high, a top-10 team. And I’ll say this about Coach Muss, they were 1-5 in our league. Now real coaching happens,” Calipari said during his call-in radio show Monday evening. “You’re 5-0, and you’re all smacking each other, ‘Hey, we’re great!’ OK, now be 1-5 and deal with it. That is what coaching is.”

How would Musselman respond? The Razorbacks would go on to win four of their next five games, their lone loss being a 67-64 road matchup at Baylor in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Four straight wins against conference foes.

“This game we have coming up with Arkansas, they’ve won four league games in a row,” Calipari said. “They’re getting their groove there. Physically, they’ll battle you. They’ve got good guard play, their big guards are big. This will be a really hard game for us.

“Arkansas is really good and they’re really playing well. … He’s done a terrific job with this team.”

The wins have come in a variety of ways. The streak started with a 12-point win vs. Ole Miss, then a 20-point win vs. LSU, not breaking the 70-point mark in either. Then the slip-up in Waco before another double-digit win vs. Texas A&M where the Razorbacks scored 81 points at home. Most recently, though, a 65-63 win at South Carolina — the worst team in the SEC.

What they’ve shown in that stretch: guard play is impressive and they’re willing to battle on both ends. They also fight on the glass with some long, physical bigs. And Musselman is Musselman.

Overall, a very real challenge for the Wildcats.

“They are an unbelievable driving team,” Calipari said. “They’re an unbelievable offensive rebounding team. Their guards can break you down one-on-one as good as anybody this year. Their bigs are physical and long, they defend. They’re good. They’re well-coached. It’ll be a hard game for us, going to be a really hard game.”

It’s similar to the message associate head coach Orlando Antigua had earlier regarding the Razorbacks.

“Expecting a tough challenge. They’ve won four in a row in conference. They’ve got a really talented team, three of the best guards in the league and they’re gonna be well-prepared,” Antigua said. “They’ve got a great coach in Coach Musselman. We know that games in conference right now at this point in the season, in February, they’re all hard. We need to be at our best and we’re playing at a great pace, a great rhythm right now, and want to continue that.”

That challenge is set to take place at Rupp Arena on Tuesday, with tip-off scheduled for 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.