JUST-IN: “Unbelievable Chaos in Lexington: Arkansas Stuns No. 12 Kentucky with 89-79 Upset—Fans Boo Mark Pope and His Players!”

Kentucky Wildcats fans started Saturday night by booing John Calipari, but by the end, they were booing Mark Pope and his players instead.

In a shocking turn of events in Lexington, the Arkansas Razorbacks played their best game of a lackluster season, stunning the No. 12 Wildcats with an 89–79 upset victory. Calipari, who had spent years frustrating Kentucky fans as their coach, now found himself doing the same as an opponent. It was as if “Swaggy Cal” had made a triumphant return, much to the displeasure of Big Blue Nation.

With just over three minutes left, as the outcome was all but decided, fans began rushing for the exits, eager to avoid witnessing Cal’s celebration. While Kentucky had been enjoying its post-Cal breakup during the early months of the season, Saturday night flipped the script.

For those fans who remained until the final whistle, boos rang out, though not as harshly as the ones heard in Ohio after the Buckeyes’ football loss to Michigan. Nonetheless, the discontent from the crowd was unmistakable.

This was a brutal outcome for Big Blue Nation, and a sweet one for Calipari, who proved that even a decade after his prime, it’s still unwise to count him out. “It’s hard to win in here,” Calipari remarked after the game. “I looked up a couple times [at the scoreboard] and thought we were losing because I kept looking at Kentucky instead of Arkansas. … It was 15 years here.”

Though Calipari had many successful years at Kentucky, recent seasons had been underwhelming, with the Wildcats only managing one national championship in his tenure. Arkansas, which had struggled early on with a 12–8 record and a 1–6 SEC start, arrived at Rupp Arena on the fringes of NCAA tournament contention but left the game with renewed hopes, though they still need several more wins to solidify their position.

For Mark Pope and his overachieving Wildcats, the loss may signal the end of their honeymoon period. Pope, a former captain of Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team, had stated last spring that he understood the assignment, with this game being a key part of it. As ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes pointed out earlier in the week, there was significant pressure on Pope to win this game—pressure that only intensified after such a disappointing defeat.