Where does UK basketball go after an ugly, yet important, road win? John Calipari explains.

It wasn’t particularly pretty, or easy, but Kentucky basketball got the job done in a hostile environment.

Despite struggling offensively for long stretches on the road Saturday night at Arkansas, UK had enough in the tank to eke out a 63-57 win over a struggling Razorbacks team.

Kentucky (15-4, 5-2 SEC) missed 15 of its first 16 shots and didn’t establish a lead against the host Hogs (10-10, 1-6 SEC) until the second half.

And when accounting for the disastrous outing the Cats had earlier this week at South Carolina, there was a stretch of nearly 55 minutes of basketball in which UK never held a lead.

But even when the offense wasn’t flowing for Kentucky on Saturday — UK shot just 36.5% from the field — Arkansas was never able to pull away by more than 10 points.

For just the third time this season, UK held an opponent to 63 points or fewer. This defensive effort bought Kentucky’s best offensive players enough time to get things going.

Fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves led the way with 24 points, and freshman Reed Sheppard scored all 14 of his points in the second half. Fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell had his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Sophomore Adou Thiero returned for the Wildcats after missing seven straight games with a back injury, but Kentucky remained short-handed for a 19th time this season (that’s every game of the season) as star freshman guard Rob Dillingham was held out with an illness.

It was a slog of a performance from head coach John Calipari’s team, especially when taking into account the disaster that the Arkansas program is at the moment.

But a win is a win in the SEC, and Saturday’s did come with a bit of history behind it: Previously, Arkansas had won 24 straight home games in which it led at halftime. The Hogs were up two at the break over the Wildcats.

Afterward, Calipari met with media members at Bud Walton Arena to discuss the game, and where Kentucky goes from here.

Here’s everything the Kentucky head coach said:

Question about Kentucky winning despite shooting poorly from the field.

(Calipari explains that he used to like games where his team shot a low percentage, but he still won, when he was younger and the head coach at UMass).

I’m like, ‘That’s the greatest game ever,’ because it ends up being a rock fight, and you figure out because somewhere along the line, that’s going to happen. And do you have the wherewithal to finish that game?

Neither one of us could make a shot. And I know everybody out here will be panicking and all that other stuff. Last year, (Eric) Musselman, they were 1-5 (in the SEC) and they went to the Sweet 16. If (Arkansas) chooses, they’ve got enough talent, if they choose to come together, they’ve got a coach whose proven, he’s done it. They’ve just got to come together.

Do we have to play them again? (Yes). Alright, let’s hope they come together after they come in and we play them again.

I feel for (Musselman) because I’ve been there and shots don’t fall.

Did we start the game 0-for-14? (1-for-16). And I told them at halftime, tell me, ‘Coach you’ve got unbelievable patience.’ Because I’m watching them miss layups. And I said, ‘It’s good to have you back, Adou. Missing layups.’

Question about what Calipari has seen from the UK offense against South Carolina and Arkansas.

We would not fight back. We let (South Carolina) do whatever they wanted to do to us. Today, we fought back.

Now, I had to spend two days — this time of year we’re starting February, that’s a month and then you’re in March, right? — I never scrimmage this time of year... This team, we went an hour and 15 minutes of scrimmage on Thursday.

And then we went 40 minutes of scrimmage yesterday. I’ve never done that, but after South Carolina, what are you going to do? You can’t talk them through it. You can’t show them. You get them on the court and you make them go nose-to-nose and you hold them accountable. For setting screens. For setting your man up. Defensively, doing what they’re doing to us. Rebounding, creating space and going after balls.

Now the problem with that is, what could happen? Somebody could get hurt. I’m not going to lose, but if I have to I do.

What happened on Friday? Justin (Edwards) got hit and went down and he was able to get treatment, but now he’s a little hobbled because of that. We have enough guys that we can overcome it. But, that’s why I don’t do it.

Now, my guess is we’ll be off tomorrow. Monday I may do exactly the same thing. The same kind of practice. Here we go.

I don’t know why we started so shaky. I don’t know why. But I’ll say this, what did Ugo (Ugonna Onyenso) do for us today? Ugo was the difference in the game.

Now, you say, ‘Well what does that do?’ He probably moves up. You know, he may start now, and Aaron (Bradshaw) may come off the bench with Z (Zvonimir Ivisic).

Z’s just got to catch up to us. And he’ll be fine. And he was happy as heck after the game. We won, so he’s not worried about it.

D..J. (Wagner) had a stretch where I had to take him out. You’re not doing that. You’re not playing that way. And then he went back in and he finished the game off.

He listens, so coachable, most coachable kid that responds to what I say to do. Does exactly it at a high level...

And if you want to know with Rob (Dillingham), we found out at the shootaround that his stomach and all that, and I said, ‘Well then go back to the hotel. See if you can get ready for the game.’ And at about 12:45 I got the message that he wasn’t going to play.

Now what do I do with the rotation? If I had two days, but then I called the guards in and I said, ‘You know what, it’s not bad. One guy’s misery is another guy’s opportunity.’ You guys are going to get a lot of minutes tonight.

Question about Kentucky’s ability to play through contact at the rim.

Early on, and they were throwing their body in to get a foul and we never get that call. Ever. We’re not getting that call. They’ll say, ‘Your man’s body made his arms come down.’ They’ll say whatever. I mean, we’re not getting the call.

I told them, ‘Stop doing that.’ If you can’t avoid them, come to a stop, ball fake and pass it. D.J. got like three shots blocked. Are you not seeing what’s happening? And then he comes out and throws it for a three and does all the stuff he did down the stretch.

Reed (Sheppard) and I, and I told him, ‘You come up to me in the game and you say stick with me coach. Just stick with me.’ Because in South Carolina, he had the deer in the headlights look and I didn’t go back to him. If he had come up to me and (said), ‘Just stick with me. I’ll be fine,’ I probably would have played him... Because we were searching for everything.

But this was one, again, we were able to grind it and figure out, we did stuff we haven’t done all year and I’ve got a really smart team that we can do it, to try to... Most teams are scouting to the point of it’s ridiculous. So you almost have to put wrinkles in and tweak stuff week to week.

Question about getting Justin Edwards to produce more.

He’s got to get himself jump-started. The way you build your confidence is through demonstrated performance on that court, where you build your own confidence. Part of it is make really easy plays. Don’t try to do crazy stuff. Don’t do stuff that’s going to lead to turnovers or missed layups or bad shots.

Defend, rebound, dive on the floor, get a breakout, dunk it. Make an open three, bang. All of a sudden, I got this.

Now, let me say this: There is no one on my team, well, you’ve got three guys that have elevated their work. It’s Jordan (Burks), and I just want him to get a chance to play. Antonio (Reeves), and Justin. Justin was in the gym the other night at 11 o’clock, getting up shots.

He’s trying to build (confidence), now he’s got to carry over what he’s doing, demonstrated performance in a game. Not for me, for himself. He did some stuff today that was good.

He’s not there yet, but that’s all right. I told him I believe in him. I know how good he is.

Question about learning how to win ugly.

I told them after, and I also told them, ‘You needed to experience South Carolina.’ You’d rather it, for me at my age, a close win that you better learn from.

Like, no, we needed to get absolutely clipped like we did. And we never responded the whole game. It was a four-point game, I had to show them the tape, you’ve got me talking South Carolina.

We lost the game in two-and-a-half minutes. It was a four-point game. And in two-and-a-half minutes it was a 13-point game. And it was three turnovers, bad shots and then bad defense down the other end when we’re not talking and they’re making open threes... Now, I will say somebody told me (Meechie Johnson)went 0-for-9 today, and he made all those 3s.

He went 0-for-9 today. They don’t go 0-for-9 against us.

Question about Ugonna Onyenso’s performance (6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks).

I liked what’s he’s been through: The foot, having to wait his turn, fighting for what you want. I keep telling him, ‘The rest of your basketball life, nothing will be given to you. You either take it, or someone will take it from you.’

Then you can complain and show your attitude and you’ll be in the G League. And then you rally get mad and show your attitude and you’ll be in the YMCA league. That’s the next league.

So, you’ve got to stand your ground and fight. And if someone’s better than you, then you’ve got to work on being better than him. And an area (in which) you can maybe be better. It’s like I’ve said, everyone on this team is different. Just be the best you, and we’ll be fine. And then everyone will benefit by it.

But this was a “College Gameday,” and the shootaround they weren’t as locked in. They were spirited, but they weren’t locked in. And again here’s what happens in a huddle, you’re in a huddle trying to talk but you’ve got two or three of the guys in the huddle (Calipari mimics players arguing in a huddle): ‘OK, what are we doing? What are we running?’

And that’s when you’re into your stuff, you can be into our stuff. Your mind doesn’t work that way. You’re either focusing on you, or you’re focusing on us. And today at the shootaround, they were like kind of into their own stuff.

I got a little aggressive with them, but I told them, ‘Listen, I’m going to be positive in this game tonight. But right now, I’m not letting this go.’

But I’ve got a good team, and I told them, ‘We’ve got a good team. Let’s be that team.’ And we’re a little short-handed right now, but guys are starting to step up and get better and make plays.

I was happy for Reed. Reed did good stuff today.

That’s who he is, he’s just like his mother. That’s how she played. His dad shot it every time. His mother got assists and deflections and still scored. Ran the team and, you know.

John Calipari shakes up Kentucky starting lineup. Justin Edwards will come off the bench.

Box score from No. 6 Kentucky basketball’s 63-57 SEC win at Arkansas

Shot charts from No. 6 Kentucky basketball’s 63-57 win at Arkansas

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