On Saturday, former Kentucky Wildcats’ men’s basketball coach John Calipari returned to Rupp Arena at the helm of the Arkansas Razorbacks. And Calipari’s new team bested his old one, beating the then-No. 12 Wildcats 89-79. That made for some solid material for the upcoming Calipari: Razor’s Edge Omaha Productions/Vice Media docuseries on Calipari and the Razorbacks. And they released a clip of it exclusively first to AA Tuesday, featuring Calipari’s pregame and postgame speeches from that win:
That’s an interesting clip for a few reasons. For one, while emotions were likely running high for Calipari ahead of this homecoming against Kentucky (where he was the Wildcats’ head coach from 2009 through 2024, winning a national title in 2012), the pregame speech has him quite composed. It has him emphasizing to his team “Battle. Physical. Without fouls,” and noting that “Something at the basket is a two, it is not a touchdown. They score one at the rim, do not leave your feet. The longer this game goes, the longer you keep fighting, it’s on them even more.”
That advice wound up ringing true. Arkansas was only up 46-45 at the half, but opened the second half with a 12-2 run and came away with a convincing win. That was just the Razorbacks’ second victory in SEC play this season (they’re now 13-8 and 2-6 in conference, well below Kentucky’s 15-6 and 4-4 marks), but it was an important one, especially considering the history here for Calipari (who was booed by some Wildcats’ fans, and got a bit emotional about the return in a postgame press conference). And this clip also has Calipari speaking to his team postgame about how he believed they had this in them.
“Here’s what I loved about today. You never quit for 40 minutes. You’ve done this all season, we just haven’t executed like this. You locked in.”
Calipari then goes on to talk about only playing Billy Richmond III for 10 minutes off the bench (he finished with four points, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal), and saluting Richmond for the impact he made in those moments.
“I took Billy out, I didn’t play him much, he said ‘I’m good, Coach.’ That’s how it had to be. Did Billy make a difference in this game? Yes, he did!”
While Calipari’s certainly been known for plenty of media appearances before, this docuseries looks interesting for providing a level of locker-room access that’s rare to see in the college ranks. And it’s great that they were there to capture behind-the-scenes moments from an unexpected and significant homecoming win like this.
This is also a notable part of Vice Media’s recent move to ramp up their sports content, especially for linear channel Vice TV. Calipari: Razor’s Edge will premiere there at 10 p.m. ET on Monday, Feb. 10. And a series on Rick Pitino (Pitino: Red Storm Rising) will premiere Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 10 p.m. ET. And Vice is also wrapping up their Brady vs. Belichick: The Verdict series tonight, with the final episode there airing at 10 p.m. ET this evening.
Thus, it’s quite the moment for Vice and sports. That’s an area they did emphasize at points in the past, but one that hasn’t been as much of a focus for them since a 2017 shift. But they’re getting back into sports in a notable way, including with these media projects and with the recent addition of former Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan to their board of directors. And it will be interesting to see both how this Calipari series and their wider return to linear sports content work out.
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.