John Calipari has revenge in his sights in Arkansas' final non-conference matchup

On March 21, Oakland ended Kentucky's season with a shocking upset victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

The latest postseason disappointment was seen as the potential nail in the coffin for then-Kentucky head coach John Calipari, who hadn't led the Wildcats to the second weekend of March Madness since 2019. Kentucky fans were fed up with Calipari and his lack of recent NCAA Tournament success. 

Enter dinosaur nugget magnate John Tyson and Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek, who signed Calipari 20 days after his final game at Kentucky to be Eric Musselman's successor as the head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball team. 

Calipari's signing was the talk of the sports world, and eight months after he was signed, the program that started the entire sequence of events will be paying a visit to Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

The Oakland Golden Grizzlies (4-9) will make the 900-plus-mile trip to Bud Walton Arena on Monday to take on the No. 23 Razorbacks (10-2) in Arkansas' final non-conference game of the 2024-25 season. 

The Golden Grizzlies are far from the 24-12 squad they were a year ago when they defeated Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. The most notable development for the program is the absence of sharpshooter Jack Gohlke, whose 32-point performance against Kentucky made him a March Madness legend overnight. Gohlke now finds himself in the NBA G-League with the Wisconsin Herd. 

Forward Allen Mukeba leads Oakland in scoring with 13.1 points per game, but the lack of a pure scorer such as Gohlke has been made clear in Rochester Hills, Michigan. The Golden Grizzlies are only shooting 40.9% from the field and a paltry 28.5% from beyond the arc. 

Those statistics bode well for Calipari, who saw his legendary run at Kentucky come to a close following an offensive explosion by Oakland nine months ago. 

Arkansas shouldn't have much trouble earning their 11th win of the season and gathering momentum heading into SEC play, but for Calipari, this Monday night contest against a Horizon League team means just a little bit more. 

Tip-off between Arkansas and Oakland is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on Monday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.