Arkansas holds off Kansas 79-72 in March Madness matchup of coaches Calipari and Self

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) John Calipari got past a familiar foe to put himself - and the coach's new school - back on the winning side in March.

Jonas Aidoo scored 22 points to help 10th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks to a 79-72 opening-round NCAA Tournament victory over No. 7 seed Kansas Jayhawks on Thursday night in the latest meeting between two of college basketball’s winningest coaches.

Johnell Davis added 18 points, including some crucial late free throws, to help Calipari to his first tournament victory with the Razorbacks. Freshman standout Boogie Fland played for the first time since having right thumb surgery in January and scored six points in 24 minutes.

“We have to rely on everyone. When you’re down in numbers, everyone’s got to help you," Calipari said. “That’s where we are. The second half, we didn’t shoot it well. We didn’t make 3s, but we made the ones that mattered and we made free throws.”

Arkansas will face No. 2 seed St. John's - led by another national title-winning coach, Rick Pitino - in the second round of the West Region on Saturday.

Zeke Mayo had 18 points for Kansas (21-13), which has made 35 straight NCAA Tournaments and hadn't lost in the first round since 2006 - coach Bill Self's third season at the school. AJ Storr finished with 15 points and Hunter Dickinson added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Thursday’s matchup was the third March Madness meeting between two of the four active win leaders in men’s college basketball. Calipari is second (876), with Self fourth (831) on the list. Both previous meetings were in the national championship game, with each winning once.

Despite having a third consecutive tournament appearance end before the Sweet 16 since Kansas' last national title in 2022, Self doesn't believe the Jayhawks are in decline.

“We’ve got to reevaluate on how we do things and you can’t afford misses," Self said. “In today’s time, there’s going to be schools that do a great job, but still there’s an element of luck involved, I think more now than there was even before.”

Kansas erased an 11-point second-half deficit and nudged ahead 65-64 on a follow shot by Storr with less than six minutes remaining.

The Jayhawks kept the lead until Aidoo connected on a pair of free throws to put the Razorbacks back in front. Arkansas got a stop on the other end and then got a 3-pointer by Davis that gave it a 71-67 cushion with less than two minutes on the clock.

Arkansas’ edge was down to 71-69 before Davis dropped in a pair of free throws. Dickinson missed a 3 on Kansas’ next trip and Arkansas added two more free throws.

The Jayhawks got it back down to 75-72 on a 3-pointer by Rylan Griffen with 13 seconds left. The Razorbacks called back-to-back timeouts trying to get the ball inbounds. They finally did and Davis calmly sank two free throws to help close it out.

“We believed in the moment,” Davis said. “Coach always stayed on us, pushed us, even when we were down and he helped us get through everything.”

Arkansas: Posted its first tournament victory since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2023 under then-coach Eric Musselman.

Kansas: Kansas fell to 47-6 in first-round games.

Kansas forward KJ Adams limped off the court with 3:10 to play with what Self said is an apparent Achilles tendon injury. Adams had 13 points and four rebounds.

“We’re hoping for the best tomorrow. I’m not sure it’s going to be great news, though,” Self said. “It’s one thing to lose the game but to see him potentially lose a year on top of the game, you know, that’s a pretty big blow.”

The Razorbacks face Pitino, the active coach with the most wins. He was also Calipari's longtime rival when he was with Louisville and Calipari coached at Kentucky.

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