SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2025

John Calipari

Jonas Aidoo

D.J. Wagner

Bridgestone Arena

Arkansas Razorbacks

Postgame Press Conference

Arkansas 72, South Carolina 68

THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Arkansas. We'll ask Coach for some general thoughts on the game, then take questions.

JOHN CALIPARI: At this point, you want to win games. I'll look at the tape and figure out. But I just thought we got tentative and was trying to get out of the gym. You can't play that way.

We have a bunch of guys that compete and did what they had to to win the game, so I'm happy. Would you like to have it a big score? Yeah. But at this time of the year, everybody's fighting for their lives.

South Carolina, in a different league, they're good. They got big guys. They got guards. I mean, this league is unforgiving.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. D.J., you obviously hit the shot, just about a 12-minute drought without a field goal. What was that play like?

D.J. WAGNER: It felt good, just seeing I had the open shot. Just taking that shot. My coach and my teammates influencing all of us. Like if we got plays, make 'em. I was open. I shot it. I know my team and coaches had confidence in me to take that shot. It went in. That's what happened.

Q. Jonas, you talked about your health, how much better you've been playing. How much did you want to establish dominance early in the first half?

JONAS AIDOO: Real early. We know they kind of punked us last game in front of the home crowd. Coming in the tournament, knowing we want to win as many games as we can, get to the championship. Had to dominate them as soon as we saw them.

Q. D.J., when the regular season ends and the post-season begins, the pressure levels ratchet up. Can you talk about how you felt going out on the court and the difference between the pressure at Arkansas and the pressure last year at Kentucky.

D.J. WAGNER: I feel like we was all excited just to come out here and play. I feel like we was very prepared. We was all ready for the moment. We excited for the post-season.

I feel like when it comes to pressure and stuff like that, it's all about working. I feel when you work, it gets rid of the pressure. You know you worked on a lot of stuff.

Coach always influence us to go out there and play free. That takes the pressure away when you go out there, make sure you're playing free and having fun.

Q. You ended the first half on an 11-0 run. How important was that stretch of play heading into the second half?

JONAS AIDOO: Really important. We try to get out in transition as much as we can, get stops, get out in transition. I feel like that helped a lot. Like Coach said, we got tentative. We can't do that next game. We got to keep going at them every single time.

D.J. WAGNER: We knew coming in, it's a great team. Every team in this tournament is a great team. Just to make that run, it was good for us going into the half feeling good. We knew we had to fight the whole game. They're a great team. We knew they wasn't going to quit. They kept fighting. We had to play 40 minutes.

Q. D.J., the SEC is projected to send 13 teams to the NCAA tournament this year. How has playing in a conference this gritty and tough prepared the team for the cutthroat nature of the March Madness tournament?

D.J. WAGNER: I feel like it's prepared us for lot. We blessed and grateful to be able to play in this conference. That's what you dream of, to compete against the best of the best. That's what we've been doing all year.

Every game is not easy at all. That's something we know, just stand prepared, knowing no game is going to be easy. I feel like it's prepared us for post-season a lot. Every game in post-season is not going to be easy. Everybody playing for their life.

Q. Jonas, first half you finished with 14 points, second half didn't score at all. Something that South Carolina did or the foul trouble?

JONAS AIDOO: No, I just wasn't being aggressive, looking for my shot as much as I was in the first half. I definitely got to do better with that, tell my teammates where I want the ball, be more aggressive on the offensive end in the second half, for sure.

Q. Jonas, last game Nick had 18 points against you guys. Just three today. Being on the inside defensively, what did you do differently to prevent him?

JONAS AIDOO: We knew to clog up the paint a lot. We knew the bigs last game, they combined for 56 points. We didn't want that to happen again. That was really embarrassing. We had everybody show their body and throw them off a little bit. I'm glad we did better, for sure.

Q. D.J., you've scored in double figures six of the last seven games. What do you think in your mind has been the key to heating up?

D.J. WAGNER: Really just going out there, playing with a free mind, playing aggressive. Just really taking whatever the defense gives me.

My teammates help me a lot, finding me on open plays. Like last year, I hit in this game. You know, that was my teammates getting the ball to me.

A lot of that. Shooting open shots, being confident in making them. Playing aggressive. My coaches influence me to play aggressive, go out there and play. I feel like that's what it really is. My teammates help me, making it easy for me to make the right play because they getting open and stuff like that. I feel like that's what it's been.

THE MODERATOR: We'll excuse the student-athletes. We'll continue with questions for Coach Calipari.

D.J. WAGNER: Thank y'all.

Q. In the last three wins, Texas, Mississippi State and today, you had double-digit leads in the second half that were cut down to single possessions. Is that something that's a concern for you?

JOHN CALIPARI: First of all, you got to say, Geez, you got up double figures on all those teams.

What's happened is, it kind of tells you that we're still in the process of getting better. Did we win all those games?

Q. Yes.

JOHN CALIPARI: We figured out how to win 'em. Did we let people back in the game with a chance to beat us? Yes. All of 'em.

Now it's that time of year where you're going to show some tape and just say, Was this necessary? Was this necessary? Let's got beat ourselves.

But this team... Let me tell you, whether it's individuals who were in a dark place, whether it was our team, we start 0-5. Some of it was schedule, some of it was us. These kids stayed together. Then we have an injury. Starts with an injury to Jonas where he has to have an operation and be out four months. Nelly falls off a golf cart and hurts his wrist. Shooting hand. Then you have another kid flip off a scooter. Out. Another kid, concussion. Out four months. Boogie goes down right before our game with Georgia, two days before. And now Aidoo.

This team has withstood all of it. I'm telling them, the rest of their lives, you're going to be able to look back knowing individually they were in a dark place. You walk through it.

Yes, we had to keep building guys up, keep coaching individuals, all that stuff. But we're not on the court with 'em. They're out there. Nelly missed a layup, then came back and made all the free throws.

Well, a little while ago he didn't miss the layup and he missed two free throws. He's walked through the fire. All these kids have. All I know is we're playing our best basketball. We're letting people back in the game; still winning. But let's see. There were other teams we played we put away. We got up and then put 'em away. They never had a chance. Some of the others...

The last thing on this. They're all good teams. One kid had 40 points against us, Texas. Johnson. I mean, he made every basket, five, six in a row. Going to close the game, make it closer.

Proud of these kids really. Bunch of good kids, too. We got to get Z going, though. Z has to play. I'm telling you, it's not offensively. Defend and rebound and do those things so we can get you back on track offensively 'cause if we want to win, he's going to have to be a part of this.

Q. Does this win in your mind make the NCAA tournament a certainty?

JOHN CALIPARI: I don't know. I'm not in the room.

Q. Either of the guys that are out right now, do you expect Boogie or Aidoo to have a chance to come back this season?

JOHN CALIPARI: Depends on how far we advance.

Q. Not in this tournament?

JOHN CALIPARI: Not in this tournament. We advance a couple weeks, maybe.

Q. Looked like the last free throw you kind of embraced Nelly.

JOHN CALIPARI: Which I've done that before. You're up three, there's two seconds to go, miss it, by the time they get it, there's a second.

Now, the other side of that is what if they throw one deep and bank it in? I've done it before. I do some unconventional stuff. He banked it in. I was, like, happy. I told him, I'm glad you banked it in.

He listened too me. He tried to miss it. He shot it flat and banked it in. It's kind of like being up six with 18 seconds, 20 seconds. You're up six. How about your foul? 'Cause what are they coming down trying to do? Shoot a three. Foul. It's a four-point game. It's 12 seconds. Get it in, you're back to six. Do you foul again? Maybe not, maybe so. Foul, up six, it's not conventional, but...

Things that make a difference sometimes.

Q. You haven't played Ole Miss since January the 8th or 9th. Anything you can take from that game or has it changed so much?

JOHN CALIPARI: Well, my team is different. I got totally a different team. They've played well all year. Chris has done a fabulous job.

It will be a hard game for us. It was a long time ago. It was the second game of the year.

Q. This is one of the most anticipated SEC tournaments maybe ever. It seems like your thoughts on the tournament haven't really changed a whole lot. You said you couldn't care less about it.

JOHN CALIPARI: Not quite. Every tournament we go in, we're doing it for one reason: We want to win games to build up our seed. Now, along the way, for a guy that does not care about conference tournaments -- I'm guessing it's 15 or 16 -- if you don't care, the kids don't care, no one cares, then I'm a magician.

How about maybe you're taking the pressure off the kids? This is just another thing for us to get better and improve ourselves. Then along the way, you know what, you're reaching for stars, you grab a moon, all of a sudden you're standing there with the trophy.

So yeah, it matters. We got to play.

Now, there was another coach in this league that said, I'm not sure I really want this tournament because last year we got a guy hurt in it. I'm not sure how I feel.

You're going to ask him that same question, aren't you? His team was one of the best teams in this league. He's saying, We got a chance to win a national title.

This league has been a meat grinder. Is it going to be any different here? No. We want to win every game we play. But I don't need the kids, Got to do this. You don't. You don't. There's the next tournament. Then you win it anyway.

It would be nice to win it again. I don't know exactly how many of those we've won. How many?

Q. (No microphone.)

JOHN CALIPARI: Somebody told me 87 tournament games. For a guy that doesn't care (smiling). I think it is. I don't know. You'll have to look. They tried to tell me yesterday. I don't know.

I think it's about almost 80% win. For a guy that doesn't care. Should be a lot of guys not caring.

But anyway, last question, 'cause I got to go.

Q. How has D.J. handled the scoring load with all the injuries?

JOHN CALIPARI: Better. He's really working. He's in the gym, spending extra time. He's shooting the ball so much better. But the other stuff seeps in sometimes. These kids, they're not machines, robots. The ups and downs of this...

My job as a leader of this, when I see a guy, he's doing this, probably get him out and talk to him. You're going to be all right, get yourself together. That's what we try to do.

Appreciate it, guys.