John Calipari’s ‘refuse to lose’ speech to air on VICE TV’s Hogs’ docuseries
The Razorbacks are coming off a massive loss to South Carolina. It was shocking because of how well Arkansas played against Missouri and Texas.
Refusing to lose was the mantra head coach John Calipari had going into those games, and it pushed Arkansas to earn its best win of the season against the Tigers. On Monday’s episode of Calipari: Razor’s Edge, VICE TV brings fans into the meeting room where Coach Cal delivers a speech about what it means to ‘refuse to lose.’
Refuse to lose
“Refuse to lose — Enough of the s***,” said Calipari. “We’re not losing. Refuse to lose. That means you’re gonna get a ball late, and none of us want to hear any s***. Not, ‘it’s my fault,’ — none of that. You’re refusing to lose.”
In a previous post-game press conference, Calipari discussed players throwing their hands up to take ownership of mistakes and how tired he was of hearing it. The time for excuse ended. The time to play like it’s the NCAA Tournament had come.
“NCAA Tournament game, this next one. I’m telling you, they’re gonna play for forty minutes.’ Cal continued. So what? We’ve played for forty minutes every game we’ve been playing. So, play for forty.”
Arkansas went on to beat the Tigers 92-85 with an explosive second half before beating old-time SWC rivals in Texas. Hopefully, Arkansas can find the fire from those games for its matchup with Vanderbilt on Tuesday in Nashville. You can check out the full episode on VICE TV on Monday, March 3, at 10:00/9:00 PM CT.
