By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com

FAYETTEVILLE — As soon as Kentucky guard Brandon Knight’s 3-point shot missed its mark, a celebration erupted at midcourt in Bud Walton Arena.

Arkansas guard Julysses Nobles jumped into the arms of a teammate and pumped his fists. Marcus Britt bumped chests with Glenn Bryant. And coach John Pelphrey clapped his hands and high-fived players.

Arkansas, which has faced mounting criticism amid another up-and-down season, made sure to soak in every second after its thrilling 77-76 overtime win against Kentucky in front of 14,073 on Wednesday night.

The Razorbacks (17-10, 6-7 in Southeastern Conference) got a driving layup from Britt after a steal by guard Jeff Peterson to take the lead in the final seconds of overtime, then kept No. 22 Kentucky (19-8, 7-6) scoreless as the buzzer sounded.

It helped Arkansas win for the first time in five tries in overtime games this season.

Even more, it snapped a 10-game losing streak to Kentucky, one that had stretched back to 2001.

“I’m proud of our guys,” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said. “Their resiliency, their toughness. Their willingness to throw their heart on the line.”

Arkansas won behind its best effort of the season on both ends of the floor. And, unlike last week’s loss at Alabama, Arkansas sustained it the entire night.

Guard Rotnei Clarke scored a team-high 26 points, while forward Marshawn Powell added 22. The duo carried the offensive load in the first half and gave the Wildcats — which entered the game a puzzling 1-5 on the road in SEC play — fits most of the night.

Especially Powell, who came under fire earlier in the week after offering no comment when asked if his relationship with Pelphrey had become strained. The forward came out aggressively on offense Wednesday.

“I thought Powell just killed us,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Powell outplayed the guy playing him. He outroughed him, outrebounded him.”

Said Pelphrey: “(Wednesday) he had a resolve. … He did a good job of being resilient and persistent.”

Powell, Clarke and the Razorbacks absorbed plenty of blows from Kentucky, which was led by point guard Brandon Knight’s 26 points. But every time the ‘Cats made a push or a big play, Arkansas had an answer.

For instance, the Razorbacks held a 34-32 lead at halftime when the Wildcats charged out of the locker room in the second half and used a 9-0 run to take a 43-37 advantage. The Razorbacks responded with 10 straight, taking advantage of seven Rotnei Clarke free throws (two of which came after a technical foul on Kentucky guard Deandre Liggins) to regain the lead.

Kentucky was ahead 61-60 with 4:37 remaining when Clarke knocked down a 3-pointer and was fouled on the play. He capped the four-point play to make it 64-61.

But Nobles, perhaps, turned in the biggest play of regulation with his hustle in the final minute.

With Arkansas trailing and Powell and Clarke blanketed by defenders, Nobles darted to the basket and missed a layup. He grabbed his own rebound after it trickled out of Kentucky forward Josh Harrellson’s hands, stepped back and drove again.

He made the second shot, tying the game at 70-70.

“They hustled and beat us to a couple of balls,” said Calipari, whose team allowed Arkansas to grab 22 offensive rebounds. “That’s why we got beat. They wanted it worse than we wanted it.”

Arkansas dodged a bullett at the end of regulation when Knight missed an open 3-pointer at the buzzer and Pelphrey said “the good Lord was watching over us.”

When the Razorbacks gathered in the team huddle before overtime, Pelphrey told them to keep pounding away at the Wildcats and the streak could end.

“We’re not backing up,” Pelphrey said. “We may not win, but we’re going to keep going at them.”

Arkansas traded points with Kentucky throughout overtime, but got its game-winning moment when Peterson managed to steal a pass from Knight.

He collected the ball on the run and led a fastbreak, flipping the ball to his right to Britt.

Britt, a senior, said the Razorbacks missed layups like that the past and wanted to make sure it went down this time. It did for a 77-76 lead.

“You can say that,” Britt said when asked if it was his biggest moment as a Razorback.

Arkansas needed two more stops before it could enjoy the victory, though. The first came with time winding down, but Kentucky got one more opportunity after Britt couldn’t corral a loose ball and stepped out.

The Wildcats drew up one final play with 1.8 seconds left, leading to Knight’s missed 3-pointer. Calipari said afterward the ball should’ve gone down low to Harrellson, who was open underneath.

Arkansas enjoyed the win, breaking a stretch in which it lost four of five SEC games. The Razorbacks also moved back into a tie for second in the SEC West thanks to Mississippi State’s loss to LSU.

“We had gotten to that point where we just said we had to win,” Clarke said about the overtime. “We can’t lose it. It’s not an option losing. We came out and executed and did what we had to do to win.”

Pelphrey, a Kentucky alum, got a win against his alma mater for the first time in his career. He also became just the second coach in school history (joining Nolan Richardson) to record a win against the Wildcats.

There’s no doubt it may have been one of the biggest of his career, too, with speculation about his future at Arkansas swirling. Calipari said he deserved it.

“Any time your team is up against it like this team was, to come out and play, it says a lot about John as a coach,” Calipari said. “They’re fighting for him.”

Pelphrey said beating Kentucky wasn’t about him, though. He was more proud of his team for the way it went out and earned a big win against the Wildcats.

It was one Pelphrey told ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes before the game would require “a little magic.”

“People asked me coming into the game how are we going to get this done,” Pelphrey said. “I said I don’t know, but I believe we can.

“I just believe that we can.”

Free Throws
Former Arkansas and Kentucky coach Eddie Sutton and his son, Sean, attended Wednesday’s game. Sutton said it was the first game he has attended in Bud Walton Arena since the Razorbacks’ upset win against Texas in 2008-09. … Pelphrey called center Delvon Johnson’s 6-point, 7-rebound performance “courageous.” The senior suffered a hip pointer in the Alabama loss, but still managed to play 34 minutes against the Wildcats. … The announced attendance (14,073) for Wednesday’s game was Arkansas’ largest of the season.