Arkansas rallies for Calipari’s first SEC win with Razorbacks

Adou Thiero scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Arkansas rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat Georgia 68-65 on Wednesday night and give coach John Calipari his first Southeastern Conference win with the Razorbacks.

Arkansas’ 0-5 start to SEC play was Calipari’s second-longest conference losing streak as a head coach, trailing only a six-game skid in his first six conference games in his first season at UMass in 1988-89.

Arkansas trailed 46-31 with 16:40 remaining and later used an 18-6 run for its first lead of the game, 59-58, with 4:40 to play. Karter Knox scored seven points during the stretch.

It was tied 65-all when Thiero was at the free throw line with 1.8 seconds left. Thiero made the first attempt, and his second shot hit the front of the iron, but he grabbed the rebound and made the second-chance layup at the buzzer.

Knox shot 11-of-13 from the foul line and finished with 13 points for Arkansas (12-7, 1-5), which ended a five-game losing streak.

The Razorbacks shot just 18-of-58 (31%) from the field but hit 29 of 34 free throws (85%). The Bulldogs were 20-of-46 (44%) shooting and 20-of-29 (69%) from the line. They were outrebounded 40-30.

Asa Newell had 18 points and eight rebounds to lead Georgia (14-5, 2-4). RJ Godfrey added 11 points.

Georgia will look to end a three-game skid with a road game at No. 5 Florida on Saturday.

Arkansas hosts Oklahoma on Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.