The Arkansas Razorbacks ran into a buzzsaw with the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday. Almost immediately, head coach John Calipari saw his team go down and struggle to come back from their early deficit.

Following the game, John Calipari immediately pointed to rebounding as the main issue in the game. It was that dominance on the boards that cost the Razorbacks and now means the Razorbacks are going to need some soul searching moving forward.

“They kind of manhandled us,” John Calipari said. “I can’t remember the last time I had a team get beat by 30 rebounds, and so we got to do some soul searching because this league, what they play like, everybody plays like. So we miss free throws, we miss threes and we get out-rebounded by 30, aren’t you like, how did you only get beat by 25? It could have been 50. But hats off to Tennessee. They’re the number one team for a reason and they did it to us.”

In the end, Tennessee won the game 76-52. That was on the back of a 51-29 rebounding gap between the two teams. Arkansas had just nine offensive rebounds compared to 24 offensive rebounds by the Volunteers. That, when combined with Tennessee outshooting Arkansas, made for a challenge that they weren’t able to overcome.

“Well, first of all, we only had one guy go to try to offensive rebound. They had more offensive rebounds than we had rebounds,” Calipari said. “I want you to hear what I just said. How did we — all I kept saying in the second half, let’s get it to single digits. If we do something good, they get an offensive rebound. We do something good, they get an offensive rebound. We make it 13, they get two offensive rebounds, two threes. And you look around, like, ‘Guys, it has nothing to do with anything but rebounding.’”

For the season, Arkansas has had its issues rebounding. The Razorbacks are 217th in the country in rebounds per game, averaging 35.71 rebounds per game.

“If I play a smaller team, guards have got to rebound defensively. I don’t need you to offensive rebound, but defensively you got to come up with the ball. So we could play a bigger team with Adou [Thiero] at the three,” Calipari said. “But like I said, he didn’t play well today. He’s probably had one of those this year. So in 14 games, he’s had one other dud. He had it here, couldn’t make a free throw, and then he shoots an air-ball three. That’s not who he is, but give them credit. They made him play that way.” 

The schedule doesn’t get easier from here for Arkansas and John Calipari. Ole Miss comes to town on Wednesday before Florida will then make their presence felt on Saturday. Both of those teams are currently ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll. So, fixing the rebounding issue is going to be vital right away.

Tennessee basketball is the final undefeated team in Division I men’s college basketball this season.

The No. 1 Vols moved to 14-0 with a 76-52 win against Arkansas on Saturday, while Florida and Oklahoma lost in their SEC openers.

No. 5 Florida fell 106-100 to No. 11 Kentucky at Rupp Arena for its first loss after a 13-0 start. No. 10 Oklahoma tumbled 107-79 to No. 6 Alabama at Coleman Coliseum after the Sooners also started 13-0.

Drake (12-1), which entered 2025 without a loss, was beaten by UIC 74-70 on Jan. 1.

The Vols (14-0, 1-0 SEC) play at Florida (13-1, 0-1) on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPNU).

LOVE: What Rick Barnes said he told Jonas Aidoo after Tennessee basketball beat Arkansas

Tennessee’s start is tied for the best in program history. The 1922-23 Vols also opened 14-0 in a 17-game season.

UT has been ranked No. 1 for four straight weeks, which is tied for the longest streak in program history. It likely will hold the top spot Monday for a record fifth week. The Vols also were ranked No. 1 for four weeks in the 2018-19 season.

UT was ranked No. 12 in the preseason coaches poll, and moved up to No. 9 after starting the season 2-0 with wins against Gardner-Webb and at Louisville. It stayed No. 9 after going 4-0.

Tennessee rolled through the Baha Mar Championship with wins against Virginia and Baylor to reach 6-0 and rise to No. 6. It hopped to No. 3 after beating UT Martin before ascending to No. 1.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

John Calipari’s first observation about this Tennessee basketball team compared to last year’s is the Vols are a year older.

The second was about “the transfer in.”

The Arkansas coach was talking about Igor Milicic Jr., which was readily apparent as Calipari detailed what that unnamed transfer did Saturday. He stretches the floor for Tennessee. He helps the Vols.

He had double-digit rebounds, the key facet of Calipari’s description as Milicic had the best rebounding performance by a player in coach Rick Barnes’ decade at Tennessee.

“Igor was spectacular,” Barnes said.

Milicic grabbed 18 rebounds with six offensive boards and 13 points as No. 1 Tennessee (14-0, 1-0 SEC) pounded Arkansas (11-3, 0-1) on Saturday at Food City Center. It was his career best and the best by a Vol under Barnes.

Igor Milicic explains his 18 rebounds for Tennessee vs Arkansas

Milicic provided a simplified explanation for his rebounding success. His teammates block out and clear the way for him.

“I just need to go jump and get it,” Milicic said. “It’s not that hard, honestly.”

Milicic made it look that easy against Arkansas. The 6-foot-10 forward had nine rebounds before halftime, notched his 10th rebound 33 seconds into the second half, and kept going. 

LOVE: What Rick Barnes said he told Jonas Aidoo after Tennessee basketball beat Arkansas

The Charlotte transfer is the fourth Vol in the past 20 years to have at least 18 rebounds in a game. 

Milicic preached consistency as a key to being a good rebounder. You have to keep crashing the boards even when you are tired. You have to accept contact.

Barnes credited Milicic for his anticipation skills, quickness and good hands. He added more credit to his effort. He got that overall against Arkansas as Tennessee outrebounded Arkansas 51-29 with 24 offensive rebounds.

Milicic was the tone-setter because he makes it a priority, guard Zakai Zeigler said.

“Even if he is not shooting the ball well, I can count on him to go get 10 rebounds or go get five O-boards,” Zeigler said. “It is just really impressive he does it day in and day out.”

Why rebounding is fun to Igor Milicic Jr.

Tennessee knew Milicic was a good rebounder coming from Charlotte, where he averaged 8.5 rebounds last season.

His offensive rebounding has impressed. The Vols play faster than Charlotte, which means more rebounding opportunities. They also put more of an emphasis on offensive rebounding than Charlotte, which Milicic has enjoyed. 

“It just another opportunity to score,” Milicic said. “It is all of us. We get extra opportunities to score and it shows with the shooting that we have here. It is really fun — and of course sometimes you get a putback, right?”

Milicic is averaging 8.9 rebounds after his 18-rebound game. The only other Vol to average that many in a season in the past 20 years is Jarnell Stokes, who had 9.6 per game in 2012-13 and 10.6 in 2013-14.

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The Croatian has three straight games with at least 10 rebounds. He has double-digit rebounds in four of the past five games and six of the past eight. He had nine in one of those games.

He rocketed past those impressive games with his best one yet Saturday. That prompted Calipari’s attention and an understatement when he stated Milicic is “pretty good.”

A more fitting description is the compliment that followed: Milicic is doing what Calipari wishes his players would do. He’s an all-out rebounder and he’s one of the best at it.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.