FAYETTEVILLE -- Only three visiting coaches have won their first two games against Kentucky at Rupp Arena, and two of them led the University of Arkansas men's basketball team.
That bit of trivia was uncovered going through the records of visiting coaches against Kentucky listed on BigBlueNationHistory.com, a website loaded with statistics on the Wildcats.
Nolan Richardson became the first visiting coach to start 2-0 at Rupp Arena -- where Kentucky has played since the 1976-77 season -- when his Razorbacks won 105-88 in 1992 in their first season in the SEC and beat the Wildcats on the road again 90-82 in 1994 en route to winning the national championship.
Dennis Felton also started 2-0 as a visiting coach at Rupp Arena when Western Kentucky won there 64-52 in the 2001-02 season and his first Georgia team won 65-57 in 2003-04.
Eric Musselman, in his fifth season at Arkansas, is the third visiting coach to start 2-0 at Rupp Arena, where the Razorbacks won 81-80 in 2021 and 88-73 last season.
Kansas Coach Bill Self went 2-0 at Rupp Arena in his first two trips with the Jayhawks when they won 65-59 in 2005 and 79-73 in 2017, but his first game as a visiting coach against Kentucky was with Tulsa in the 1997-98 season when the Wildcats beat the Golden Hurricane 74-53.
When Arkansas (14-14, 5-10 SEC) plays No. 16 Kentucky (20-8, 5-10) at 12:30 p.m. Central today at Rupp Arena in a game telecast by CBS, Musselman will have a chance to become the only visiting coach to be 3-0 there.
Kentucky is a 13.5-point favorite with Arkansas coming off an 85-82 loss to Vanderbilt at home Tuesday night.
But in the first Arkansas-Kentucky game this season, the Wildcats trailed in the second half before rallying to win 63-57.
The Razorbacks led 37-31 with 15:45 left and Kentucky was ahead 53-52 with less than three minutes to play before back-to-back Arkansas turnovers turned into transition points and helped the Wildcats pull away.
"This game coming up, it is a really dangerous game because they had us beat down there at Arkansas," Kentucky Coach John Calipari said Wednesday night on his weekly radio show. "This is a trap game."
By Kentucky's lofty standards, the Wildcats have been somewhat vulnerable at Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats are 659-85 all-time at Rupp Arena, but 12-4 this season with losses to North Carolina-Wilmington and No. 24 Florida, No. 4 Tennessee and No. 23 Gonzaga.
The Florida, Tennessee and Gonzaga games marked the first time the Wildcats ever lost three in a row at Rupp Arena.
"For some reason, we're better on the road than we are at home," Calipari said after Kentucky won 70-59 at No. 11 Auburn on Feb. 17. "I don't have the answer, but we are.
"Maybe at home we're expected to win every game because we've won 90-something percent of our home games.
"So now you go on the road ... and we play looser? Maybe? I don't know."
Musselman understandably didn't want to brag about being 2-0 at Rupp Arena or focus on Kentucky's home losses.
"First of all, Coach Cal and Kentucky, wherever they're playing, they're a national championship-contending team this year," Musselman said. "What those two [Arkansas] teams did in the past, is they went in with confidence. They went in with toughness. They went in there with grit. They went in there with belief.
"So hopefully this year's team can carry some of those characteristics into the game. If you don't have those characteristics, it's going to be hard to win in Rupp. But certainly going into those games, that was how those 40 minutes unfolded when we were able to have success there.
"Every team, every season, every game, new identities are created and games take on themes as themselves. So I don't really think that our winning two games has any true impact on this particular game."
For the Razorbacks to have a chance to win in Rupp Arena again, they likely need another big performance from senior guard Khalif Battle.
Battle scored a career-high 42 points in Arkansas' 88-73 victory over Missouri at Walton Arena in Fayetteville, then followed that up with 36 points against Vanderbilt. In those two games, Battle combined to hit 20 of 32 field-goal attempts, including 10 of 20 three-pointers, and 28 of 31 free throws.
"He's a player that's in a groove right now," Musselman said. "He's got great confidence.
"Guys have done a good job getting him the ball. We've tried to add some sets to get him different looks, and he's playing at a really, really high level right now and put together some great games from an offensive standpoint.
"We certainly need him to continue to be offensively aggressive."
Battle said after the Vanderbilt game he's still positive about the team and what the Razorbacks can accomplish the rest of the season.
"We have plenty of losses this year, plenty of ups and downs," Battle said. "But we still have a lot of basketball left.
"We have a tough stretch. We've got to go to Kentucky, get a tough road win. But we can still win that game and then the SEC Tournament."
The Razorbacks are tied with Georgia for 11th in the conference standings and have to move up to avoid opening the SEC Tournament on March 13. In that scenario, they would need five victories to claim the championship and an automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
After today's game, the Razorbacks finish the regular season against LSU at home, then play at Alabama. LSU beat Arkansas 95-74 earlier this season.
"I think you discuss the state of where you are based on where your team is mentally and at some points we have discussed it," Musselman said of talking to the players about the SEC standings. "At other points there's been no reason because we have three games left and the biggest theme is how do you compete and give yourself a chance to win the next game on your schedule?
"Then if you do that, good things happen. So in our mind it's. how do we get ready for Kentucky?
"We can't control what other teams do in the league. Obviously, we have a very difficult schedule the last three games playing at Kentucky, at Alabama and LSU at home -- a team that did what they wanted last time in Baton Rouge against us."
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NoneToday's game
ARKANSAS AT NO. 16 KENTUCKY
WHEN 12:30 p.m. Central
WHERE Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
RECORDS Arkansas 14-14, 5-10 SEC; Kentucky 20-8, 10-5
TV CBS
RADIO Razorback Sports Network