Kentucky‘s second-round males’s NCAA event defeat Sunday to Iowa State prompted a petty publish from a Cyclones alum: Tyrese Haliburton.
Iowa State routed Kentucky 82-63 behind 26 factors from Tamin Lipsey and 20 from Milan Momcilovic. Lipsey had 10 assists and 5 steals, changing into simply the third participant with 25 factors, 10 assists and 5 steals in a March Madness recreation since 1986, based on ESPN Research. Kentucky’s 19-point loss marked its largest in an NCAA event recreation since an Elite Eight defeat towards Florida State in 1972.
Moments after the Cyclones’ victory, Haliburton made positive to poke enjoyable at Wildcats alums, a few of whom made headlines for supporting Arkansas. He posted on X that he went to textual content gamers from Kentucky earlier than coming to a realization.
Went to textual content the blokes who performed at Kentucky about this recreation and forgot they assume they Arkansas alum now
— Tyrese Haliburton (@Hali) March 22, 2026
Haliburton was referring to former Wildcats coach John Calipari leaving for Arkansas in April 2024. He joked that since Calipari’s transfer, former Kentucky stars that now play within the NBA take into account themselves Arkansas alums, presumably resulting from enjoying for Calipari.
The Oklahoma City Thunder lately posted a video asking their gamers who they assume will win the event. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who performed for Calipari in 2017-18, mentioned “either Arkansas or Kentucky.” Cason Wallace spent a season at Kentucky in 2022-23 and mentioned Arkansas.
“Coach Cal?” the Thunder admin requested Wallace, who merely replied: “Yeah.”
Other gamers have executed the identical since Calipari made the change. Wildcats alum P.J. Washington visited Calipari at Arkansas in Razorbacks gear in September 2024. Months later, fellow alum Reed Sheppard wore an Arkansas shirt with Kentucky pants when the 2 applications confronted off.
Haliburton appeared to concentrate on the development and did not give the previous Kentucky gamers a cross. The Indiana Pacers star spent two seasons at Iowa State earlier than declaring for the draft in 2020. He misplaced within the first spherical of his lone March Madness look in 2019, however relished his alma mater taking down the Wildcats.
