Arkansas' John Calipari becomes 5th Division I men's coach to reach 900 victories

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Arkansas coach John Calipari became the fifth Division I men’s basketball coach to reach 900 career wins with the Razorbacks' 88-84 victory over Missouri on Saturday.

Arkansas (23-8, 13-5 SEC) delivered Calipari the milestone victory without Southeastern Conference leading scorer Darius Acuff Jr., who missed the game with an undisclosed injury.

“If it meant anything, do you think Darius would have been playing today?” Calipari said. “I would have played him. That stuff, when you do this a long time, that’s the kind of stuff that happens if parents entrust you with their child.”

Calipari joins Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino and Roy Williams as the only coaches with 900 Division I victories.

Calipari, at 67, is the second-youngest coach to win 900 games behind Krzyzewski, who reached the milestone at the age of 64.

Calipari is also the third-fastest coach to reach the 900-win mark, accomplishing the feat in his 1,185th career game.

Calipari has coached five Final Four teams and won a national championship with Kentucky in 2012.

Missouri Coach Dennis Gates said that while he has not had the experience of coaching under Calipari, he still has a lot of respect for what Calipari has accomplished.

“Being able to be a coach that wins a national championship, that’s one of my goals,” Gates said. “Being able to be a Hall of Fame coach, that’s one of my goals. Obviously, compared to him, I’m in the infant stages of my career.”

Calipari is wrapping up his second season at Arkansas after spending 15 years coaching Kentucky. Prior to his time in Lexington, Calipari coached at Memphis for nine seasons after starting his collegiate head-coaching career with an eight-year stint at Massachusetts.

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