FAYETTEVILLE — Delvon Johnson said he felt no pain in his left hip during Arkansas’ game against Kentucky on Wednesday night or in the immediate moments afterward.
Adrenaline - a hormone the body creates during stressful or exhilarating situations - kept Johnson from being affected by a hip-pointer he suffered last Saturday night at Alabama.
There was plenty of stress for the Razorbacks playing an overtime game against No. 22 Kentucky and no shortage of exhilaration afterward as they celebrated a 77-76 overtime victory that ended a 10-game losing streak to the Wildcats going back to the 2001 SEC Tournament.
“My teammates grabbed me, I did a little something,” Johnson said of participating in the postgame euphoria. “With my adrenaline, I couldn’t feel any pain the whole game ... and I was 100percent at the moment of celebration.
“The pain went away as soon as the game started. But after the game, it was back.”
Johnson, who had 6 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in 34 minutes against Kentucky, has been getting treatment three times a day for his hip pointer - caused by a bruised pelvis - and said Thursday it’s getting better.
“The worst is that every morning it gets tight, so I’ve got to loosen it up,” he said. “But after it happened, I knew I was going to play.
“I’ve got four or five games left in my senior season, so I’m not going to sit out.”
The next challenge for Johnson and the Razorbacks (17-10, 6-7 SEC) is to come down from the high of beating Kentucky and win at Auburn (9-18, 2-11) on Saturday.
Following up noteworthy victories has been a problem for Arkansas this season.
After the Razorbacks beat Tennessee at home to open SEC play, they lost at LSU. After they beat Alabama - which has clinched the West title - at home, they lost at South Carolina and Florida. After they won at then-No. 19 Vanderbilt for their only road victory this season, they lostat home to Georgia and Ole Miss and lost at Mississippi State.
“I think any time you can string wins together, that’s big,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “Certainly we are completely focused and committed to winning our next game. That’s all we care about.”
Arkansas junior guard Jeff Peterson said that as excited as the Razorbacks were to beat Kentucky, there also is a level of frustration that they haven’t played more consistently.
“Knowing we can go out and play a game like we did ... it’s like, why haven’t we been doing that all season?” Peterson said. “But I definitely think it helped us.
“Coach always says you want to be playing your best basketball at this time of theseason, so hopefully we can take that game, and the games prior to that, as a learning experience and be able to make a run.”
The Razorbacks are tied with Mississippi State - which plays at Walton Arena next week - for second in the West behind Alabama. The top two seeds in each division have a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament.
“Our goal obviously is to get hot and get on a big winning streak,” Peterson said. “We haven’t really been able to do that this year.
“I think a big thing with that is just the level of maturity, trying to get everybody to stay focused on the road.”
Kentucky Coach John Calipari praised the Razorbacks for how hard they played for Pelphrey.
“That’s a great compliment to our guys, because you’re not going to beat anybody in our league without going out there and fighting,” Pelphrey said. “The bottom line is, that game took 45 minutes to play and finish off.
“Certainly Kentucky’s not going to give it you. You have to go beat them, and you have to be able to fight and compete.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 02/25/2011