John Calipari Becomes 5th Coach to Win 900 Games in Men's CBB History as Arkansas Beats Mizzou

John Calipari made men's college basketball history with No. 20 Arkansas' 88-84 overtime win against Missouri on Saturday.

The regular-season finale victory made Calipari the fifth men's college basketball coach to win 900 career games.

Calipari joined Mike Krzyzewski (1,202 wins), Jim Boeheim (1,116 wins), Rick Pitino (909 wins) and Roy Williams (903 wins) as the only head coaches to pass the milestone.

The Razorbacks earned the historic victory against Mizzou despite the absence of star freshman Darius Acuff Jr., who was out with an ankle injury.

Meleek Thomas scored a team-high 28 points in the win, while Trevon Brazile contributed 19 points and nine rebounds.

In overtime, Brazile hit a late three-pointer before Malique Ewin, who racked up 17 points and nine rebounds, clinched the win with four three throws in the last 12 seconds.

Calipari is the third-fastest coach to achieve career win No. 900 after reaching the milestone in 1,185 games. The 67-year-old is also the second-youngest behind Krzyzewski, who hit the milestone at age 64.

That includes 67 with Arkansas in addition to 533 at Kentucky, 321 with Memphis and 264 with Massachusetts.

Players celebrated with custom t-shirts after the win:

Acuff was absent with a lingering ankle injury he originally suffered back on Feb. 14.

When asked about what win No. 900 meant to him, Calipari pointed to his decision to sit Acuff with his ankle injury as an indication of how he regarded the importance of Saturday's game when compared to the upcoming start of the SEC Tournament.

"If it meant something, Darius would've played," Calipari told ESPN after the game. "I would've played him."

Instead, Calipari said the focus was on getting Acuff "100 percent" ahead of the conference tournament.

Arkansas, which had already clinched a double bye heading into Saturday, will head straight to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals next week. Calipari will hope that will have given Acuff enough time to heal from his ankle injury before the Razorbacks kick off conference tournament play next Friday in Nashville.