By LARRY VAUGHT

During his collegiate head coaching career, former Kentucky standout John Pelphrey has never beaten Kentucky. He didn’t play the Wildcats when he was coach at South Alabama and he has been unable to beat UK during his three previous seasons at Arkansas.

He’ll get another chance to beat the Wildcats when Arkansas hosts No. 22 Kentucky tonight.

“Obviously we want to win them all. Every time we get ready two or three days in advance that is the goal. It will be a big challenge on Wednesday,” said Pelphrey. “Certainly a lot of people out there want to win games like I do and a lot want to beat Kentucky. Not everybody gets a chance to do that.

Arkansas has not played “very well” most of the Southeastern Conference season and is 5-7 in league play and only 16-10 overall. Considering Pelphrey was only 51-46 in his first three seasons at Arkansas, there has been speculation about his job status for next season.

“We are not worried about that. If happens, happens. We are just worried about winning and this team,” said Arkansas senior Delvon Johnson, who is averaging 10 points and a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game. “Coach is a great guy. He is one of the best coaches I have ever had. He is a player’s coach. He wants to be out there with us. He brings intensity every day. We need to play like he coaches and we will be fine.

“He is real cool. Off the court you can talk to him or go to his office. I have never had a time when I couldn’t joke around or talk to him about basketball. He is a good guy.”

Pelphrey was a fan favorite at Kentucky. He is from Paintsville and was one of The Unforgettables under coach Rick Pitino that has his jersey hanging in Rupp Arena.

“I have never seen video of him playing. Around his house he has a couple of pictures, including one of Shaquille O’Neal blocking his shot.  I talk about that,” Johnson laughed and said. “But I have not seen any (video) clips of him playing. Maybe he won’t show us because he knows we will make fun of him. We just make fun of the pictures around his house.

“It would just be a laughing session if he did show us clips of his play. He gets out there sometimes a little bit and tries to dribble and shoot around with us, and we laugh about that.”

Johnson, though, does have a guess about what kind of player Pelphrey, who scored 1,257 points in 114 games at UK, must have been.

“I am guessing he was a very intense, hard player because that is the way he coaches. I think that’s the way he wants us to play,” Johnson said. “We saw his jersey (hanging) when we played them last year. We walked into the gym and saw a retired jersey that said Pelphrey on the back, so we knew it was coach Pelphrey’s jersey. He didn’t tell us. He talks a little bit about his Kentucky days, but not much.”