FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas and Texas Tech will take the court Thursday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco in the Sweet 16.

No. 10 Arkansas (22-13) defeated both Kansas and St. John's to get to this point and was the underdog in both games. No. 3 Texas Tech (27-8) has beaten UNC Wilmington and Drake. John Calipari may or may not be with leading scorer Adou Theiro in this game. It was reported by Calipari Tuesday that Theiro would play, but that may have changed on Wednesday.

"Adou practiced yesterday," Calipari said. "Leg was bothering him today, so I didn't put him through anything. We'll see tomorrow. If we had eight to 10 minutes from him in case of foul trouble it would help. But we're fine."

Calipari got point guard Boogie Fland back prior to the beginning of the NCAA Tournament and he has helped the Razorbacks in both wins.

"Let me say for both he and Boogie, first of all, the players that stepped in, Trevon Brazile, took advantage, unbelievable; how D.J. (Wagner), how about it gave Billy (Richmond) a chance to play big minutes," Calipari said. "They all took advantage. Karter (Knox) took advantage. But when Boogie comes back to me and says, "Coach, I can play, but I don't want to hurt this team." What? When I went to the players and said, Boogie thinks he can do this, they all said, Coach, we need him.

"And it talks about the character because I know there had to be people in his ear, in his orbit saying why would you play again. You don't have to play. He's, like, I want to help my teammates. Don't you want that guy on your team? That's part of being evaluated. Adou said the same, probably had people in his orbit: Why would you play? All of a sudden he said, Coach, I want to try this. Three years I've waited for this moment, and if I can do it, I'm going to try.

"I said, fine, but if you're hurting at all, don't. We'll do this and we'll figure out if you'll be okay to go. If not -- Chance they tell me he's ready to play. I had to do tape work on Chance -- McMillian. He's one of their best players. Like, they really need another shooter. They really need one more shooter. But he can play. Tough, rebounder, shoot the ball. Now I've got to go back on tape and say let's really figure out who he is."

Calipari was asked his mindset about being the underdog this season while at Kentucky he was usually one of the higher seeds.

"We approach the postseason the same," Calipari said. "I've been the 10 seed. I've been the 8 seed. I've been other seeds. Again, there's so many ways of doing this, including on the court. There's a lot of ways to do this and have success. So, for me, what I've done, I want this to be like regular season like nothing has changed. The board hasn't changed. What we do, our shoot-arounds don't change. Everything is the same so I want them to feel comfortable that this is no different.

"And we're in a tournament. Last tournament was Kansas, Omaha, St. John's and us. This tournament is Maryland, Florida, Texas Tech and us. Don't worry about any other games. It's just you're in a four-man tournament. Let's worry about doing it here. So, no, but I've been, we're not No. 1 every year. As a matter of fact, we went to the national championship game, I think we were an 8 seed, maybe a 9 seed."

Arkansas' defense was outstanding against St. John's RJ Luis. Now they face Tech's JT Toppin.

"They're two different players," Calipari said. "I'll say it again, Texas Tech, well coached. They can beat you inside or outside, shooting 3s, posting the ball, throwing it to 15 feet, backing you down, making you make decisions.

"The biggest thing with Toppin, he's a great passer. Not only do you talk about scoring, when you try to do different things, he can really pass. I'll say this, there's a reason we're the underdog in this game. They're very, very good. But it's a different deal covering this team than, whether it be Kansas or St. John's."

Calipari also talked about the problems Coach Grant McCasland's team can cause his Razorbacks.

"I'm watching tape and I say, in that league, to have that record, to go on the road and win the games he's won, that team, he's got them playing together and for each other," Calipari said. "We can play really fast, but we can also grind it if we had to. We could slow the game down, which we'll do at times. They can shoot the 3 or, if you try to take that away, they can post it. And they play that way. And they'll figure out where there's an advantage and they go right after it. He's done a great job. He really has.

"It's going to be a really hard game for us. But you know what? My kids, they've come through the fire. And my guess is other than a fan of Arkansas, no one is picking us to win the game. But the great news in this tournament, you've got to play the games. Gotta play them. And so we'll see. And I'll tell the kids, I'm going to do my best for 40 minutes to give you everything I have. Sometimes that's a good thing. Sometimes I'm not as good. But we'll see."

The game will will tip at 9:09 p.m. and televised on TBS and truTV.