DALLAS — Arkansas basketball can expect to be inundated with lessons across the first few weeks of the season. A program under a new head coach with an entirely revamped roster is still figuring out everything from how to win, to how to break down a zone defense.

The latter proved to be the biggest learning curve for the No. 16 Razorbacks (1-1) in a 72-67 loss to No. 8 Baylor on Saturday night. The Bears opened up in a zone defense, and a decisive start from Baylor (1-1) proved to be enough in John Calipari’s first loss with the Hogs.

“We came out lackadaisical, not knowing they were going to go zone. I mean, it was a surprise to us,” Arkansas guard Boogie Fland said. “I feel like we picked it up going into the second half.”

By the midway point of the first half, Baylor had a lead hovering around double figures. The Bears carried a 42-33 advantage into the locker room, playing mostly a matchup zone.

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The defense tricked Arkansas into settling for 3s, and the Razorbacks missed their first nine attempts from long range. They finished the night 5 of 20 and are now 9 of 39 (23%) on the season.

According to Calipari, Arkansas’ preseason injuries may have played a part in the rough start against the first defense consistently playing, including the exhibition games.

“It can’t be on them because we just haven’t worked that much against zone because we haven’t scrimmaged. We haven’t had … we’ve had five guys for weeks,” Calipari said. “Halftime we went in and said, ‘All right, we got to do it this way,’ and I think you saw that we moved the ball.”

In addition to settling for 3s, Arkansas just didn’t move the ball crisply enough against Scott Drew’s defense. Calipari was yelling at his players to make more passes throughout the first 20 minutes.

And the offensive struggles rolled over to the defensive end. Baylor scored 12 more points in the first half than it did in the second, capitalizing on Arkansas’ poor offense to create easy shots on the other end.

“It led to some breakouts,” Calipari said. “We had a couple loose ball turnovers, which they are really good in transition to give them that opportunity.”

Calipari believes the solutions are on the roster. He remains confident Arkansas will become a better 3-point shooting team as the season continues, and there were plenty of reasons to find optimism from the loss.

Adou Thiero scored 24 points and continues to look much-improved offensively since leaving Kentucky. Fland got his jumper going, knocking down a trio of 3-pointers. Billy Richmond III provided great energy off the bench and keyed a run late in the first half to keep Arkansas close.

There are no moral victories, but this was the first of many lessons that Calipari hopes eventually manifest into a well-rounded team.

“You could play a team and try to win by 50 and what you learn is that you can beat that kind of team by 50,” he said. “But the teams you’re trying to compete with are like this team, like a Kansas. These kind of people that we’re playing, and then playing them away from our building is important too.”