Arkansas
Frenetic Razorback Start Sets the Stage for the Calipari Era
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Coach John Calipari and Arkansas could have done anything in the scrimmage against No. 1 Kansas and the sold out crowd at Bud Walton Arena probably would have gone nuts. Students waited days for this moment and Calipari delivered quite a treat ahe Razorbacks defeated the Jayhawks, 85-69.
“They had two of their better players out,” coach John Calipari said. “Let’s not do triple backflips, but what I liked was we really guarded the ball pretty good. For a team that’s not been together long, for a team that has practiced with five guys for probably two weeks, we only had three turnovers at half.”
The Razorbacks played at a frantic pace and made their first six shots, culminated by a dunk by Trevon Brazile. Arkansas only made its first six shots in a game once in 35 games (including exhibitions) under former coach Eric Musselman last year.
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Ironically, Calipari was on the other sideline coaching the Kentucky Wildcats. Arkansas fans are still on the honeymoon phase of Calipari and it shows no sign of slowing down.
Senior guard D.J Wagner made two threes within the first two minutes of the game. Never mind that the Hogs missed 12 of their next 13 shots from beyond the arc because it just felt different.
Arkansas seemedsure of itself. Once it got the lead, it never slipped under double-digits in the second half and the Hogs stretched the lead out to as much as 20 as Three players — Zvonimir Ivisic, Boogie Fland and Wagner — all scored more than 15 points.
“I was having fun out there,” Fland said. “I was smiling up and down the court. It was just so surreal you know, to get to this point, you know. It was amazing though.”
In between all the highlight dunks and displays of athleticism was sound basketball. It wasn’t always pretty, but for a first scrimmage against the top team in the country, Arkansas played clean, which was a far cry from the 2023-24 season.
The Hogs forced 14 turnovers, attempted 28 free throws and made 23 of them, compared to just six attempts for Kansas. The Hogs also created 12 steals and, despite not having Jonas Aidoo inside, kept the rebounding battle close, 35-34. Granted Kansas was also without star center Hunter Dickinson.
For all the minor issues, the Calipari era couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Arkansas will play its second scrimmage against TCU 7 p.m. Friday in Fort Worth, Texas.