NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Slow starts have plagued Arkansas basketball this season, but it wasted no time pouring it on Saturday afternoon.
Playing in their home away from home, the Razorbacks put on a show for their central Arkansas fans and cruised to an 82-57 win over UCA at Simmons Bank Arena.
Granted the level of competition had something to do with it, as the Bears (2-8) entered the day at No. 344 — out of 364 — in the NET rankings, the blowout nature was a welcome sight for Arkansas fans that have even had to sweat it out in some of the so-called “cupcake” games.
After falling behind by double-digits early in each of their four marquee games and trailing at halftime against Troy and UTSA, the Razorbacks (9-2) put this one away before the first media timeout.
“Just playing hard, coming out with some intensity,” freshman Boogie Fland said about the key to Saturday’s fast start. “We knew it was going to try to be their Super Bowl, so we wanted to stop all the emotions and come out with some energy.”
They made 9 of their first 11 shots and both of their misses were rebounded and put back in by Trevon Brazile. Back-to-back steals by Fland led to fast break layups that finally prompted UCA coach John Shulman to call a timeout.
Arkansas led 22-7 and was averaging a whopping 2.200 points per possession at the time. It eventually cooled off a bit, but the closest the Bears got after that was 10 a few minutes later. However, Johnell Davis immediately knocked down a 3 and UCA never again threatened to get within single digits.
“We had a terrific practice yesterday in Fayetteville,” Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari said. “Our shootaround today was one of our better shootarounds. So I felt good coming into the game.
“The only thing that happens to this team at times, you stretch it out and we get a little arrogant… We give up a 3, we foul a 3-point shooter, we give up a layup, we miss two shots, we turn it over — and we’ve all seen it. Then all of a sudden it’s a 6-point game. You had it at 16, 18, what are we doing?”
That never really happened against UCA.
It was an 18-point game at halftime and the Razorbacks stretched that lead to as many as 31 in the second half before allowing the backdoor cover by failing to make a shot over the final 4:44 and giving up a pair of layups in the final minute. That got the margin under the 27-point spread set by BetSaracen.
Still, College basketball insider Jon Rothstein didn’t even wait until the end of the game to fire off his typical Calipari-related tweet, instead sending it during the under-8 media timeout:
Here are a few other takeaways from the Arkansas vs UCA game…
Fland Breaks Through Ceiling
It’s safe to say Boogie Fland has lived up to his billing as the No. 1 point guard in the 2024 recruiting class.
The five-star prospect from the Bronx, N.Y., followed up his excellent homecoming performance by once again leading the Razorbacks in scoring with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting, including 2 of 4 from deep.
“The goal is to keep him out of the paint,” UCA basketball coach John Shulman said. “That’s easy for me to say, I’m a 58-year-old man. ‘Hey man, keep that dude out of the paint.’ It’s really difficult to keep him out of the paint.”
Fland did far more than score, though. He also dished a career-high 9 assists. That may have been one shy of giving him a double-double, but it did mean Fland finally broke through the seven-assist ceiling. He had previously finished with exactly seven assists in five of the first 10 games.
“Just having fun out there and just finding my guys,” Fland said. “We all were in double figures. To see that, that was just big for me. I wish I would’ve got the double-double. It didn’t happen. Hopefully next game.”
On top of all that, Fland grabbed 5 rebounds and notched 5 steals. It was a complete game unlike any seen in the SEC in more than 14 years.
The last player in the conference to finish with at least 16 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals in a game, according to StatHead, was another John Calipari product — Kentucky’s John Wall did it in an overtime win over Mississippi State in the 2010 SEC Tournament.
Wall’s stat line was very similar in that he had 17 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals, but he had four turnovers compared to only one by Fland — granted it was against a better team and on a bigger stage.
Front Court Tandem Shines
With Adou Thiero out, Jonas Aidoo and Trevon Brazile both made their third starts of the season, but first alongside each other. In fact, it was the first time this season that the Razorbacks had two of their big men in the starting group.
Their side and length gave UCA all sorts of problems.
“(Aidoo) and Brazile, they’re so long and athletic, you can’t see over them,” John Shulman said. “Their ball screen coverages, you can’t see. We’ve got open people, but we can’t see it. We can’t simulate that in practice.”
After a slow start to the season because of an undisclosed injury, Aidoo appears to be rounding into form. The 6-foot-11 transfer from Tennessee finished with 13 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting, plus 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in 25 minutes.
Over the last three games, Aidoo is averaging 10.7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks in 26 minutes per game. He had played just 43 total minutes over the first eight games of the season.
“He’s not at full strength yet, but he gives you a physical presence,” Calipari said. “He was an all-conference player. You’re not talking about just another guy. You’re talking about a 6-10, 6-11 all-conference player.”
Calipari added that he’s still trying to get Aidoo to run the floor like he did against Michigan. In that game, he “was not giving them anything over the top, which tells you he’s probably a little further along than I give him credit for.”
That comment is a stark contrast to the problem he had earlier in the year, when Calipari was trying to squeeze a few minutes out of Aidoo when he admittedly shouldn’t have been playing.
The way he’s played lately might lead to him getting a few more minutes. That’d be similar to how he was used at Tennessee, as he routinely eclipsed 30 minutes for the Volunteers last season.
Another player who’s dealt with injury this season, Brazile seems to be finding his niche on this year’s team. He was very good in the Michigan win and followed it up by posting 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting, a team-high 7 rebounds and a season-high 5 blocks, plus added an assist for good measure.
The blocks were tied for the most he’s ever had in an Arkansas uniform, matching the five he had against Gardner-Webb last year. They were one off his career high of six set against Illinois during his freshman year at Missouri.
“When he plays spirited, he’s good,” Calipari said. “Blocking shots, rebounding balls, being long, smart player. But then there’s times where he’ll kind of back up and I call it getting arrogant, and all of a sudden you’re back-doored, you’re this and that. I just took him out. You’re not playing that way. You’re capable of doing the other. Play that way.”
UCA Coach Praises Calipari
Despite being on the wrong end of a thorough beatdown, UCA basketball coach John Shulman had a good attitude when he spoke to reporters afterward.
He kicked off his press conference by joking that he was a good luck charm for John Calipari because the last time the two coaches squared off was during the Hall of Famer’s lone national championship season. Kentucky beat UT-Chattanooga 87-62 on Dec. 17, 2011.
Even though that game was nearly 13 years ago, Shulman still holds Calipari in high regard.
“It’s funny, success kind of follows that guy,” Shulman said. “I’m not even in the University High hall of fame in Johnson City, Tennessee, and he’s going to be in multiple hall of fames. It’s an honor to go up against that dude. Besides being an unbelievable coach, unbelievable recruiter, the nice thing is for us as coaches, he hasn’t forgotten where he came from… That’s why we all respect the job that Cal does.”
He was also complimentary of this year’s team at Arkansas and the job Calipari has done so far during the 9-2 start.
“They’re really well coached,” Shulman said. “To get all the talent and to try that hard defensively against little old Central Arkansas. Sometime or another, y’all got to give that dude some credit because that guy can coach.”
Still Short-Handed Hogs
Arkansas will eventually play a game with its entire nine-man rotation at full strength. Saturday wasn’t it, though.
Leading scorer Adou Thiero dressed out and went through pregame layup lines, but never took off his warmup gear. Afterward, John Calipari told reporters that he held him out because he hadn’t practiced the last three days, as his fever spiked following the Michigan game on Tuesday.
He played through his illness — which was previously described as the flu — against the Wolverines and finished with 13 points in 22 minutes.
“I made him go through the shootaround today, but he’s off tomorrow, and then we’ve got to start getting him back,” Calipari said. “But for him to play in that Michigan game — listen folks, he had no business playing. For him to get seven straight points, which settled us down, I mean without him, we don’t win that game.”
Luckily for the Razorbacks, freshman Billy Richmond III appeared to be full-go and played 18 minutes, racking up 4 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist off the bench. He was also sick earlier this week and played just one minute against Michigan.
It’s also worth noting that Calipari said Zvonimir Ivisic is still working his way back from an ankle injury, which led to him playing only 15 minutes against UCA.
Arkansas was without 10th man Casmir Chavis, its top reserve, as he did not dress out or go through pregame warmups. On a positive note, though, reserve Jaden Karuletwa was dressed out for the first time this season and actually got on the court late in the blowout. He didn’t record any statistics during 55 seconds of playing time.
“When we get full strength, we’ll be one of the best teams in the SEC I believe, because nobody can stop us,” Karter Knox said. “With Adou being out and him adding on, (it’s) just crazy.”
Up Next for Arkansas Basketball
The Razorbacks will get a full week off before their next game, which is next Saturday against North Carolina A&T.
After an upset win over/a loss to Liberty on Saturday, the Aggies are 4-7/3-8 this season. They entered the day ranked No. 326 in the NET rankings and No. 321 on KenPom.
Located in Greensboro, N.C., North Carolina A&T is an HBCU that used to compete in the MEAC, but moved to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in 2021. It is the second game against an HBCU on Arkansas’ schedule, with the first being the 109-35 shellacking of Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the game will be televised on SEC Network.
More on Trevon Brazile
“I’m holding him to a high standard,” Calipari said. “I told him he’s being treated with respect and that I think again, that’s part of the reason” he’s playing well.
“There’s even more in him than he’s shown us. There is the one play he got a little selfish. Went in, he could have thrown it to a guy at the top of the key. And I told him, ‘Come on man, you went in, drew three, throw it to him. You tried to keep going so you could try to shoot and score again. Don’t do that.’ I think he’s a double-figure scorer.”
Ivisic, meanwhile, is still recovering from an ankle injury sustained in practice before Michigan.
Other Arkansas Basketball Tidbits
- As is usually the case when the Razorbacks visit Simmons Bank Arena, it was a packed house for Arkansas vs UCA. Saturday’s official attendance was 15,535. That is actually the lowest mark for Arkansas’ annual game at the venue since 2021, when it drew 14,685 for a loss to Hofstra.
- It may have been a blowout from the jump, but there were still plenty of coaching points for John Calipari. One that will almost certainly be brought up is fouling 3-point shooters, which the Razorbacks did four times.
- Karter Knox scored in double figures for the second time this season, finishing with 14 points. His performance was highlighted by a posterization of UCA’s Elias Cato:
- He was overshadowed by Boogie Fland, but D.J. Wagner also turned in another nice game with 13 points and 6 assists. He was very efficient from deep, too, knocking down 3 of 4 attempts. That makes him 15 of 36 (41.7%) so far this year — a significant uptick from last season, when he shot 29.2% from beyond the arc.
- UCA leading scorer Layne Taylor, a Farmington native, was held under his season scoring average of 17.0 points. He finished with 13 points on 5 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 8 from deep, and his passing was much more impressive than his 3 assists indicate.
- Former Arkansas player Connor Vanover was among those in attendance Saturday afternoon. The 7-foot-5 big man was easy to spot a few rows behind the Razorbacks’ bench. Despite making stops at Oral Roberts and Missouri after leaving Fayetteville, and one of his brothers briefly playing for and coaching at UCA, he was supporting his former school by wearing an Arkansas hoodie.
Arkansas vs UCA Highlights
Postgame Interview
Arkansas vs UCA Box Score
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