FAYETTEVILLE — If the blowout loss to Tennessee was a “crisis,” as John Calipari described it earlier this week, Arkansas basketball fans are now faced with an even scarier reality after what unfolded Wednesday night.
Despite being a slight favorite and playing at Bud Walton Arena, the Razorbacks laid a second-half egg in a disappointing 73-66 loss to No. 23 Ole Miss in their SEC home opener.
The result drops Arkansas to 0-2 in conference play with a red-hot and top-10 Florida team coming to town Saturday with a chance to keep it winless.
It’s already just the third time a Calipari-coached team has opened conference play with two straight losses — and the first since his fourth year at UMass way back in 1991-92.
“Not discouraged, but I’m disappointed,” Calipari said. “We had our chances, again. … I’ve got to do a better job of teaching these guys how to win.”
While the Minutemen were able to recover and still win the A-10 with a 30-5 record, the Razorbacks are in danger of spiraling like his first team at UMass. That year, he lost his first six conference games en route to a 10-18 overall mark.
Now in his first year in Fayetteville, Calipari not only faces the usual challenges of taking over a new program, but he has to do so in a historically strong SEC.
“I didn’t think the league would be this good,” Calipari admitted after Wednesday’s loss. “I knew the league was going to be good, but I didn’t think top to bottom that it would look like this. So this now made my job even harder when you’re trying to build a culture and it’s about the process not the results. Uh oh, results matter.”
The way both losses occurred is particularly alarming.
The Razorbacks weren’t even competitive in a 76-52 beatdown at Tennessee, a game in which they were minus-22 on the boards and shot an abysmal 20.7% (6 of 29) from beyond the arc.
“The only thing that brings about change is a crisis, and when you get beat like that – that’s a crisis,” Calipari said during his radio show Monday night.
Change didn’t happen quick enough for Arkansas, as it returned home and got off to a hot start, only to squander a nine-point lead in the first half. The score was tied at halftime, but Ole Miss shot 52.2% in the second half while the Razorbacks had another miserable shooting night from deep (21.7%).
Even just two games into the SEC slate, it’s not too early to start wondering where the wins are on a schedule that still includes 11 Quadrant 1 games and five Quad 2 games.
Calipari seemingly saw this challenge coming, too, as he’s already gone on the record that he believed a 7-11 conference record should be enough for his team – which went 11-2 in non-conference play with a Q1 win over Michigan – to make the NCAA Tournament.
“We got work to do,” Calipari said. “I got work to do. I didn’t think this would be easy. Didn’t think it would be this hard, but you know what? It’s hard. This league, this year, it’s hard. You got no breaks. So we’ll see what happens going forward.”
Here are a few takeaways specific to the Arkansas vs Ole Miss game that could prove important moving forward…
Defensive Breakdowns
Where things unraveled in the second half for the Razorbacks was on the defensive side of the floor.
After holding Ole Miss to a respectable 40.7% shooting from the floor, including 4 of 12 (33.3%) from deep, over the game’s first 20 minutes, Arkansas made things easy for the Rebels after halftime.
They got numerous open looks and usually converted, shooting 52.2% overall and going 5 of 11 (45.5%) from 3-point range. Ole Miss also got to the free throw line more in the second half.
“We had some mixups defensively,” Calipari said. “We left some people open. We didn’t close to their 3-point shooters. There were times where the guy’s by himself, no one on him. So some of it I’m going to have to watch the tape to say, ‘Alright, where did we screw this up?’”
Even without watching film, it seemed like Arkansas’ guards were routinely getting blown by and Ole Miss was getting easy shots – either directly because of the blow-by or because of the defensive rotations caused by it.
Those breakdowns on the perimeter could be another example of how Calipari’s strategy of signing only nine rotational players might be backfiring. The guards may have let their foot off the gas on defense because they were tired.
Calipari hinted at that aspect, as well.
“Probably going to sub earlier than I’m subbing,” Calipari said. “Because you got guys that are exhausted, they don’t like to be taken out, but you’re so exhausted we’ll probably start subbing a little earlier to give us a break.”
Stagnant Offense
It wasn’t all on the defense, though. Arkansas’ offense certainly played a role in the loss, as there was a 20-minute stretch in the middle of the game where there was very little ball movement.
The Razorbacks started the game 11 of 19 (57.9%) from the floor, with assists on nine of those made baskets, during the first 13 minutes.
Things completely flipped after that, though. Arkansas managed only three assists the rest of the game, shooting a miserable 11 of 40 (27.5%) over the final 27 minutes.
“What we did in the second half (was) there was no pass and a shot,” Calipari said.” We’re not that team. We’re just not.”
Calipari was not happy with his team’s shot selection, with freshman Boogie Fland being one of the primary offenders. He scored 14 points, but did so on an inefficient 5-of-20 shooting, including just 1 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Through two SEC games, the freshman phenom is averaging 13 points, but shooting just 28.6% (10 of 35) from the floor. He’s almost made only 3 of 17 (17.6%) 3-pointers.
“He took some shots he didn’t need to take,” Calipari said. “Like, why? Why would you take that when you haven’t made a shot? Why are you doing that? Create a shot for a teammate that they can make, and I couldn’t get them in that mode.”
When he did play as more of a floor general, Fland was pretty good, as he finished with 5 assists and no turnovers in 37 minutes.
Johnell Davis Bounces Back
Perhaps the one bright spot in Arkansas’ loss to Ole Miss was the emergence of Johnell Davis.
The heralded transfer from FAU has battled injuries and had an up-and-down season so far, with the low point coming in a scoreless effort against Tennessee on Saturday.
“My team and the coaches have been on me this whole time just staying confident,” Davis said. “Just trying to find the flow back.”
Davis found some of that flow Wednesday, as he knocked down a trio of 3s and scored 11 first-half points. He was critical in the Razorbacks building their nine-point lead.
When the first of those 3s went through the net, it gave Davis his first points since Dec. 14 against UCA. He missed the final two non-conference games because of a wrist injury – which he said is fully healed – and then failed to score against the Volunteers. When the dust settled, he had played 32 minutes and 12 seconds without scoring.
It wasn’t quite as good in the second half, but Davis still finished with 15 points on 4 of 9 shooting, including 3 of 7 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line.
“He’s getting better and he’s getting more comfortable,” Calipari said. “I like the fact that he got to the foul line. He’s a really good foul shooter. Well, you can’t shoot all 3s.”
Calipari pointed out that his guard wasn’t perfect, though.
“He had some one-handed catches, which took away another opportunity to shoot,” Calipari said. “Just grab it and shoot. He went (with) one (hand) and kind of fumbled, I think two of them. I said, ‘You can’t do that. You’re too good a scorer for us.’”
As encouraging as it was to see Davis get back in double figures, finishing one shy of his season high set against Maryland-Eastern Shore, he still didn’t look like the player he was at FAU.
Seven of his nine attempts Wednesday were 3-pointers, most of the catch-and-shoot variety. One of the two 2-pointers was a layup on a feed from Fland and the other was a catch-and-shoot jumper from the elbow. At no point did he try to make something happen off the dribble, which he did frequently for the Owls.
Even the free throws were somewhat misleading. The first time he was sent to the line, Davis was fouled after grabbing a defensive rebound 90 feet away from the basket. The other came on a wild jumper just inside the arc in the closing seconds, when the result was no longer in question.
Up Next for Arkansas Basketball
It doesn’t get any easier for the Razorbacks, as they welcome No. 8 Florida to Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.
The Gators are coming off a 73-43 beatdown of previously unbeaten and No. 1 Tennessee on Tuesday. That improved them to 14-1 on the season, with their lone loss being a 106-100 shootout with Kentucky in Lexington.
Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Other Arkansas Basketball Tidbits
- Arkansas never trailed in the first half, leading for 18 minutes and 6 seconds. It then never led in the second half, trailing for 19 minutes and 7 seconds. The game was tied for a total of 2 minutes and 46 seconds.
- After a rough game at Tennessee, Adou Thiero bounced back with a near double-double. He finished with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block in just 28 minutes.
- Ole Miss was led by Malik Dia, who turned in his best game of the year with a season-high 21 points in 28 minutes. His previous high was 11 against both Memphis and Colorado State. He also grabbed 8 rebounds and shot 2 of 4 from deep, despite being a 23.3% shooter coming into the game.
- The Razorbacks started the game 4 of 7 from beyond the arc, but proceeded to miss their next 11 and all but one of their final 16 attempts. It’s the second game in a row Arkansas has had a stretch of at least 10 straight missed 3s. It is shooting just 21.2% from deep in two SEC games so far.
- Zvonimir Ivisic was limited to only 4 minutes because of an ankle injury suffered 10 minutes into Monday’s practice. That caused him to essentially miss two full days of practice and he was listed as “questionable” on Tuesday’s availability report. He was removed from the report two hours prior to tipoff, but he couldn’t even dunk – despite being 7-foot-2 – so the staff opted to hold him out in the first half. At halftime, Calipari asked Ivisic if he could play at all and the big man answered the call by giving him the aforementioned 4 minutes, in which he went 0 for 2 and grabbed 1 rebound.
- Through Tuesday, SEC home teams were 10-3 straight up and 10-3 against the spread in conference games. Not only did they lose all three games Wednesday night, but none of them covered. In addition to Arkansas (-3.5) losing to Ole Miss, Oklahoma (-2.5) lost a heartbreaker against Texas A&M and South Carolina (+11.5) was blown out by Alabama.
Arkansas vs Ole Miss Highlights
Postgame Interviews
Arkansas vs Ole Miss Box Score
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