FAYETTEVILLE — Making the NCAA Tournament in John Calipari’s first season was always viewed as a layup by Arkansas basketball fans, especially after the big win over Michigan at Madison Square Garden.
That may have been true, but the Razorbacks proved they struggled even with layups in their 71-63 loss to No. 8 Florida inside Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.
While the stat was disputed by Calipari during his 9.5-minute postgame press conference, the official UA statbroadcast had Arkansas going just 2 of 16 on layups. Even if you include six dunks, the Razorbacks were still 8 of 22 at the rim.
“No way,” Calipari said in disbelief. “There’s no way a team goes 2 for 16 next to the basket. Won’t happen. That’s wrong. It’s 2 for 10 maybe. Not 2 for 16. No way.”
Regardless, it was one of several ugly aspects in a game that could have been a lot worse than the final 8-point margin.
Facing a team that just handed No. 1 Tennessee a 30-point loss, the Razorbacks were minus-10 on the boards and gave up 16 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points for the Gators.
Offensively, Arkansas had three separate droughts of 5-plus minutes without a field goal and shot a miserable 30% (18 of 60). It was also just 3 of 16 (18.8%) from beyond the arc — a number inflated by Boogie Fland’s meaningless banked 3 in the closing seconds — and missed several critical free throws down the stretch.
“I got to look and say, ‘Are we playing the right people? Are we playing the right way?’” Calipari said. “We’re getting shots. We’re getting layups. We got to the free throw line. We did all the stuff we’re trying to do.”
The result was a third straight loss, dropping Arkansas to 0-3 to open SEC play for the third time in four years after avoiding such a start the previous 12 seasons. While they rebounded and made the Elite Eight in 2021-22, the Razorbacks never turned things around last year and finished under .500, missing the postseason entirely.
This is even rarer territory for Calipari, as it’s the first time one of his teams has lost three straight to begin conference play since UMass started 0-6 in the A-10 during his debut season back in 1988-89.
With 10 more Quadrant 1 and five Quadrant 2 games left on its regular-season slate, Arkansas certainly has plenty of opportunities to bolster its shaky NCAA Tournament resume, but it also hasn’t instilled much confidence in its ability to do so.
Granted they’ve had a tough schedule with three legitimate top-25 opponents, the Razorbacks are one of five 0-3 teams in the SEC — and the only one that has yet to hold a second-half lead. They also never led after halftime in neutral-site losses to Baylor and Illinois.
The only quality win currently on Arkansas’ resume was the aforementioned take down of Michigan, but even in that game, it nearly squandered an 18-point second-half lead. Its other 10 victories have been Q3 (3) or Q4 (4). That includes a road win over a Miami (Fla.) team that entered Saturday ranked No. 194 in the NET — and it didn’t take the lead in that game until the final two minutes.
Here are several other takeaways from the Arkansas vs Florida game…
Hogs’ Last-Gasp Effort
Even though they never regained the lead after halftime, the Razorbacks made a strong push and looked like they may make a bid for the upset.
Trailing by 10 with a little over 8 minutes remaining, Arkansas went on a 7-0 run capped by a thunderous dunk by D.J. Wagner, who soared over Florida’s Alex Condon for a tomahawk slam. The play made it a 53-50 game and brought the crowd to its feet.
The Gators immediately called a timeout, though, and settled things down by doing what they do best — grabbing offensive rebounds.
It looked like Arkansas got a stop that would have given it the ball with a chance to tie it up. Instead, Condon came down with an offensive rebound and Walter Clayton Jr. ended up drilling a 3 to end the run.
Jonas Aidoo promptly turned it over on the Razorbacks’ ensuing possession and Florida turned it into points when Will Richard grabbed another offensive rebound and fed it to Condon, who was fouled and made both free throws.
After a missed jumper by Adou Thiero, Condon beat Arkansas back down the floor and got an easy fast break dunk out of it. In the blink of an eye, what was a 3-point game ballooned back to a 10-point margin in favor of Florida and the game was all but over.
Dominated on the Boards (Again)
For the second time in three SEC games, Arkansas not only got beat on the boards, but it was dominated by the strong-rebounding Gators.
The offensive rebounds during that critical stretch of the game were just two of Florida’s 16 total that led to 19 second-chance points. It finished with a 13-point advantage in second-chance scoring and plus-10 rebounding margin.
It was even for a large chunk of the game, but the Razorbacks did end up grabbing more defensive rebounds (24) than Florida had offensive boards (16), which is better than their SEC opener.
Against Tennessee, Arkansas was minus-22 on the boards and gave up more offensive rebounds (24) than it had defensive rebounds (20).
Despite leading the way for the Razorbacks with nine rebounds Saturday, Jonas Aidoo — their most physical big man — took ownership of the struggles on the boards.
“It’s more fight,” Aidoo said. “I feel like I got to start (doing it) first, playing in the SEC for a while. Just hit first and set the tone, lead by example and everybody will follow with that.”
Another Nelly No-Show
Any hope that Johnell Davis turned a corner with his 15-point performance against Ole Miss earlier in the week went out the window when he turned in another scoreless outing Saturday afternoon.
The heralded FAU transfer went missed all eight of his shots, including 0 of 5 from beyond the arc, and finished with 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers and 2 personal fouls in 20 minutes.
It was a particularly tough day for Davis, as he even missed a layup on a rare drive to the basket in the second half and later dribbled the ball off his foot for a turnover. The latter of those happened with 9:22 remaining and he was promptly subbed out. He played just 11 more seconds the rest of the game.
After averaging 18.2 points for the Owls last season, Davis is now averaging just 8.3 with the Razorbacks — and that number is inflated by his performances against weak non-conference foes. He’s been held scoreless twice in three SEC games, as he also failed to score in 25 minutes at Tennessee.
Prior to the start of conference play, Davis had played at least 20 minutes in 91 career games and had scored in each of them, averaging 14.6 points.
National media are starting to take notice of the consensus top-3 transfer’s struggles.
“I know he’s been battling (a) wrist injury, but it’s been incredible how underwhelming he has been under John Calipari,” Jeff Goodman posted on Twitter. “Was one of the best scorers in the country last season. Still not sure what’s going on, but looks completely lost in this Arkansas offense.”
Up Next for Arkansas Basketball
The Razorbacks hit the road for a pair of games next week, traveling to both LSU and Missouri.
First up is a trip to face the Tigers of Baton Rouge, La., who dropped to 11-5 on the season with a loss to No. 23 Ole Miss on Saturday. They are one of the other four 0-3 SEC teams, as they’ve also lost to Vanderbilt and Missouri.
It’s a critical road trip for Arkansas because LSU (No. 70) and Missouri (No. 41) are two of the bottom six teams in the conference, according to KenPom.
Tipoff against LSU is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT Tuesday and the game will be televised nationally on SEC Network.
Other Arkansas Basketball Tidbits
- FAU transfer Alijah Martin — a former teammate of Johnell Davis — led Florida in scoring with 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting, including 4 of 7 from deep. Each of the leading scorers against Arkansas in SEC play have been mid-major transfers, as Martin joins Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier (North Florida) and Ole Miss’ Malik Dia (Belmont).
- Alex Condon also turned in a complete game for the Gators, not only notching a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but finishing with 4 rebounds and 3 blocks, as well. The last player to notch those statistics against the Razorbacks was Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin in 2008.
- The Razorbacks have struggled getting to the line much of the season, ranking 261st in free throw rate at 29.5%, but they attempted a season-high 35 free throws. Their previous high was 27 against Little Rock and Illinois. Unfortunately, they made only 24 (68.6%).
- It took 16 games, but Arkansas finally had a player foul out in Saturday’s loss to Florida. Adou Thiero picked up his fifth foul with 3:01 remaining. According to HogStats, that’s the deepest into a season the Razorbacks have gone without a foul out since at least 1979-80, surpassing the 1990-91 team that didn’t have its first until the 15th game.
- The Razorbacks had another 8 blocked shots against the Gators, improving their season average to exactly 6. That would rank fifth on the UA’s single-season list, behind the 2006-07 (6.31), 2023-24 (6.09), 2005-06 (6.06) and 1990-91 (6.03) teams.
- With four more Saturday, Boogie Fland has dished 92 assists so far this season. That moved him into a tie with Allie Freeman (1984-85) for seventh among freshmen in UA history. He’s on pace to finish with 178 in the regular season, which would rank second behind only Kareem Reid’s 219 as a redshirt freshman in 1995-96.
Arkansas vs Florida Highlights
Postgame Interviews
Arkansas vs Florida Box Score

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