PROVIDENCE — This year's NCAA Tournament isn't the first rodeo for Jonas Aidoo, and that experience could prove to be vital if the 10-seed Razorbacks hope to make a run in this year's Big Dance.
Aidoo has nine NCAA Tournament games under his belt over the last four years, and last year he averaged 7.5 points and four rebounds in Tennessee's trip to the Elite Eight. He met with the media both at the podium and in the locker room Wednesday and talked about how that experience will help the Razorbacks during the tournament.
"They definitely depend on us a lot, especially me and Nelly," Aidoo said. "We've been to the future rounds, Elite Eight and Final Four, but we need every individual on this team, including the coaching staff falling back on our work, going in, scouting each team carefully. We don't want to lose these games. We want to go all the way. We're trying to get Arkansas their second, so we're trying to go all the way for sure."
Aidoo's season hasn't gone according to plan, as a foot surgery sidelined him for almost the entire offseason and hampered his ability throughout the year, especially early on.
Now that he's healthy, he's playing his best basketball of the season. Over the last five games, Aidoo has three double-doubles and exploded for 21 points in the season finale against Mississippi State.
The fourth-year center told HawgBeat the key to keeping that momentum rolling is entirely mental.
"Just stay in the same mindset I've been in," Aidoo said. "Stay true to my work, fall back on my work, just allow my teammates to look for me."
Thursday's matchup with the Jayhawks will require Aidoo to go against one of the better centers in college basketball in Kansas' Hunter Dickinson. Named a Third Team All-American by the Associated Press, Dickinson averages 17.6 points and 10 rebounds per game.
Neither Aidoo or Dickinson played when the Hogs and Jayhawks tipped off in a preseason exhibition last October, but they did face off when the Jayhawks played Tennessee during the 2023-2024 season. Dickinson scored 17 points and had 20 rebounds while Aidoo scored eight with 11 boards.
Arkansas will need Aidoo to keep Dickinson to lower stats than that this time around. He said the key is to limit the amount of times Dickinson gets into the paint.
"He gets a lot of paint touches and gets to his left hand," Aidoo said. "So definitely, making it hard to get post entry passes, we guard the ball really tight, making the passes really hard. Walling up, trying to make him finish over our length."
Because of Aidoo's aforementioned injury, he said he's excited to be playing in the tournament because he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to play at all this year.
"It's truly a blessing, I thought I was going to have to redshirt this year," Aidoo said. "It's just a blessing to be on the court, you know, getting back to myself, playing with a lot of confidence, going out there and having fun."
Arkansas and Kansas will tip off at 6:10 p.m. CT, and the game will air on CBS. Stay tuned to HawgBeat for more Arkansas basketball coverage.
