The No. 23 Arkansas Razorbacks (11-3, 0-1 SEC) were smacked with a dose of reality on the offensive end in their 72-56 SEC opening loss to No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
To be completely fair to the Hogs, the Vols entered the game with the nation's second-best scoring defense (56.2 points allowed per game), but that doesn't change what became painfully obvious throughout the loss: Arkansas' offense — at least, this version of it — isn't good enough to compete at the very top of the SEC.
"They kind of manhandled us," head coach John Calipari said after the game. "So we’ve got to do some soul searching, because this league…what they play like, everybody plays like. So we missed free throws, we missed threes and we get out-rebounded by 30. Aren’t you like ‘How did you only get beat by 25?’ Could’ve been 50."
Here are some facts; Arkansas shot 20-of-53 from the field (37.7%), 6-of-29 from beyond the arc (20.7%) and 6-of-13 from the charity stripe (46.2%). Again, context is needed against a talented defense, but that won't cut it the rest of the season, especially when plenty of those missed threes were quality, open looks.
"We missed all kind of free throws," Calipari said. "Second thing is we had a bunch of good threes, good looks, and you miss them. Look, I say this all the time, you don’t have to make ‘em all. You can’t miss ‘em all. And we missed every one that gave us a chance to get back (in it). I mean, some of them badly."
You know it's a bad day when your non-shooting center — 6-foot-11 former Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo — is attempting (and missing) a three-pointer with 7:43 minutes to go in the second half.
Speaking of former transfers, Arkansas needs much, much more from wing Johnell Davis. He's dealt with a wrist injury through the early parts of the season, including missing the last two non-conference games, but it's well-known what top transfers demand NIL-wise in the portal and the Hogs simply aren't seeing a return on that investment as of now.
Davis finished with zero points on 0-of-4 shooting with two rebounds and a turnover in 25 minutes. Compare that to Tennessee's Chaz Lanier, who transferred in from North Florida and scored a game-high 29 points with five triples in 35 minutes.
Not all is to be blamed on Davis, as the usually-electric Boogie Fland managed just 12 points on 15 shot attempts and season-leading scorer Adou Thiero scraped by with six points.
"We could play a bigger team with Adou at three, but like I said, he didn’t play well today," Calipari said. "He’s probably had one of those this year. So, in 14 games, he’s had one other dud. He had it here. Couldn’t make a free throw and then he shoots an airball three. That’s not who he is."
On top of all the offensive dysfunctionality was the shellacking Tennessee gave Arkansas in the rebounding department, 51-29 to be exact. The Vols impressively gained 24 offensive boards compared to the Razorbacks' nine.
"First of all, we only had one guy go to try to offensive rebound," Calipari said. "They had more offensive rebounds than we had rebounds. I want you to hear what I just said...All I kept saying in the second half (was) let’s get it to single digits.
"We do something good, they get an offensive rebound. We make it 13, they get two offensive rebounds, two threes and you look around and you’re like, ‘Guys, it has nothing to do with anything but rebounding.’"
Naturally, the legendary Calipari wasn't amiss after the loss, pointing out this performance as a learning experience for his team. The Razorbacks will have to learn a lot to get back on track in the grueling SEC.
"And now there’s some soul searching," Calipari said. "We’re off tomorrow, we’ll have some individual meetings on Monday. I’m not cracking. I’ve been through a lot of this."
Up next, Arkansas will welcome the Ole Miss Rebels to Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and the game will air on ESPN2.
