In their SEC home opener against No. 23 Ole Miss on Wednesday, the Arkansas Razorbacks (11-4, 0-2 SEC) shot 22-of-59 from the field (37.3%) and 5-of-23 from distance (21.7%) to continue an unsettling trend.
The 73-66 loss comes four days after Arkansas was embarrassed by the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers, a game the Hogs converted 37.7% of field goals and 20.6% of triples in. Arkansas made just one three on 11 attempts in the second half alone against Ole Miss.
"We had some (shot attempts) and, again, we don’t make them," head coach John Calipari said after the game. "We’ve been a good shooting team most of the year. Last couple games…and I’m not — most of them weren’t guarded threes. They were unguarded threes. So we gotta…like I said, I have a lot of faith in this group. I’m disappointed. I’m not discouraged."
Other than forward Adou Thiero's (7-of-12 FG) and guard Johnell Davis' (4-of-9 FG) relatively strong shooting performances, Arkansas went a combined 9-of-33 (27.2%) between guards Boogie Fland and DJ Wagner.
"(Boogie) 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? Create a shot for a teammate that they can make, and I couldn't get them in that mode. And again, he's young. He's trying to figure this out. All of a sudden, you play like that, your life passes before your eyes. It shouldn't be but it does. Just calm down. This is a long season. You didn't play well. You didn't shoot well."
Despite the poor offensive showing, Calipari said he's confident Arkansas will turn things around because the players are "all good kids and they're all working."
"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. You got to count on the guys coming off the bench and that’s why I’m saying to you, ‘You got to have everyone giving you something.’ You can’t have anybody having a nothing day. And it wasn’t Jonas (Aidoo) not getting balls, it’s all the other stuff. Like okay you didn’t shoot well what else are you going for? What else is being done here?"
Up next, the Razorbacks will welcome the No. 8 Florida Gators to Bud Walton Arena on Saturday. That game will tip off at 3 p.m. CT and will air on ESPN.
