John Calipari thinks long-term as he prepares Arkansas to face teams like Kansas after falling 72-67 against Baylor
John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks were caught by surprise when Scott Drew’s Baylor opened the Saturday night game with a matchup zone defense. As a result, the No. 12 Bears had a 42-33 lead at halftime, with the No. 18 Razorbacks still settling into their offense.
The Hogs succumbed to a 72-67 loss as Baylor never let them take a single-point lead throughout the contest. Nevertheless, Calipari sees the loss as a huge learning curve and an opportunity, which can ultimately prepare Arkansas for some of its biggest matchups.
"You could play a team and try to win by 50 and what you learn is that you can beat that kind of team by 50," John Calipari said. "But the teams you’re trying to compete with are like this team, like a Kansas [Jayhawks]. These kind of people that we’re playing, and then playing them away from our building is important too."
As a response to Baylor’s defense, the Razorbacks settled for 3-pointers. They had trouble finding the basket all night as they failed to connect on their first nine 3-pointers, resulting in a 5-20 outing (25%).
Arkansas also failed to move the ball, which is integral to breaking a zone defense as it manipulates defense, forces rotations and creates scoring/cutting gaps. According to guard Boogie Fland, it took the first 20 minutes of play for the Hogs to realize Scott Drew's scheme.
"We came out lackadaisical, not knowing they were going to go zone," Fland said. "I mean, it was a surprise to us. I feel like we picked it up going into the second half."
John Calipari's crew turned things around in the second half
Even though his squad has not worked heavily against zones this summer, Calipari's playbook worked right away in the second half. Adou Thiero scored six straight points, and the Razorbacks leveled the score at 44 in the first four minutes of the game. However, the Bears mounted a 14-4 run in the next four minutes.
Nevertheless, John Calipari's crew was effectively moving the ball around in the second half and launching their shots more comfortably. They also held Baylor to just four points in seven minutes while they cut the deficit to just five points in the ending minutes of the game.
The Razorbacks will next play Troy on Wednesday.