Arkansas is dealing with a handful of preseason injuries, and head coach John Calipari is playing the long game with his banged up Razorbacks with eyes on being healthy when it counts.
Talented transfer trio Johnell Davis, Jonas Aidoo and Adou Thiero were all limited, or out entirely, during Arkansas’ Tip-Off Tour stops in Hot Springs and Pine Bluff over the weekend.
Depth pieces Melo Sanches and Casmir Chavis were held out of a majority of the festivities as well.
“We have two-thirds of a team right now,” Calipari said. “Those two-thirds are getting unbelievable reps, and they are getting better.
“That’s the advantage but the disadvantage is the other guys are pretty good and are going to play but we have to get them together. It’s early, I’m not panicked. I have a foot on the panic button but not two on the panic button. We’ll get healthy and see who we are.”
A source at the event told Inside Arkansas that Davis — who had a brace on his wrist — was not expected to be out long term and that Aidoo, who has missed significant time during the summer, and Thiero would both have likely played Sunday if the Hogs were playing a regular season game.
Still, when asked if the trio was expected to be back by the charity exhibition against Kansas on Oct. 25, Calipari made it clear he was in no hurry to force the issue.
“I don’t know that. I don’t know,” Calipari said. “Will I rush them back to play Kansas? It’s an exhibition game. So, no.
“If they’re ready to play, they’ll play. If they’re not ready to play, or I choose to say you’d probably be better with another couple days then I’ll leave them out.”
Arkansas undoubtedly misses Davis, Aidoo and Thiero, and it was evident during the open event as the Razorbacks used some unorthodox lineups and had to go 5-on-5 against graduate assistants rather than teammates.
The downside is a delay in on-floor continuity with the top rotation. The upside is big reps for the freshmen as well as the realization by the staff that they may be able to get creative in the backcourt.
“We should be a huge team, a huge, strong rebounding team but with Adou [Thiero] and Jonas [Aidoo] out, now all of a sudden we are playing with threes and fours.
“But how about this one, Boogie and DJ playing together. On a full roster, they would be the point guards on either roster playing against each other. Now they’re playing with each other.”
So, what will Arkansas do if push comes to shove and they had multiple missing pieces come tipoff? Easy, play the game…
Calipari often refers to his 1995-96 UMass team that made a Final Four with a tight six-man rotation. It is also not lost on him he recently walked into Bud Walton Arena and knocked off Arkansas without an active point guard on his roster.
“What if we have to play a game with six guys? I did that at UMass,” Calipari said. “I played six guys. That’s it. Guys played 38-39 minutes all season. They were so happy those six. They knew not to foul.
“I told them when you run into this in the season do you surrender? Do you forfeit? You play. You figure it out. I remember coming to Arkansas without a guard. You remember that game? We had no guard. My forward brought it up the court. What were we going to do, surrender? We won the game.”