Calipari dials up defense first while preparing his second Arkansas roster

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — One thing was clear before his Wednesday media scrum, and the point remained the same afterward — Arkansas coach John Calipari tends to get defensive.

No, not his tone or demeanor interacting with the media.

His preferences and inclinations are to start with building a foundation on defense before molding, shaping, and constructing his offense on top of that foundation.

It's what he annually talks about this time of year, rolling into October exhibition events with the regular season just about a month out, that his defenses are ahead of his offenses in terms of preparation and readiness.

Calipari on Wednesday spoke on the very thing.

"We got to get— I'm going to do more offense (at Wednesday practice)," he said. "I've been really locked in on defense, but we got to get more play where there's a flow to the game, that we're playing really fast, but we're not in a hurry.

"That things stall, which they do. Alright, what do you do next? And part of that is just me getting to know the team. But they're coachable, they're a bunch of good guys, they're competing with each other.

"I don't know if I really raised my voice, but once or twice ... I mean, if they're doing what they're supposed to, I become a cheerleader."

His first Arkansas team that went 22-14 last season, including 8-10 in the SEC before making a valiant run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in March, was stronger defensively almost from start to finish.

Despite injuries, lack of physicality, some rebounding deficiencies, and difficulty maintaining assignment and help integrity against pick-and-roll offense, the defense emerged as one of the top units in Division 1.

Arkansas ranked 18th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency according to KenPom advanced analytics ratings.

The Razorbacks ranked 6th nationally in blocked shots per game (5.6), 56th in overall field goal percentage defense (41.5%), 57th in three-point field goal percentage defense (31.4%), and 66th in defensive rebounds per game (26.1).

Of the identifiable top eight players projected for the two-deep rotation in '25-26, as many as five Hogs could be plus defenders and perhaps a few of those elite.

Veterans DJ Wagner (6-4 junior guard), Karter Knox (6-6 sophomore wing), Billy Richmond III (6-6 sophomore wing), Trevon Brazile (6-10 senior forward-center), and Nick Pringle (6-10 senior forward-center) seem poised to set the tone for another Top 20-ranked defense if not Top 10.

Four of those are Calipari's retention foundation, and each played a key role in the team's defensive prowess and Sweet 16 run last year.

Pringle comes in as an offseason transfer with three years of experience battling in the paint in the SEC (two seasons at Alabama and last year at South Carolina).

He adds more physicality than Arkansas had on its frontline last season, he's a reliable rebounder, and he's a versatile defender, especially in those two-man, pick-and-roll scenarios that often troubled the Hogs' defensive efforts last season.

Given the attention Calipari has paid to his defense bridging his June and July limited summer practices to his work with the team since its return for the fall semester in mid-August, it stands to reason Calipari believes he's onto having a potentially elite defensive squad.

But it also stresses the importance of being sound defensively to three newcomers, true freshmen guards Darius Acuff, Jr. (6-3) and Meleek Thomas (6-4) as well as junior transfer forward-center Malique Ewin (6-10), a trio that is better offensively with plenty of room to develop and grow defensively.

On the offensive side of things last season, the Razorbacks were respectable at times but the weaker of the two units, finishing 64th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency according to KenPom advanced analytics ratings.

On the respectable side of things, Arkansas' offense finished in the top third of Division 1 in made two-point field goals per game (20.1 ranked 60th), free throw attempts per game (20.9 ranked 87th), two-point field goal percentage (54.1% ranked 91st), overall field goal percentage (46.2% ranked 94th), and points scored per game (76.8 ranked 95th).

The issues started with inefficient and low-volume three-point shooting, problem areas that went hand-in-hand as Arkansas averaged only 7.0 made triples per contest (ranked 262nd in D1) at a subpar 32.7% in conversion efficiency (ranked 249th in D1).

The Hogs also suffered self-inflicted wounds throughout the campaign to the tune of 11.5 turnovers per outing (ranked 159th in D1) with many of those giveaways being unforced.

For most of the season, Arkansas did not get much paint production (scoring and offensive rebounds) from its hobbled frontliners.

Certainly, one often-dysfunctional element was the backcourt and wing rotations that saw then-freshman Hog and now-sophomore Florida Gator Boogie Fland starting at the one paired with Wagner at the two.

It was often an awkward match as Wagner was more suited to play the one, and it shifted other backcourt players out of their preferred positions (i.e. shooting guard Nellie Davis starting games as a wing).

Fast-forward to '25-26, and there will be renewed backcourt questions, this time related to the effectiveness of a 1-2 pairing of Acuff and Wagner, a duo that will likely start games together and be on the court together for most of the 40 minutes each night out.

To this point, Calipari has not gotten an extensive look at Acuff and Wagner on the court together. Rather, they've been guarding each other in 5-on-5 and 4-on-4 competitive scrimmage scenarios.

"I haven't done them much together, because we're in that competitive mode stage," Calipari said. "I did it one time, and it was Billy Richmond, Meleek, and Jaden (Karuletwa) against those two (Acuff and Wagner) and some bigs, and it was good. We've only practiced a few times, and when we're doing one-hour practices, I was really specific in what we were trying to get done.

"But I will (pair Acuff and Wagner together). I was going to do it (on Tuesday), and I didn't."

There were no offseason additions to suggest Arkansas is destined to make improvement as a three-point shooting team, although Thomas was an efficient three-point shooter on high volume during his senior high school season at Overtime Elite.

Knox will be counted on to continue to provide perimeter shooting punch (he shot 20-of-46 from distance for 43.5% in the second half of the season), as will Brazile as he hit 39% from 3 in his final nine games while averaging 11.3 points in the same span.

Wagner and Richmond, subpar three-point shooters to varying degrees last season, will effort to improve their efficiency.

Ewin averaged 14.2 points per game at Florida State in '24-25, but in two total seasons in Division1 basketball he has attempted only one three-point shot.

During summer and fall practices, he has been hitting triples at a high clip according to onlookers inside the performance center.

But the strength of the team offensively likely will be slashing to the basket, whether in transition or in half-court sets, with emphasis on creating leverage, driving lanes, and matchup advantages in two-man dribble-handoff and screen actions that initiate Calipari's dribble-drive motion offensive schemes.

That suits Pringle just fine, which caused Calipari to point out that Pringle is a better player than the Head Hog originally thought him to be.

"The things he's doing out on the floor," Calipari said. "So, we can play through him. I'm making him shoot balls, which makes him get in the gym and shoot more. You know, if you're going to have to take shots, you're going to want to get in there and practice. And he's been doing it.

"Great leadership. Talks, moves his feet. I mean, he's just better than I thought. You throw the ball at above the square, and he'll go get it. So some good stuff."

HOGS FEED: