Jay Bilas pinpoints biggest issues for Arkansas, reasons for slow start under John Calipari

John Calipari’s time at Arkansas has not gotten off to the best start. The Razorbacks are 11-6 (0-4) on the year entering Saturday’s game at Missouri and are one of only three teams in the SEC yet to win a conference game.

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas broke down what is wrong with Arkansas Saturday morning on ESPN College GameDay.

“Well, they’re 0-4 in the Southeastern Conference, and that’s because by-and-large they haven’t been finishing plays, both on the offensive end or defensively,” Jay Bilas said. “They’re not finishing defensive possessions with big defensive rebounds. They’re getting outrebounded by over 9 a game, close to 10 a game in Southeastern Conference play.

“And in the SEC they’re averaging 64 points a game. That’s not going to beat anybody. They’re shooting 36 percent from the field, that’s not going to beat anybody. We talked about their work on the glass, it hasn’t been good enough.”

Bilas added that Arkansas has talent, but for whatever reason that talent hasn’t been playing up to its potential so far this season.

There are transfers who are in different roles, and they’re struggling in their new spots.

“Johnell Davis has not played anywhere near his level. But they’ve got really good talent,” Bilas said. “Some of it’s young talent. Some of it’s talent in different positions and different roles than it’s been in the past.

“Three guys that played at Kentucky, they’re in different roles. Adou Thiero is leading the team in scoring. But they need to be tougher.”

Finally, Bilas said that it’s not an Xs and Os issue for Arkansas. John Calipari is calling a lot of the same stuff that he did when he was successful at Kentucky. It’s just not working as well now.

“It’s not schematic. They’re running the same stuff that Cal ran at Kentucky. It’s not that much different,” Bilas said. “But it’s really about being more physical and it’s about finishing. They have not been a good finishing team of both individual plays and of games. And that’s gotta change.”

Things aren’t going to get any easier for Arkansas moving forward. The Razorbacks play at Missouri, at Kentucky, at Texas and against ranked teams Alabama and Georgia over the next three weeks.

Bilas believes it will be hard for John Calipari and Arkansas to get things turned around.

“You can get run over in this league in a hurry. They’re on the road against Missouri today, and Missouri does a great job of forcing turnovers. They’re very physical. They play a lot of people. They play both man and zone,” Bilas said. “You’re going to have to make a lot of different decisions. But three of [Arkansas’s] next five are on the road. And that’s where a losing streak can become a tailspin if you don’t stop it.”