John Calipari admits he has 'a lot of work' at Arkansas

Through four games in Fayetteville, John Calipari knows just how much there is for him to do with the ‘Hogs.

Calipari spoke on that following the 91-72 win for No. 20 Arkansas over Pacific on Monday. He said there’s a lot for him to do, a lot for his players to do and nothing that will make it all happen all of a sudden rather than continuing to work at all of it over this season.

“I got a lot of work, folks,” said Calipari. “I am not a magician, I don’t have a magic wand and, poof, they’re going to be better. This will take time.”

While at 3-1, Arkansas has just been alright enough so far. Their loss was a close, yet wire-to-wire, defeat to Baylor in Dallas. They’ve then won over their mid-major opponents in Lipscomb, Troy, and Pacific by an average margin of 17. However, all three of those opponents had those games within a few points in the second half before the Razorbacks closed all of them out.

Offense is where most of those issues are with Arkansas averaging 74.8 ppg, as they hadn’t gotten to 80 until this one, as they’re less efficient on that side of the floor.

With that, defense has been their best so far as they’re allowing only 63.3 points. Still, there’s still some to do there as well in how they’re defending.

“I like the fact that we can guard. We can guard the ball. We’re physical enough. You’re not going to bull us over,” Calipari said. “We’ve got work to do. Our hands are down too much. That’s why you get threes. Hands up – we worked for two days, we need about three weeks. Pick and roll defense? A little bit better.”

Arkansas has two more games before the schedule gets harder in the non-conference and nine before the calendar turns to conference play. That gives them the time that they’ll need to be where Calipari and the ‘Hogs want themselves to be.

“We’ve got a lot of stuff that we’ve got to do and I’m not afraid of it. I mean, I’m a grinder. That’s what I do, you know,” said Calipari. “Let’s see us in a month. Let’s see us in two months.”

“Right now, I know what we are. Frustrates me, frustrates you. I know but, you know what, these kids fight and they’re good kids,” Calipari said.