John Calipari reveals why Jonas Aidoo did not play in second half vs. Oklahoma

The Arkansas Razorbacks were without star Jonas Aidoo for their second-half effort against the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday. Following the game, head coach John Calipari shared why he wasn’t in the game.

Calipari shared that the decision wasn’t injury-related. Instead, it came down to putting in the personnel he felt would be best to try and beat Oklahoma. In particular, finding a way to slow down the Sooners’ offense.

“No [injury],” John Calipari said. “It’s just I thought we needed rim protection because they were running downhill and then we collapsed and they were throwing back for threes. So, I said, we’re, you know, I’ll put the shot blocker in there.”

Jonas Aidoo started the game for Arkansas and finished the loss to Oklahoma without scoring any points, and only snagging one rebound for the game. That was in about nine minutes of action. He’d be replaced by sophomore Zvonimir Ivisic.

“Z had three blocked shots and six rebounds and did alright,” Calipari said of Ivisic.

This season, the first for John Calipari at Arkansas, has seen the Razorbacks rely on a lot of transfers. Jonas Aidoo is one of those. He transferred over from Tennessee last Spring. While in Knoxville, he’d been a star, averaging 1.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. On defense, he blocked 1.8 shots per game and was an  SEC All-Defensive Team honoree last season. Now, Calipari benched him in the second half of a game while looking for rim protection.

For Jonas Aidoo, his time at Arkansas has been difficult. In the offseason, he needed foot surgery, which took time to recover from. Now, he’s seen a massive decline statistically. In the 2024-25 season, Aidoo is averaging 5.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.4 assists per game. That’s while averaging 17.8 minutes per game and are all below his career averages.

The decision by John Calipari to bench Jonas Aidoo only worked so well. Zvonimir Ivisic did play well, finishing the game with 10 points, six rebounds, and four assists. However, the Razorbacks were only able to win the second half 31-30, which wasn’t enough to overcome the halftime deficit.

With the loss, Calipari and Arkansas have fallen to just 12-8 on the season and 1-6 in SEC play. The only team in the SEC with a worse conference record this season is South Carolina, who is winless in conference play. So, the Razorbacks need to quickly find some answers, potentially in the form of lineup changes.

Next, Arkansas will travel to Kentucky on Saturday, February 1st, in a kind of homecoming for John Calipari.