John Calipari shocked by number of missed layups vs. Florida

Arkansas head coach John Calipari was stunned after hearing that the Razorbacks were 2-for-16 on layups against Florida on Saturday. In fact, Calipari argued that the statbroadcast numbers were wrong.

“It was that? It was 2 of 16? No way,” John Calipari said. “No way a team goes 2-for-16 next to the basket. Won’t happen. That’s wrong. It’s 2-for-10 maybe, not 2-for-16. No way.”

A big part of the Arkansas game plan for the matchup with the Gators was to get in the paint and try to score around the basket. The Razorbacks had plenty of opportunities to do so, but whether the 2-for-16 number is correct or not, there’s no doubt that they didn’t convert enough.

“I’ll look at the tape, but we were spreading the court so we could get to the rim,” John Calipari said. “So we were taking bigs out, you know, or it was a big going against one of their bigs.”

Calipari acknowledged that his team might be lacking confidence at the moment. Arkansas shot 30 percent from the field and 18.8 percent from 3-point range in the 71-63 loss to Florida.

“This is a tough game when you’re not playing well,” John Calipari said. “There were guys on the team that were missing shots and I created a couple of more shots for them, trying to build their confidence, and they missed those. It happens.”

Moving forward, Calipari wants to see his Arkansas players playing with more confidence. He also wants the Razorbacks to find a way to have an impact on the game when shots aren’t falling.

“If you really wanna play this sport, what do you do when you’re not playing well? A simple question,” Calipari said. “What do you do when you’re not playing well? What do you add to the game? And so trying to convince them of that.

“And just say, ‘Hey, it’s early in the season, we’ve got a lot of games left. Individually, we’ve got a lot of games left. Step on the gas, start playing better. Make open shots. Make your free throws. You don’t have to make them all, you just can’t miss them all.’ So you know, we’ve got some stuff to work on.”

With the loss to Florida, Arkansas is now 11-5 (0-3) on the season. The Razorbacks will return to action on Tuesday when they play at LSU.