Johnell Davis honest about Baylor's blowout loss: 'We know they're a better team than that'

Baylor, fresh off getting smacked down by Gonzaga to open the season, moves on to face John Calipari’s new-look Arkansas team on Saturday night. And the Razorbacks are more than ready.

Transfer guard Johnell Davis said after Arkansas’ season-opening win that they’re well aware Baylor is better than what they showed in the opener. They’ll also be incentivized to respond in force.

“We know they’re a better team than that and we know they’re going to come out, trying to fight so we’ve gotta stay on our toes,” Davis said.

The Bulldogs systematic dispatched the Bears in the opener, leading by 19 at the half and finishing with five players scoring in double figures as they posted a 101-63 win in a rematch of the 2021 National Championship game. Two other players scored nine for Gonzaga.

Arkansas kicked off the season on Wednesday night, best Lipscomb, 76-60, in a game where Davis had 15 points, second on the team. And his teammate and Kentucky transfer big Zvonimir Ivisic, who scored 12 of his own in the opener, echoed his teammates sentiment that Baylor will be coming ready to bounce back.

“Usually when a team loses by 30, for the next game, they are hungry. So it’s going to be a good game. We’ll see,” Ivisic said.

Calipari made some bold claims about post play after his first win at Arkansas

Despite securing their first win of the Calipari era, Arkansas did not shoot particularly well from behind the three-point line, making just four of their 19 shots from behind the arc. Which led to Calipari being asked after the game about how he’ll approach the team’s three-point shooting moving forward.

“What we’ll do is look at how we’re getting them,” Calipari said about three-point shots. “Now I said this on radio, if your team has no post presence, you’re a fraud. You can win games, if you can’t throw that ball to the post and make that guy score or draw double teams, where you get the threes we’re talking about, your team’s a fraud. And so I’ve said that every year I’ve coached.”

Basketball at every level has become more predicated on the three-point shot, but Calipari wants to make sure his team can still control the post. Which they were able to do on Wednesday with 54 of their 76 points coming from the paint.