Razorbacks’ veteran safety net fails in loss to Kentucky

Arkansas didn’t accidentally build this roster.

This was intentional.

The plan was simple enough to fit on a napkin. Find a young star. Surround him with adults. Let the grown men absorb the punishment while the phenom shines.

Then the Razorbacks ran into Kentucky, and the adults called in sick.

Freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. did what freshmen aren’t supposed to do — he showed up ready. The experience around him, the very reason this roster exists, did not.

“They out-toughed us,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “Kentucky came in more desperate than us and played way rougher than we played.”

That wasn’t analysis. That was an autopsy.

Arkansas’ roster construction was supposed to prevent this exact night. The Razorbacks didn’t want Acuff carrying games alone. That was the point of Malique Ewin. The point of Trevon Brazile. The point — especially — of Nick Pringle.

Instead, Acuff was steady while the veterans unraveled.

“They came up with balls that we just didn’t come up with,” Calipari said.

That sentence explained why Pringle barely played.

Pringle, the oldest of Arkansas’ frontcourt options and the loudest example of “experience,” logged 13 minutes. In those 13 minutes, he recorded zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists, zero steals and zero blocks.

Nothing.

Since 2004, only seven Arkansas players had played that many minutes without producing a single stat. It was less a box score and more a witness protection program.

Calipari didn’t dodge it.

“He’s got to give us more,” he said.

Translation: that’s why he wasn’t on the floor.

Pringle’s reduced role forced Arkansas to lean harder on Ewin and Brazile. That didn’t go smoothly either.

Ewin had a chance to give the Razorbacks the lead late. He missed two free throws. One didn’t come close. Moments later, he earned a technical foul for knocking the ball off a Kentucky player on the floor.

“It wasn’t one of his better games,” Calipari said. “He’s got to give us more.”

Brazile gave Arkansas numbers — 16 points, eight rebounds, two blocks — but also delivered a flagrant foul after throwing Trent Noah to the floor.

“That can’t happen,” Calipari said.

So the experience Arkansas paid for didn’t settle the game. It escalated it. Fouls replaced toughness. Emotions replaced execution.

Meanwhile, Kentucky leaned on a freshman.

Malachi Moreno, a true freshman forward, played like the adult in the room. He finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, winning battles Arkansas’ veterans were supposed to own.

“He’s really gotten better,” Calipari said. “He really impacts the game. He’s going to be a good player.”

That compliment landed with a thud.

Moreno did everything Arkansas hoped its experienced frontcourt would do — rebound, play through contact, and affect the game without melting down.

Kentucky didn’t win because it was older. Kentucky won because it was tougher.

“They played rougher than we played,” Calipari said. “That’s just the truth.”

This wasn’t a one-off. Arkansas has been out-rebounded in multiple SEC losses. Against Kentucky, the same flaw showed up again, this time with the added irony of Pringle barely factoring into the equation.

Pringle’s SEC rebounding average has dropped to 2.7 per game. Ewin has rebounded better, but not enough to tilt games. The veteran safety net Arkansas built simply wasn’t there.

“That’s on us,” Calipari said. “We’ve got to be tougher.”

Kentucky played like a team protecting its season. Arkansas played like a team assuming experience would matter just because it existed.

“We didn’t finish plays,” Calipari said. “You can’t do that in this league.”

The Razorbacks had opportunities late. They had chances to steal the game. Instead, they stacked mistakes — missed free throws, fouls, loose balls that Kentucky wanted more.

Calipari once criticized teams for being too young to survive physical games. Now his veteran-heavy frontcourt failed the same test.

“You don’t get credit for age,” he said.

That may be the lesson Arkansas didn’t expect to learn.

The roster blueprint wasn’t flawed in theory. It just collapsed under contact. Experience without toughness is just mileage. Against Kentucky, the phenom was ready.

The protection plan wasn’t.

“We’ve got to respond,” Calipari said. “That’s the only option.”

Against Kentucky, the Razorbacks learned the hard way that surrounding a young star with experience only works if the experience actually shows up.