Arkansas post play against Gonzaga is clue Calipari needs to find

Forget the final score. It won’t count anyway.

When No. 12 Arkansas hosts No. 15 Gonzaga at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bud Walton Arena, the story that matters will be happening near the rim.

That’s where last season’s team came up short.

The Hogs had flashy freshman guards in Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas. What they didn’t have was enough muscle in the paint.

Nick Pringle, Malique Ewin and Trevon Brazile all took turns down low. None of them could consistently push people around.

The result was a good season that stalled in the Sweet 16.

The question heading into Saturday is simple enough. Can this group hold its ground inside? One exhibition won’t settle it, but it might drop a hint.

Gonzaga brings the right kind of test

Plenty of teams schedule a cupcake in October. Arkansas keeps skipping that part.

Gonzaga’s guards have been around the block, and the Bulldogs are big from top to bottom.

The two coaches also made sure nobody gets to hide. John Calipari and Mark Few agreed to leave their zones in the locker room. Both teams can pick up full court, too.

That means no sagging back to protect a shaky big man. Every defender has to guard his own guy.

These two Hall of Famers are friends. Calipari even helped introduce Few at his Naismith induction.

Friendship has limits, though.

“I want it to be a war,” Calipari said.

Good. Better to find out now than in March.

Cooper Bowser is the first clue

The starting center job likely belongs to Cooper Bowser, a 6-foot-11 transfer from Furman.

The Southern Conference once named him its top defender. Last season, he scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds a night. He also had two assists and blocked a shot per game while logging about 30 minutes.

His shooting mark topped 77%. Around the basket, he finished close to 82% of the time. Bowser reached double digits 20 times in 25 games.

The catch is a hand injury that kept him out three or four weeks. He was set to return to full-contact practice the week of Oct. 14.

The coach didn’t sugarcoat what he wants from his new center.

“I need him to have an impact,” Calipari said.

Calipari wants the offense to flow through Bowser at times. He also wants sharper decisions when Bowser rolls to the basket.

So keep an eye on his legs. If he’s fighting for boards in a crowd, great. If he’s sucking wind by the first media timeout, well, we’ll learn something there too.

Rest of big men have homework

Behind Bowser, the picture gets fuzzy.

Freshman Caleb Ourigou is 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds. He reclassified and left Overtime Elite a year early to join the Razorbacks.

He averaged eight rebounds in 17 starts there. Playing with NY Renaissance on the EYBL circuit, he blocked two shots a game while scoring 11 and grabbing nine boards.

Calipari says Ourigou still has some growing to do. If the freshman can give 20 minutes a night by January, the coach thinks the Hogs become a tough out.

Then there’s Miikka Muurinen, a 7-foot freshman who’s long and springy. Forward J.J. Andrews is strong and moves well for his size.

Calipari figures he’ll have 10 or 11 healthy bodies, and he plans to use them. Gonzaga’s bigs could see four or five different looks.

Last year, Arkansas was short on options inside. Now Calipari gets to spend an afternoon figuring out which ones he trusts.

Don’t forget who feeds the post

Big men need somebody to get them the ball.

That job belongs to Jordan Smith Jr., whom Calipari picked to run the point.

Smith’s summer trip to the Bahamas went well. He averaged 17 points and 5.8 assists over four games and turned it over just 0.8 times per game.

He understands the assignment.

“I’ve got to get people involved, just make everybody better around me,” Smith said.

That’s a big ask for a freshman. Then again, he’s got seven other first-year guys learning right alongside him.

If Smith and Bowser get on the same page with lobs and pick-and-roll reads, life gets easier for everybody wearing red.

History offers a hint

The last time these programs met for real, a big man made the difference.

The Razorbacks upset top-ranked Gonzaga in the 2022 Sweet 16. Jaylin Williams posted a double-double with 15 points and 12 boards.

Gonzaga had Drew Timme with 25 points and Chet Holmgren with 11 points and 14 rebounds. Arkansas won anyway.

The Hogs also haven’t lost an exhibition at home in 40 tries. That streak includes an 85-69 win over preseason No. 1 Kansas and an 81-77 overtime win over preseason No. 1 Purdue.

Nobody’s handing out trophies for No. 41, though.

I’ll be watching the rebounding numbers and how many easy looks Gonzaga gets at the rim. That’ll tell me more than the final margin. The Razorbacks host Memphis on Oct. 28 before the season opener against Virginia on Nov. 8.

Fans can watch on SEC Network+ or listen on the Razorback Sports Network statewide.  In Northwest Arkansas it will be on ESPN Arkansas 93.7 and 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in Fort Smith and the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison and Mountain Home.