Calipari, Few had dinner at Cheers, then a game that didn’t count

Two head coaches sat down at Cheers in Fayetteville on Friday night. Less than 24 hours later, they were coaching against each other.

John Calipari and Mark Few had no idea who’d come out on top Saturday. Neither one needed to.

The Arkansas Gonzaga exhibition was a practice with a scoreboard and a crowd. No. 12 Arkansas beat No. 15 Gonzaga 76-72 in Bud Walton Arena, and the result won’t count toward either team’s record.

Both sides still got their money’s worth.

Few got to see how his group handled a road crowd. Calipari got to find out which of his young players would flinch.

Very few of them did.

A 17-year-old who didn’t blink

Davion Thompson is a freshman guard, and he’s still just 17.

Arkansas was clinging to a 70-68 lead late when he shook his defender with a dribble move and knocked down a 3-pointer. That shot put the Hogs up 73-68 with 1:01 to play.

He finished with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 2 of 4 from deep.

He’d set the tone earlier, too. Thompson opened the second half by jumping in front of a Nathan De Sousa pass and racing the other way for a bucket. It was the first time the Razorbacks had led since the opening minutes.

Calipari can file that away.

Four Hogs scored 10 or more: Thompson, Billy Richmond, JJ Andrews and Miikka Muurinen.

Andrews pulled down nine rebounds. Muurinen grabbed six rebounds and swatted two shots.

Richmond takes the next step

Richmond led everybody in red with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The junior forward made 3 of 5 from long range. For a guy who made just 23% of his 3s across his freshman and sophomore years, that’s a real number.

He had five points at halftime. Every shot he made after the break came from behind the arc.

“Days and nights in,” Richmond said. “That’s all it was. So it was just confidence and consistency.”

Calipari noticed the difference. He said Richmond’s “pace of play, yet being in control” was “way better” than a year ago.

The coach also revealed a warning he’d handed Richmond on Friday. “I told him yesterday if you don’t take open shots I’m taking you out,” Calipari said. “Shoot open shots.”

Richmond took the hint. Funny how that works.

What Gonzaga took home

Gonzaga didn’t leave empty-handed. The Bulldogs finished with 52 rebounds to Arkansas’ 48.

Braden Huff gave Few plenty to like with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Izan Almansa hit 6 of 9 shots for 14 points.

Gonzaga built a 36-26 cushion with 2:14 left before the break. Eight offensive rebounds by late in the first half helped get it there.

Then the Zags went cold. The Hogs ripped off an 18-0 run that stretched across halftime and turned a 10-point hole into a 44-36 edge.

Few’s team didn’t fold. Five quick points from Huff and Xaivian Lee made it 68-66 with under three minutes to play.

Better to sweat out a finish like that in October than in March.

Richmond eventually iced it at the line. He missed the first one, grinned and sank the next.

The numbers that’ll get Calipari’s attention

Neither offense looked sharp. The Hogs shot 36.9%, and Gonzaga wasn’t much better at 35.5%.

The difference came from deep. Arkansas made 11 of 24 3-pointers, and Gonzaga connected on only 6 of 28.

The Razorbacks also won the paint 25-11 and had 15 assists to Gonzaga’s 13.

Calipari wasn’t handing out trophies, though. “We score 76, which is not many,” he said. “But we got a long way to go, but we’ll see.”

There were a few tense moments. Jordan Smith Jr. went down in the second half and needed help getting off the court, and Muurinen caught an accidental elbow from Richmond. Both returned to the floor with about six minutes to go.

Muurinen also had a play he’d like to forget. In the final seconds he put the ball in the wrong hoop and handed Gonzaga two points.

He’ll hear about that one in film. Nobody’s going to lose sleep over it.

One more tune-up

The Hogs get one more exhibition before the real thing. Memphis comes to Fayetteville on Wednesday, and tipoff is 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.

Richmond, a Memphis native, summed up where this group stands.

“We’re still trying to figure each other out,” he said.

Saturday helped both coaches sort a few things out. Maybe they’ll compare notes over another dinner.