John Calipari finds himself navigating uncharted waters as the Razorbacks’ conference struggles continue to pile up. Arkansas lost their fourth straight SEC game against LSU on the 14th, and fans have stopped keeping their hopes up. While the Razorbacks shot extremely well from three, the defense and the foul shots made up the difference for LSU. Simply put, the Tigers got to the free-throw line and the Razorbacks didn’t.

In the post-game press conference, Calipari admitted the need for improvement. The Arkansas team has squandered too many leads. “They scrapped us. Beat us to some balls. Made some big time plays. I gotta do a better job with my team. We get up twelve again. This is the third or fourth game we get up twelve and all of a sudden you turn around and it’s, you know,” said the Arkansas head coach about his team’s usual pitfalls.

“I thought we were prepared for that moment but we just [had a] couple of turnovers, missed shots, and I’ll watch the tape. But they out-scrapped us, you know? We did some half-decent stuff, but not enough.”

Arkansas did a lot of good things. They dominated the paint, scored off of turnovers, and were neck-to-neck in terms of rebounding. A good thing that the Razorbacks fans can look forward to, however, is the comeback of Boogie Fland and Jonas Aidoo.

“We were just trying to space the court and get something. Boogie got it going, so we just let him keep going. He got us back there,” John Calipari said about his star guard. Their performance against the LSU Tigers was definitely an upgrade as compared to their last 3 games, but it wasn’t enough for the Hogs.

However, the primary issues for Arkansas were fouls and free throws. They simply could not get to the foul line, while LSU practically lived there for the course of this game. Razorbacks went to the line 13 times, of which they converted 11. LSU, on the other hand, shot a grand total of 28 free throws of which they missed only 2.

Coach Cal kept the onus on himself, though. “Like I said, I got to do a better job, and told them after the game [that] I’m not cracking, so let’s just keep going. Let’s get ready for the next one.” Their next few games are crucial, as they will either put to bed Arkansas’ lingering SEC hopes or stage a comeback that hasn’t been seen before. Regardless, their star duo will look to show off their talents against Missouri next.

Fland and Aidoo’s inside-outside punch

“It’s the inside-outside punch.” According to Curtis Wilkerson, one of the show hosts of Locked on Razorbacks. These two Razorbacks stars have finally stepped up, after being no-shows in the last three games. Their performances are important for the Arkansas-based team, with the focus being on Boogie Fland.

The young point guard got it to click against LSU on Tuesday. His contribution of 19 points came at a crucial time. While the shooting splits still weren’t great, one could see a definite improvement in his shooting from three.

On the other hand, Aidoo was a commanding presence in the paint. He recorded a double-double with 12 pts and 10 rebounds, doing some serious glass-cleaning for the Hogs. If these two keep their performances up and manage to play in sync, they will affect how often Calipari’s team wins.

A pick-and-roll from an explosive guard and a high-flying six-foot-eleven forward is very difficult to stop at any level. Aidoo needs to pick up his averages from under 7 and provide at least a solid double-figure stat line for his Razorbacks.

It will be interesting to see whether Arkansas can build itself back up from this early conference devastation. John Calipari is facing an immense amount of criticism at the moment, and rightfully so. The Hogs will need to band together to stand any chance of undoing the mess that they are in presently. Their next match-up is against Missouri on the 18th. What do you think? Will the Razorbacks make an impossible comeback? Only time will tell.