Hogs head to TCU

FAYETTEVILLE — Fresh off an exhibition game win over No. 1 Kansas, Arkansas will now head to TCU for the second and final preseason contest on Friday night.
On Wednesday, Associate Head Coach Chin Coleman provided an update on Friday's game and how the Hogs are practicing as the Nov. 6 season opener against Lipscomb looms nearer. Arkansas defeated Kansas 85-69 this past Friday though both teams were missing some key players. The key player missing for Arkansas was big man Jonas Aidoo.
"I think that that’s up to our medical staff," Coleman said of Aidoo's availability this week. "He’s working extremely hard to get back on the floor. To get back to playing the game he loves. Something he said to me yesterday, he had a workout yesterday, looked a lot better. I think he’s coming along, but I think that our goal is for everybody to be healthy by our first game. These games are very important because they’re opportunities for us to play against a different opponent.
"We would love to have everyone healthy right now, but I think that the main thing is for everybody to be healthy by the beginning of the real, regular season. That may or may not happen, but I think we’re close and I think he’s chomping at the bit to try and be available for us at the beginning of the season. I think that he’s close, but our medical staff, Matt (Townsend) and the doctors, are doing a really good job. Strength and conditioning coach, B-Rich (Dave Richardson), they’re working extremely hard to get him and have him available."
Last season at Tennessee, the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Aidoo averaged 11.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.0 assist, 0.7 steal and 1.8 blocks per game. Against Kansas with no Aidoo available, Zvonimir Ivisic got extended time and produced. He finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 blocked shot.
"He’s trending in the right direction," Coleman said. "You know, I always challenge Z. I think that Z could be better. I think his best basketball is still ahead of him. Obviously, we need him to mature. We need him to take on responsibilities with honor that he’s being given from our coach, Coach Cal (John Calipari), has given him some huge responsibilities in terms of being a connector. Being a guy that touches the basketball. Being a guy that we’re trusting to handle the ball in our five-out actions. With that comes a privilege. With that comes honor, right? You have to cherish that and you have to be respectable with that and you have to make the right plays.
"We think Z is one of those unique players at 7-2, with size and skill. He’s where the game is going right now. You see where the game is going, it’s all about size and skill, or guys with size that have guard skills. He’s 7-2. He has a lot of guard skills. I think he had four assists, if I’m not mistaken. He’s a guy that can dribble, pass, shoot, and those are the kind of players that we want in our offense in terms of being able to be a triple-threat. I like the start of where Z is at, but I’m not as pleased because I think there’s a lot more. I think that defensively, he can do a lot more. I think he can do a lot more rebounding. I think that he can get in-and-out of screens and get to the second action quicker and he can look more like the big-time basketball player that he is."
Coleman was asked if there's anything additional he would like to see from Ivisic on Friday?
"Keep getting better," Coleman said. "It’s another step of a long journey, and we want to obviously be better than we were the first game. There are some things he can clean up in terms of his ball-handling. He can get a little lower. We always tell him, the low man wins. We want him to be 7-2, but play at 6-5, not play at 7-2. The lower the better, for Z. I want him to obviously rebound better. Protect the rim better. There’s so much more that he has that we want to try and pull out."
Two guards, Boogie Fland and D.J. Wagner, played well together against the Jayhawks. Wagner scored 24 points and had 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal. Fland finished with 22 points, 2 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 steals. Fland is a freshman while Wagner is a transfer from Kentucky.

"I think that for practicing with five guys for a long period of time, those five guys got to know each other really well," Coleman said. "D.J. and Boogie got to play off of each other, and learn each other and learn how to play off of one another during that time.
"D.J.’s a really good player. So D.J. was just D.J. We know D.J. because we’ve had him before. So that didn’t surprise us. I think that Boogie is new to everybody else. Nothing he did surprised us as a staff as a program because we see these guys every day and work with these guys every day and we train these guys every day."
When together on the court is Fland the point guard and Wagner shooting guard?
"A lot of our parts are interchangeable," Coleman said. "So from Boogie to D.J., they’re both the same kind of parts, as well as Adou when he’s out on the floor, as well as Nelly (Johnell Davis). We challenge our guys that if you want to be the point guard, stick your nose in there and rebound, and then you can initiate the offense in terms of pushing, in terms of getting the drag, in terms of getting us in our secondary level of offense.
"If you want to be that person, rebound. I think all of our perimeter guys are pretty much all the same. So the tact that you’re saying Boogie is a point guard, D.J. is a point guard, we like to say that we have playmakers on the floor and it’s not necessarily labeled by who brings the ball up. Because sometimes you’re going to see Z bring the ball up. And does that mean Z at 7-2 is our break guy? No, that means Z is a playmaker, and the more playmakers you have on the floor the better you are."
Coleman also provided a scouting update on the Horned Frogs.
"A brand new team," Coleman said. "To start, they have a brand new team like we have a brand new team. They only return probably one player, and that’s who they — I hope I’m not botching his name, but he was a transfer from Kansas and everybody else is pretty much new for that team. They had five fifth-year seniors last year that went to the NCAA Tournament. So, they’re new, but again, we don’t take anything for granted as far as how they performed in that first game, right? They’re going to be better in their game against us being that it’s their second game, and also, you’re right, they watched us on film.
"They saw what we were able to do with the No. 1 team in the country, saw what we could do with them. Whether you saw we won or lost, we competed and that’s what we want to do, compete and get better game-to-game. So, we were able to get better from our game. I’m sure they were able to get better from their game against Texas. We have been able to do some advanced scouting, so we have some material that we’re going to use to put a game plan together for them. For us, again, we want to win every game. We’re not doing this for funsies, but we also want to win or learn. So, we get the opportunity to play TCU, where we can win and/or learn, well, we’ve done our job going up there to place TCU in Dallas."
The Hogs and TCU tip at 7 p.m. on Friday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.