SPRINGDALE — Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari said his team won’t be at full strength when the Razorbacks play No. 1 Kansas in an exhibition game at 8 p.m. on Oct. 25 at Bud Walton Arena.
“Right now, we’re really beat up,” Calipari said Thursday when he was guest speaker at the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club luncheon. “I don’t know exactly how many guys will be out. But there will be a bunch of guys out.”
Calipari wasn’t specific about which Razorbacks are injured, but when the team had open practices last weekend in Hot Springs and Pine Bluff, senior forward Jonas Aidoo, senior guard Johnell Davis and junior forward Adou Thiero didn’t go full speed or take part in contract work.
Aidoo and Davis — transfers from Tennessee and Florida Atlantic, respectively — were both voted to the preseason All-SEC second team by the coaches.
Also sitting out were freshman guards Casmir Chavis and junior guard Melo Sanchez.
WATCH: John Calipari speaks at the Hawgs Illustrated Sports Club
Calipari said shortly after being hired at Arkansas in April that he planned to focus on a rotation of nine players to use in games and fill out the roster with newcomers who understood their roles as being contributors in practice and possibly could earn playing time.
“We’ve got like six guys,” Calipari said of the healthy group of rotation players. “So we’re playing against (graduate assistants in practice).”
Arkansas is ranked No. 16 in The Associated Press preseason poll and Kansas is ranked No. 1.
“I know y’all are saying, ‘We’re playing Kansas! They’re No. 1 in the country!’ ” said Calipari, imitating excited fans. “I just hope they’ve got some players out, too.
“But whatever happens in this exhibition game with Kansas, we all just need to keep things in perspective.”
Among the top six players for the Razorbacks who were able to practice last weekend were junior forward Trevon Brazile, sophomore guard D.J. Wagner, freshman guard Boogie Fland, freshman forwards Karter Knox and Billy Richmond and sophomore forward Zvonimir Ivisic.
“Everybody thinks we’re winning every game,” Calipari said. “We may get beat by 30 by Kansas.
“I’ll move on. Next day. It’s a process. I understand.”
Calipari said he and Kansas Coach Bill Self, a fellow Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, won’t take any chances using players who aren’t completely healthy.
“Bill or I, neither one of us, would push a player because of an exhibition game,” Calipari said Tuesday at SEC media days in Birmingham, Ala. “If he needs to sit out, he’ll sit out.”
The exhibition game against Kansas, which is sold out and will be televised on the SEC Network, will be the first time Calipari has coached the Razorbacks at Walton Arena before a home crowd.
“I love playing a game just to get the atmosphere going and get people to see the team,” Calipari said.
“I wish we had a full roster — we won’t.
“But it’s a great opportunity to find out, ‘Right now at this point, where are we?’ And then, ‘Where do we need to go? What do we need to improve on?’ So we can get after it.”
Calipari said he hopes to have Ted Owens and Larry Brown — coaches at Kansas where he began his career as a volunteer assistant — the Arkansas-Kansas game along with Nolan Richardson, who as Arkansas’ coach in 1994 led the Razorbacks to the national championship.
“I’d like to have them all right at midcourt watching us, because of what they’ve all done for the game,” Calipari said.
Richardson’s wife, Rose, died last Sunday at age 84.
“Coach Richardson and I talked after Rose passed,” Calipari said. “He was her caregiver for 12 years, 24-7.
“My dad was my mom’s (caregiver) for five. He said, ‘I’d have done it for another 20 if I had to.’ ”
