FAYETTEVILLE - There was not a single player I could've been more wrong about leading up to the season than senior transfer center Cooper Bowser.
The former Furman Paladin recorded nine points, 10 rebounds, one block and one assist in 20 minutes of action. He made 4-of-6 shot attempts from the field and was a team-leading plus-12 while on the floor in the No. 12 Razorbacks' 76-72 victory over No. 15 Gonzaga.
"I'm going to start this group, but I may start a different group in the second half," Calipari said. "And and then the reason I went with the group I went is they finished so strong. Davion [Thompson], Abdou [Toure], JJ [Andrews], we have Miikka [Muurinen] and Cooper [Bowser]. I said, 'Leave them in.' They got nine straight stops to start the half."
Arkansas Razorbacks forward Cooper Bowser (21) hands onto the rim after a dunk during the second half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Bud Walton Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Bowser and several of his other teammates didn't play with intensity and physicality early on. However, Calipari pulled his veteran big man to the side early in the first half and challenged him to be the attacker he recruited out of Furman.
"I got no choice. You saw us starting the game. What couldn't we do? Rebound. And now all of a sudden we got guys.. Cooper [Bowser]... I got on him a little bit. He ends up with the double double. But it appears this this is going to be different players in different games."
If there is one thing about this team that can send fans into a frenzy at Bud Walton Arena is their length that shrinks passing lanes, forcing turnovers and getting out in transition. Even in the halfcourt, Bowser caught air several times throughout the game, finishing with a few rim-rocking jams.
He missed a couple of shots early on, but ended up going 4-of-4 from the field the rest of the way with a nice hook shot and three dunks.
Like Smith and Muurinen, Bowser also went down with what appeared to be a leg injury only for Calipari to come out in the postgame and say it was a cramping issue.
"I don't know if the gym was hot or maybe we're not going as hard as I think we are, but we had like three guys cramp up," Calipari said. "Like you're thinking they're hurt. No, they they they cramped. So, we have to figure that out. I told Matt, our trainer, I said, 'Matt, we got to figure out what happened.'"
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nathan de Sousa (7) tries to drive to the basket past Arkansas Razorbacks guard Davion Thompson (9) during the second half at Bud Walton Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Thompson, the 17-year-old freshman who reclassified and skipped his senior year of high school, should be getting ready for AP U.S. history or calculus exams. Instead, he is on the court in his first real college game in isolation at the top of the key against fifth-year senior Xavian Lee, and drills a kill shot with the clock winding down in the second half.
His range beyond the arc combined with his overall efficiency can make him a weapon in any game he plays in.
Freshman guard and reigning Gatorade National Player of the Year Jordan Smith Jr. wasn't nearly as effective as many would've thought against the Zags. He finished the afternoon scoring one point on 0-of-9 shooting but he impacted the game in many other areas operating the offense.
Smith finished the day with a plus-2 while on the court with four rebounds, three assists, two steals but did commit two first half turnovers.
Arkansas Razorbacks guard Jordan Smith Jr. (23) puts up a shot as Gonzaga Bulldogs center Massamba Diop (35) defends during the first half at Bud Walton Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Whether it was first game jitters or guys were just a little too amped up near the basket, Arkansas had a hard time finishing near the rim and converting free throws into points.
The Razorbacks finished a porous 5-of-16 on layups with several shots rolling around the rim or coming off the backboard awkwardly. That's a critical amount of point-blank shots that could've ballooned Arkansas' lead from four to double-digits easily.
Much of that can be attributed to the length and physicality Gonzaga established in the paint with Braden Huff and Massamba Diop, who forced Arkansas into second and third opportunities that resulted in misses.
"They're big and and you know, um I thought there's times on four or five of our turnovers where he drove into 7-foot," Calipari said. "He's there. Don't keep going. I'm going to get this off. You're not getting it off. It's going to get a block.
"[Gonzaga] ended up with four, but we ended up with six. One of the things I told you, they they cleared us out some. We got to do some work on that. But in the end of the day, we need to be a transition team."
Calipari's team also went 17-of-30 from the free throw line, nearly doubling the amount Gonzaga received on Saturday. Thompson was the only Razorback to make all his attempts at the line.
Richmond made 6-of-10, Muurinen was 1-of-3, Maper Maker went 1-of-3 and Andrews connected on just 2-of-4 attempts at the free throw line.
Arkansas was far from perfect on Saturday night, and that's potentially the most encouraging part of the win over Gonzaga. If Calipari can figure out how to convert consistenly at the rim and get more from his celebrated freshman, they can certainly become one of college basketball's best teams.
If this is what his unfinished product looks like in its first exhibition, then something special might be brewing in Fayetteville.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/arkansas as What We Learned About Arkansas Basketball After Exhibition Victory Over Gonzaga .
