DALLAS— arkansas basketball You can expect to be inundated with lessons during the first few weeks of the season. A program led by a new head coach with a completely revamped roster is still figuring out everything from how to win to how to break down a zone defense.

The latter proved to be the biggest learning curve for No. 16. Razorbacks (1-1) in a 72-67 loss to No. 8 Baylor on Saturday night. The Bears opened up in a zone defense, and a decisive start by Baylor (1-1) proved to be enough in Juan CalipariThe first loss to the Hogs.

“We came out nonchalant, not knowing they were going to enter the zone. I mean, it was a surprise to us,” Arkansas guard Boogie Fland said. “I feel like we got it back in the second half.”

Midway through the first half, Baylor had a lead of around double digits. The Bears carried a 42-33 lead into the locker room, playing primarily in a matchup zone.

Further: Arkansas vs Baylor basketball score today: Live updates, game highlights, how to watch

Further: Defense drives offense in Arkansas basketball’s win over Lipscomb to begin Calipari era

The defense tricked Arkansas into settling for three-pointers, and the Razorbacks He missed his first nine attempts from long range. They finished the night 5 of 20 and are now 9 of 39 (23%) on the season.

According to Calipari, Arkansas’ preseason injuries may have played a role in the rocky start against the first defense it played consistently, including exhibition games.

“It can’t be their fault because we just haven’t worked much against zone because we haven’t played. We haven’t had… we’ve had five guys for weeks,” Calipari said. “We got to halftime and said, ‘Okay, we’ve got to do it this way,’ and I think you saw we moved the ball.”

In addition to settling for 3-pointers, Arkansas simply didn’t move the ball clearly enough against Scott Drew’s defense. Calipari was yelling at his players to make more passes for the first 20 minutes.

And the offensive struggles moved to the defensive side. Baylor scored 12 more points in the first half than in the second, taking advantage of Arkansas’ poor offense to create easy shots at the other end.

“This caused some outbreaks,” Calipari said. “We had a couple of turnovers, which were really good in transition to give them that opportunity.”

Calipari believes the solutions are on the list. He remains confident that Arkansas will become a better three-point shooting team as the season progresses, and there was plenty of reason to be optimistic after the loss.

Adou Thiero scored 24 points and continues to look much better offensively since leaving Kentucky. Fland hit his jumper and hit a trio of 3-pointers. Billy Richmond III provided great energy off the bench and drove in a run late in the first half to keep Arkansas close.

There are no moral victories, but this was the first of many lessons Calipari hopes will eventually manifest on an entire team.

“You can play a team and try to win by 50 and what you learn is that you can beat that type of team by 50,” he said. “But the teams you’re trying to compete with are like this team, like Kansas. These types of people we play against, and then facing them outside of our building is important too.”

This article originally appeared in the Fort Smith Times Record: Zone defense thwarts Arkansas basketball in loss to Baylor