John Calipari says two players might be reason why Adou Thiero could 'take a backseat' for Razorbacks

Arkansas coach John Calipari is planning to give Zvonimir Ivisic and Jonas Aidoo more playing time together in the Razorbacks' upcoming games to put more premium on defense as they seek to make the NCAA Tournament.

Calipari said this during a postgame press conference after Arkansas absorbed a 69-61 loss to Texas A&M. The former national champion coach hailed Aidoo for playing well despite coming off a surgery to repair his injured foot.

"Jonas played the way I needed him to play. The surgery set him back but Jonas played," Calipari said (2:22).

The 6-foot-11 Tennessee transfer came off the bench and tallied four points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block in 20 minutes. He made it difficult for Texas A&M slashers to shoot the ball inside due to his uncanny ability to block shots.

Aidoo was inserted into the lineup after 7-foot-2 big man Zvonimir Ivisic couldn't get his defense going against Texas A&M. Ivisic finished with 13 points, six rebounds, one assist and four blocks but the Aggies big men had his number, easily making shots despite his towering presence inside.

Calipari said he is planning to give Aidoo and Ivisic more ball touches moving forward, which could likely affect the production of leading scorer Adou Thiero.

"I may have to play both of those two together to get the offense, figure out defensively what we're going to do and how we're going to play," Calipari said (2:29). "And that means Adou maybe taking a little more of a back seat."

Thiero finished with 10 points, three rebounds, four assists, one steal and one block before fouling out in the second half.

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Arkansas coach John Calipari blames missed open shots, turnovers in loss to Texas A&M

Arkansas coach John Calipari was exasperated with his team's lackadaisical performance in its loss to No. 8 Texas A&M (20-5, 9-3) on Saturday night. The veteran bench tactician couldn't hide his frustration to his players after failing to win against No. 3 Alabama and now, the Aggies.

Calipari noted that winning against those seeded teams could've allowed them to gain a better seeding in the SEC Tournament, which offers an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament for the winning team.

He also admitted that he has to pick some of his players up and keep things positive despite every loss to keep their spirits up and continue playing.

"I got some guys a little bit fragile so I'm having to hold them accountable but keep picking them up," Calipari told the media (5:31).

The Razorbacks will be back in action on Wednesday against No. 1 Auburn at the Neville Arena. The Tigers (23-2, 11-1) defeated No. 2 Alabama (21-4, 10-2) on Saturday in the clash of the top two teams in the NCAA.