FAYETTEVILLE — Lipscomb was missing its best player as the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team held on to beat the Bisons 69-66 on Dec. 16 in North Little Rock.

Jacob Ognacevic, a 6-8 forward and preseason Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year, missed the entire season with a knee injury.

When Lipscomb plays No. 16 Arkansas again Wednesday night in coach John Calipari’s debut, a healthy Ognacevic will lead the Bisons inside Walton Arena.

Ognacevic scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Lipscomb’s 77-72 win at Duquesne on Monday night. The fifth-year senior from Sheboygan, Wis. hit 10 of 18 shots, including 2 of 6 three-pointers and 8 of 11 free throws in 35 minutes.

“He causes a lot of problems because of his ability to shoot the three,” Arkansas assistant coach Chuck Martin said during media availability Tuesday. “He can make threes in transition off pick-and-pops.

“But he’s also a guy who shoots 60 percent from the field in the low post. So he can shoot it from the outside, he can shoot it from the low post. He’s not surprised he had the night he had, because he’s a hell of a player”.

Senior guard Will Martin, who had 15 points at Duquesne, also had a team-high 15 against Arkansas last season.

The Bison, who start four seniors, were the preseason pick in coaches and media voting to win the Atlantic Sun Conference championship.

Coach Lennie Acuff is 86-72 in his sixth season at Nashville, Tenn.-based Lipscomb. He has an overall record of 640-394 in 36 seasons, including 454 wins in 22 seasons at NCAA Division II Alabama-Huntsville.

“Coach Acuff has done an incredible job at Lipscomb,” Martin said. “We have tremendous respect for him and his program, and I think that’s the consensus across the country.

“When you play Lipscomb, you know you’re going to play an efficient team, a team that won’t beat itself.”

The Bisons hit 9 of 21 three-pointers at Duquesne.

“Their ball movement, their player movement, their execution, their counters,” Martin said of what’s impressive about the Bison’s offense. “They do an incredible job of reading the defense and then countering it.”

Arkansas played two exhibition games against Big 12 teams, beating No. 1 Kansas 85-69 at Walton Arena and losing to TCU 66-65 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.

Calipari said the Razorbacks were overconfident against TCU after beating Kansas, which was without three injured players, including preseason All-America center Hunter Dickinson.

Arkansas forward Jonas Aidoo, a transfer and All-SEC pick at Tennessee last season, missed both exhibition games with an undisclosed injury.

“It’s getting better,” Martin said. “We’re taking it day by day. We’re excited about the prospect of him coming back soon.”

TCU, which trailed Arkansas by as many as 13 points, got a game-winning 3-pointer by Brendan Wenzel with 17 seconds left. Arkansas freshman Boogie Fland missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

“We played pretty good against Kansas,” Calipari said on his radio show Monday night. “We played OK against TCU. I was upset the day before the game because all of a sudden we became a bit of an arrogant team.

“It’s all about building a culture of what’s expected, what’s acceptable, what’s unacceptable. And before we can win where we want to win, you have to go culture first. And that means you hold the line. I think you are telling them, “My will is stronger than your will.” “

Arkansas forward Adou Thiero, who followed the Kentucky coaching staff, returned to practice from an undisclosed injury shortly before the Kansas game and had 2 points, hitting his only shot, along with 5 rebounds and 1 steal in 17 minutes against the Jayhawks. Led the Razorbacks at TCU with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 1 steal in 37 minutes.

“He didn’t do much in the Kansas game offensively, but he was in the right spots defensively,” Martin said. “I think the TCU game started to find a rhythm offensively.”

Arkansas shot a combined 27.1 percent (13-of-48) on 3-pointers against Kansas and TCU.

Martin said senior guard Johnell Davis, a transfer from Florida Atlantic who shot 41.4 percent on three-pointers (58-of-140) last season, should boost the Razorbacks’ perimeter attack after being limited in practice by a wrist injury. Davis hit 1-of-6 3-pointers against Kansas and 2-of-3 at TCU.

“I think some of it is that Nelly Davis was out for a while before the Kansas game, so it was the first time she really had any live competition,” Martin said. “And then the TCU game was only his second game back.

“He’s a guy who’s very capable of making shots and he’s been out for three weeks, so it’s going to take him a while to find his rhythm.”

Martin said Fland and freshmen forwards Karter Knox and Billy Richmond — a combined 3-of-19 on three-pointers in exhibition games — are better shooters than they showed.

“It’s his first time playing competitively live in front of a crowd, so it’s going to take some time,” Martin said. “But I definitely think we’re capable of making it three, and I think we will as the season goes on.”

The Razorbacks hit 23 of 28 free throws against Kansas, then 6 of 11 at TCU.

“I think the TCU game was a really physical game on both sides,” Martin said. “Some of the calls we got in the Kansas game, we didn’t get in the TCU game.

“But that’s the way it will be sometimes. It’s basketball for big boys. We’re on the road and some nights we’ll get a favorable whistle and some nights we won’t. You just have to play. it.”

Playing Lipscomb will be Calipari’s 33rd opening season as a college coach in Massachusetts, Memphis, Kentucky and Arkansas.

“I’ve seen it all,” Calipari, who is 25-7 in the season opener and 29-3 in the home opener, said on his radio show. “I just want our fans to know, no matter how early it looks, this is a process we’re taking this team on.

“I’ve got a lot of things to figure out, so that’s taking time. But I’m having fun. I’m enjoying coaching this group.”