FAYETTEVILLE -- The official beginning of the John Calipari Era is set to begin Wednesday night when Arkansas plays host to Lipscomb in Bud Walton Arena.

Lipscomb opened its season Monday with a 77-72 win over Duquesne. In that game, senior forward Jacob Ognacevic, 6-8, 230, scored 30 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and had a steal. Arkansas Assistant Coach Chuck Martin praised Ognacevic.

"He’s a heck of a player," Martin said. "He causes a lot of problems because of his ability to shoot the three. He can make threes in transition off pick-and-pops. But he’s also a guy that shoots 60% from the field in the low post. So he can shoot it from the outside, he can shoot it from the low post. Not surprised he had the night that he had, because he’s a heck of a player."

Lipscomb finished 20-12 in 2023-24. John Calipari has said they run a lot of similar stuff to Princeton.

"Coach (Lennie) Acuff has done an unbelievable job at Lipscomb," Martin said. "We have a tremendous amount of respect for him and his program, and I think that’s the consensus around the country. When you play Lipscomb, you know you’re going to play an efficient team, a team that’s not going to beat itself. 

"Unbelievable on offense. Their ball movement, their player movement, their execution, their counters. They do an unbelievable job of reading the defense and then countering it. And Coach Cal is correct, a lot like the old Princeton offense. They’re as good as anybody in the country in terms of running their offense."

Arkansas split its two preseason games being Kansas 85-69 at home, but lost to TCU 66-65 in Fort Worth. Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo, one of the prize's Calipari's first recruiting class didn't play in either game. Martin provided an update on him.

"He’s getting better," Martin said. "He’s getting better. We’re taking it day by day. We’ll have a better feel hopefully by tomorrow morning. But he’s certainly getting better. We’re excited about the possibility of him returning soon."

Trevon Brazile, Adou Thiero and Zvonimir Ivisic replaced Aidoo. Martin talked about how they did.

"I think it’s great for those guys,:" Martin said. "They’ve been able to get a lot of reps at that position, on both sides of the ball, in practice and obviously in both exhibition games. So I think for us, it’s a plus. It allows someone like Z and TB to get a lot of reps and then hopefully we can get Jonas back and we can get a pretty good rotation with those three that will give us some talent, some experience, some length and kind of do it by committee."

One thing evident in the two games was that Arkansas' 3-point shooting didn't appear to be a strength.

"I think some of it is Nelly Davis had been out for quite some time prior to the Kansas game, so that was the first time that he really had any live competition," Martin said. "And then the TCU game was just his second game back. So he’s a guy on our team that’s very capable of making shots and he had been out for three weeks, so it’s going to take him some time to get his rhythm and find his rhythm. And again, for the young guys, whether it’s Billy or Karter or Boogie, this is their first time playing a live competition in front of a crowd, so it’s going to take some time. But I certainly think that we’re capable of making 3s and I think that we will as the season goes on."

Florida Atlantic transfer Johnell "Nelly" Davis was knocking off the rust during the exhibition games. What's the expectation for him on Wednesday night?

"Exactly what you just said, he's trying to get back in a rhythm, trying to find a rhythm with our guys," Martin said. "He's been out for a few weeks, prior to the Kansas exhibition. But he's such a veteran. Although at times, offensively, he's not making shots, he's exactly where he should be. Particularly on the defensive side of the ball, he did so many good things in the Kansas game, and he did some really good things in the TCU game that go unnoticed. But as the year goes on, I think we our fan base will appreciate the things that he does."

Martin expressed the expectations to finally have a game at Arkansas and showed a lot of respect for Lipscomb.

"As we said earlier today, we have an enormous amount of respect for Lipscomb and Coach Acuff," Martin said. "He's built one of the better offensive teams in the country. I'm not exaggerating. They're so efficient, they're so well-versed on their offense. They can counter you when you give them different looks. So, it's going to be a challenge. We've got to play well. We've got to play hard. We've got to play smart. But we're looking forward to the challenge tomorrow night at Bud Walton."

The game can be streamed on SEC+ with a 7 p.m. tip time.