FAYETTEVILLE -- John Calipari's Primetime at the Palace will be held on Friday night in Bud Walton Arena.

The arena doors will open at 7 p.m. with the event starting at 8 and ending at 9:30. On Wednesday Calipari spoke with the media about the event.

"Most of this for me is Madness this weekend," Calipari said. "Friday, eight. You know, I want students there. I want them to enjoy it. We want to have half-court shots. We're giving away 5,000 t-shirts to whoever comes early, but also to fans that can't get tickets. Have never, maybe never, been in the building. Where's that QR code? So look, if you want, go to the QR code and pull up tickets so that you're there. I think they've given away 12,000 tickets already, but there are some tickets left. They’re no charge. It's like, let's make this an event that every year it's on the calendar. Kids are looking forward to it. I asked them, ‘do you want to do this? Do you want to, you know, have this kind of event?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, let's do it’. Let's have some fun. So it's the first look at the team. Well, the women's clinic, the women got the first look at the team, but it's the second look at the team, where people can see what we're about."

The team will enter this event healthy for the most part.

"We're okay," Calipari said. "Nicked up. Some little things. Karim (Rtail) will be out, but the rest of the guys, a little nicked up, here and there, but they'll be fine."

Calipari was asked about the benefits of a healthy squad?

"Well, how about less anxiety?," Calipari said. "Because we kind of know each other a little bit, at least the five guys that came back, and then you add the guys to them, less anxiety. We’re like, okay, we have an idea of what we want to do, and I'm talking staff, players, everybody. Walked in, and when I said, let me see my team, there was no team. We had Lawson (Blake) who blew out his Achilles two days later. We had nobody, and we had to start all over. This year, we had a great summer, great fall conditioning. The guys have really competed at a high level. I feel really good about the team."

Among the events Friday night will be a dunk contest. Calipari even had a prediction for the event.

"I mean, Nick Pringle, first of all, he's better than I thought," Calipari said. "I hadn't seen him do some of the stuff he was doing. But Malique Ewin, you've got Karter (Knox), you've got– Oh, Isaiah (Sealy). Who else am I missing? I mean, those would be my– Oh, TB (Trevon Brazile), forgot about him. So no, it'll be... and the three-point shooting contest will be kind of interesting, too."

Pringle is a 6-foot-10, 230-pound transfer from South Carolina. Calipari was asked what it is he has seen to declare Pringle better than he thought?

"The things he's doing out on the floor," Pringle said. "So, we can play through him. I'm making him shoot balls, which makes him get in the gym and shoot more. You know, if you're going to have to take shots, you're going to want to get in there and practice. And he's been doing it. Great leadership. Talks, moves his feet. I mean, he's just better than I thought. You throw the ball at above the square, and he'll go get it. So some good stuff."

With so many older players on the team who can Calipari count on being leaders?

"Yeah, but let me say this we'll still be one of the youngest teams in the league," Calipari said. "And you're saying, 'Geez, you got an old team.' Yeah, it's youngest in the league. It's old for us, but you know, DJ (Wagner) has been really good, talking. You got to talk to be that guy. TB's gotten way better, but you've also got to perform. You can't lead the club in the tongue. You got to be on that court practicing. And it's not just what you say, it's what they're seeing. So, that stuff I told you before, I don't pick captains. We'll go into the first game, and officials are going to say, 'Who's your captains?' And they don't say it to me; they say it to the players. Whoever steps up there, what? They're the captains. And that means they're doing it themselves, versus me doing it."

The Razorbacks will host Cincinnati on Friday. Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in an exhibition game. Calipari has some things he wants to see before that game.

"We got to get— I'm going to do more offense today," Calipari said. "I've been really locked in on defense, but we got to get more play where there's a flow to the game, that we're playing really fast, but we're not in a hurry. That things stall — which they do — alright, what do you do next? And part of that is just me getting to know the team. But they're coachable, they're a bunch of good guys, they're competing with each other. I don't know if I really raised my voic, but once or twice this whole— I mean, if they're doing what they're supposed to, I become a cheerleader."

The Razorbacks will host Southern on Monday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network to open the regular season.