Arkansas basketball practice gets underway Monday

NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER University of Arkansas' head coach Mike Anderson at practice Monday July 25, 2016.

— Arkansas’ basketball program will start practice Monday for an anticipated season.

The Razorbacks have five returnees and eight new faces after finishing 16-16 last season, including 9-9 in the SEC..

Arkansas got 10 practices in late July and August ahead of an exhibition tour of Spain where the Razorbacks went 3-1 and gave coach Mike Anderson a chance to preview his team.

“I think the strength will be probably, hopefully it’s going to quality depth,” Anderson said. “I think we got some bigger guards. Our guards are bigger. So hopefully we’ll be better on the boards. We can play faster. Hopefully the fastest 40 minutes gets faster. That’s running and executing.

“That’s what I want to see our guys do. I just think really, we’ve gotta really get better at defense. I think that’s one of the things I saw. We’ve got some guys now that they can play on-the-ball defense, but help-side defense is a foreign word to a lot of these guys here.

“So that’s what we gotta really get in the gym and really get better. I just think the depth, the numbers… I think we got enough guys where we can spread the floor. I think our forwards are skilled enough where they can invert the floor. They can come out and make some things happen.”

The new faces will all compete for playing time with the vets, four of which were on Arkansas’ 27-9 squad that made the NCAA Tournament in 2015.

“I just think there’s a lot of positive things about this team,” Anderson said. “Again, you may not know who it is. As I told our guys, we have no starters right now. We have some guys that are familiar with what we’re doing, but I just feel like the new guys coming on, when you’ve got three junior college players, they only have two years. That’s why I feel that trip was really beneficial for those guys.

“They've got to make that acclimation a whole lot quicker than let’s say the young guys. They've got four years to be here. These guys, I tell you what, they live in this gym.”

Arkansas will host its annual media day Wednesday and will have its annual Red-White game on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m.

Arkansas players will begin that afternoon by signing autographs on the west concourse at Bud Walton Arena from 3-3:45 p.m. Anderson and the Razorbacks are asking fans to bring a non-perishable food item to donate with collection points at each entrance to the arena.

All the items donated will benefit the Jane B. Gearhart Full Circle Food Pantry.

The Razorbacks will then host two exhibition games with Central Missouri on Friday, Oct. 28 and Emporia State on Friday, Nov. 4. The regular season opens Friday, Nov. 11 against Fort Wayne.

• • •

Junior college transfer Arlando Cook (6-9, 219 pounds) was arrested for public intoxication early Saturday at 2:29 a.m. on Dickson Street in Fayetteville, per a police report.

Anderson issued a statement Saturday.

“We are working to gather information, but this is certainly not something we condone in our program,” Anderson said.

Cook is the fourth Arkansas basketball player to be arrested since July 2015. Prior to that, none of Anderson's players had been arrested since he took over the program in 2011.