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PROVIDENCE — If Jonas Aidoo didn’t put in the kind of performance he did against the Kansas Jayhawks on Thursday night, the Arkansas Razorbacks’ season would probably be over.
The fourth-year center who transferred from Tennessee scored a game-high 22 points, hauled in five rebounds, blocked three shots and recorded three steals in the Razorbacks’ 79-72 win in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
On top of that, he held Third Team All-American selection Hunter Dickinson to one of his worst performances of the season. The Jayhawks’ center scored just 11 points, all of which came in the first half. Dickinson added nine rebounds and four assists, but he was also charged with four turnovers, which is tied for the second-highest amount he committed all season.
“Just getting to my spots,” Aidoo told HawgBeat of the key to his strong night. “Everybody looking for me to get to my spots. I’d tell them where I want the ball at, and they get me the ball and then execute. Practicing with these guys, communicating how we want to play with each other, that’s just the best stuff for us.”
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Aidoo this season though. It’s been well-documented that a foot surgery held Aidoo out of action for roughly four months, and that pain has kept him from showing his true potential for most of the season.
Aidoo said the surgery came after an MRI revealed a stress fracture in his foot in the middle of July 2024. He said the stress fracture had probably been there for a while, but he never noticed the pain until he was at Arkansas.
When he couldn’t play in the Hogs’ preseason game against Kansas — a game Arkansas also won — the thought entered his mind that he might have to redshirt and miss the season entirely.
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“(I was) practicing and working and my foot’s still hurting and that’s when those thoughts started processing in my head,” Aidoo said. “I’m probably going to have to redshirt, because I’d never felt that type of pain. I felt like I should have been over this. I’m a pretty tough dude, so I should have overcome that way earlier.”
Naturally, Aidoo came to Arkansas because he wanted to make an impact and help his team. So when he learned he was going to have to undergo surgery to repair that stress fracture, he was disappointed.
“I ain’t going to lie, I cried a little bit,” Aidoo said. “Because I came here with so much to prove. Like, knowing I’m a really good player and I just want to help my team win…transferring (to Arkansas), you just want to go to work and do great, look out for your family, and do good for yourself.”
That pain lingered throughout the regular season, which is part of the reason he struggled on the floor. Head coach John Calipari said as late in the season as February that Aidoo still wasn’t at 100%. But as he got healthier, his play started to improve.
Fans got a glimpse of Aidoo’s full potential in the Razorbacks’ home win over Texas on Feb. 26. He finished the game with eight points and four rebounds, and he also hit two clutch free throws in overtime to ice the game. It wasn’t a jaw-dropping performance, but the more he played, the more comfortable he got.
Since that game, Aidoo has posted three double-doubles in his last six games, and scored in double figures all but once. He said he still feels some pain in his foot, but he’s happy to be a contributing factor for the Razorbacks.
The Hogs are peaking at the right time, but they’ll face a tough test on Saturday when they play 2-seed St. John’s in the Round of 32. Tipoff for that game is set for 1:40 p.m. CT and the game will air on CBS.
