Jonas Aidoo emerges as Arkansas' SEC Tournament inside leader, wins Razorbacker of the Week

On the surface, Jonas Aidoo's transfer to the University of Arkansas from Tennessee as an All-SEC center for his senior season seemed to be a missed opportunity. After all, he averages six points and four rebounds on the season.

Razorbacker of the Week: Jonas Aidoo

However in recent weeks going into postseason tournament play, the promising picture which proceeded Aidoo has re-emerged. After battling through a foot fracture suffered during the pre-season, Aidoo averaged 13.8 points and 9.4 rebounds over Arkansas' crucial final five contests to help the team solidify a prospective bid in the upcoming NCAA Tournament — including 15.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in Arkansas' recently concluded run in the Southeastern Conference Tournament to earn our Razorbacker of our Week nod.

"And then in a game like this, it ends up costing you," said Arkansas coach John Calipari in reference to Aidoo being limited to 28 minutes due to foul trouble in their SEC tournament loss to Ole Miss on Thursday — while still finishing with a team-high17 points and eight boards. "But you're talking about guys that played thirty five minutes, thirty two minutes, thirty eight minutes, thirty minutes. And the only reason Jonas didn't play thirty five minutes is because he fouled out. 

"Let me tell you that whether it's individuals who were in a dark place, whether it was our team, we started 0-and-five (in SEC play). Some of it was scheduled. Some of it was us, and these kids stayed together.

"Then we have an injury. Starts with an injury to Jonas — where he has to have an operation and be out four months. Nellie (Davis) falls off a golf cart and hurts his wrist on his shooting hand. Then you have another kid flip off a scooter — out. Another kid concussion out four months."

In Arkansas' 72-68 win over South Carolina to open the conference tournament on Wednesday and secure a hard-earned projected spot in the NCAA Tournament, Aidoo had 14 points and 11 rebounds. He sank a pair of clutch free throws in the closing moments despite shooting a career-low 59 percent from the foul line on the season and 65 percent for his college career.

The six-foot-11 native of Durham, North Carolina came to Arkansas with a reputation as high level defender. As his foot has healed, he has come off the bench to give Arkansas a desperately needed inside presence on both ends of the court. He also contributed a block and a steal in each game this week

Aidoo foreshadowed Arkansas' need to continue to improve defensively in the NCAA Tournament after seeing his team continue to hold on to leads down the closing stretch of games — including the two in the SEC Tournament.

"(It's) Really important. You know, we try and get out of transition as much as we can, get stops, get out of transition. I feel like they helped us a lot," he said. "And then when we got up, like coach said, we got tentative, so we can't do that next game. When we get up like that, just keep keep going at them every single time."