FAYETTEVILLE — Coach John Calipari’s second season with the University of the Arkansas men’s basketball program is inching closer.

The Razorbacks will host “Primetime at the Palace” at 8 p.m. on Friday at Walton Arena, giving fans a look at the men’s and women’s teams before they move into their exhibitions and nonconference play. The event will feature scrimmages, a dunk contest and a three-point contest.

Calipari began and ended a news conference Wednesday by holding up a QR code for tickets to the event.

Most of his news conference centered around the upcoming season, which begins Nov. 3 against Southern at Walton Arena. Calipari and the team have gone around campus to promote the event and the season, stopping at fraternity houses with the plan to visit several sororities Friday.

When looking ahead to the new season, Calipari noted his team’s health.

A year ago, Arkansas was playing 4-on-4 games or scrimmaging against graduate assistants with the roster decimated by injuries. Freshman Karim Rtail will miss Friday’s event and Florida State transfer Malique Ewin has missed time with a shoulder injury, but the Razorbacks have been largely healthy otherwise.

“Oh my gosh, we couldn’t do anything (at this time last year),” Calipari said Wednesday. “We can go at each other and do a scrimmage vs. what we had to do last year.”

He said there is less anxiety going into this season compared to last.

“We kind of know each other a little bit,” Calipari said. “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.”

Calipari — who previously coached Massachusetts, Memphis and Kentucky on the collegiate level — is entering his second season at a given school for the fourth time. He said the first season at Arkansas was about setting his culture, and now it’s about building upon that.

“Everything you’re doing is trying to build an environment, a culture, which is, if you demand a lot, you’ll get a lot. If you accept mediocrity, you’re getting it every single time,” Calipari said. “There is what you expect, what you demand, and what you’ll accept, and that floor can’t be too low. And that’s the biggest thing you’re doing over two years. I tell them all the time, ‘Your will is not stronger than my will. So let’s go. Let’s get together. I’m telling you what you have to do if you want to play.’ “

Arkansas has a core of four rotational returners. Karter Knox, Billy Richmond, D.J. Wagner and Trevon Brazile were part of last season’s Sweet 16 run.

The Razorbacks’ roster also has five freshmen — Rtail, Elmir Dzafic, 5-star prospects Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas and 4-star recruit Isaiah Sealy — in addition to transfers Ewin and Nick Pringle. Calipari noted that it was an older team than he usually has but is still the youngest in the SEC.

Calipari also said he has been mostly focused on defense in the offseason and needs to get the team acclimated to the offense he wants to run.

“We’ve 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,” he said. “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.”

After Friday’s event, Arkansas will host a Pro Day on Sunday. Scouts from each of the 30 NBA franchises will be present.

Then the countdown to the season officially begins.

The Razorbacks have exhibitions against Cincinnati and Memphis on Oct. 24 and 27, respectively, before the opener against Southern.

“These kids have been great. If you watch (them) practice, you’ll see they want to be coached,” Calipari said. “Sometimes they want to be told they’re doing really good. Other times you got to hold them accountable. Hold them to a high standard. They’ll know what I don’t accept as you get going. Right now, they’re just trying to figure it out.”

At a glancePrimetime at the PalaceWHEN 8 p.m. FridayWHERE Walton Arena, Fayetteville