Darius Acuff Jr. 'still learning' to be a complete player following another big performance
DALLAS, Texas – Darius Acuff Jr. has played beyond his years through the first month of the 2025-26 college basketball season and he put on another breakout performance in the No. 17 Arkansas Razorbacks‘ 93-86 win over the No. 16 Texas Tech Red Raiders at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.
The 2025 five-star recruit reached 20 points for the fifth time through 10 games. He converted 7 of 14 shots from the field, including 2 of 5 from three-point range, plus pulled down four rebounds and had another impressive day dishing out shots with eight assists.
Arkansas head coach John Calipari has talked about how he wants Acuff to distribute the ball more and the diaper dandy is answering that call as Acuff has averaged 8.7 assists over the past three games.
However, Calipari’s first response when asked about Acuff was what occurred in the final 40 seconds with the Hogs leading by six. Acuff drew a foul he was looking for, but missed the front end of the one-and-one.
“The only thing that made me mad was he held the ball to get fouled on that last play,” Cal said of Acuff before following that up with a call out of himself. “Now, I did that when I played. I’d fake, like ‘foul me’, boom, and then I’d go make two free throws but then again I shot 90%.”
“He held it, which I am fine with, but he missed the free throw,” Calipari continued. “You can’t hold it, you give it to somebody else. Or when you get fouled, you get fouled and make the free throws to end the game.”
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Wing Karter Knox also added 20 points and six rebounds, but the overall top performer was forward Trevon Brazile, who compiled his third double-double of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds.
As one of the young leaders on the team, Acuff feels his cohesiveness with a veteran like Brazile is coming to fruition.
“We have been working on it for a little while now,” Acuff said. “You saw it today, every time I threw it to him he would score. I love playing with him, for sure.”
He was not on the team last spring when Texas Tech rallied to end Arkansas’ season in the Sweet 16, but this was a game Acuff wanted to win for the ones who did not have a chance at redemption.
“I wanted to get that win for them,” Acuff said. “They had the game, for sure, and I was hurt watching them. That is out of the window now. We got the win, so that is all I am thinking about.”
Back to what Calipari has been preaching, Acuff added that knowing what he can do and allowing the game to come to him has contributed to his development.
“I feel like I always have an advantage and it is just all about having confidence,” Acuff said. “Just knowing when to drive it or pass it. I got it going a little bit today, but I am still learning to pass and when to shoot.”
Arkansas will return to Fayetteville on Tuesday to take on the Queens (N.C.) Royals at Bud Walton Arena. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game will air on the SEC Network.
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