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Freshmen duo makes history in debut with Hogs

Calipari pleased by Thomas, Acuff in Arkansas Razorbacks' opener against Southern

Jacob Davis

Arkansas Razorbacks guard Meleek Thomas (1) passes during the second half against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 89-61.
Arkansas Razorbacks guard Meleek Thomas (1) passes during the second half against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 89-61. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorbacks' pair of McDonald's All-American's lived up to expectations during exhibition play against Cincinnati and Memphis.

When the regular season came calling Monday night, both Meleek Thomas and Darius Acuff were good as advertised by combining for a school record 43 points, which is the most by a duo in their Razorbacks debut, according to HogStats.com.

The duo were able to get out in transition several times, outpacing an overwhelmed Southern squad in a 109-77 victory inside Bud Walton Arena. Not only were they heavily involved in scoring, Acuff and Thomas notched 11 assists, eight rebounds and limited themselves to just three combined turnovers.

Arkansas Razorbacks guard Darius Acuff
Arkansas Razorbacks guard Darius Acuff (5) during the second half against the Cincinnati Bearcats at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 89-61. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Acuff, often compared to former NBA point guard Stephon Marbury for his all around game, electrified the Razorbacks' crowd by scoring 20 of his 22 points in the first half, including a 3-for-3 mark from three.

He orchestrated an 18-6 surge in the final 4:13 of the first half with veteran-like poise with pull up jumpers and dribble drives to take a 25 point lead at intermission.

"It was nice because it was like a 13-point game, and then all of a sudden you look up and it’s 25," Calipari said after the game. "But he made basket after basket."

Even in a heater, Calipari still had a lesson for his pair of freshmen by "respecting" their teammates. It's all part of a learning curve going from the best player on the court to being surrounded by talented individuals at each position.

"There was one play, I’m telling him and Meleek, you’ve got to respect your teammates," Calipari said. "They are fine with you having the ball a lot, taking shots. No one’s saying anything. You don’t take a contested quick shot, you give it to somebody else so they can shoot it. Because you’re getting to shoot when you want.

"He came down on the one side, and he shot it. He could’ve thrown it to Nick [Pringle], Nick would’ve given it back and rolled, throw it back to Nick, and Nick’s dunking it, and now you’ve made Nick’s day. They’ve got to learn that. They’re not selfish, they’re basically playing from old habits. Which means I’m going to shoot as many as I can at times."

The Razorbacks struggled mightily last season to generate enough offense in a full 40 minutes due to not having enough options because of injury issues. Both Acuff and Thomas played an efficient 29 minutes each and Calipari hinted they might play together more as the season treks on.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari during game against Southern in the season opener at Bud Walton Arena
Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari during game against Southern in the season opener at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark. / Nilsen Roman-allHOGS Images

"They need to be on the floor together 20 minutes at least," Calipari said. "I mean, it’s pretty obvious, wouldn’t you say? If anybody watched. So they need to be out there. So even if one doesn’t start, and the other starts the second half, whatever I do, I need to have 20 minutes of them together."

It's certainly been a while since Arkansas has seen a stat stuffing type of player on the floor such as Thomas, who embraces his ability to not only score, but also have an all-around explosive game.

"I really pride myself on 'stat stuffing,'" Thomas said. "I know how capable of scoring the ball I am, I'm offensively gifted. So, it's like, that's going to be there. I'll will my way to scoring the basketball, so if I could just master defense, master the other things, like the little things that a lot of players getting paid on nowadays, then it's like the sky's the limit, and there's not going to be no ceiling for my game.

"I know I could take care of offense, but like you said, doing everything else is going to be that next level for myself."

The Acuff, Thomas combination will face its most important test to date of their college careers with a road trip this Saturday at Michigan State inside Breslin Center. One unique tidbit in the Calipari's history against Spartans coach Tom Izzo is his teams have been led in scoring by a freshman in 4-of-5 meetings.

Calipari and Izzo have met five times throughout their storied careers with the Razorbacks' second-year coach holding a 3-2 edge. However, this will be the first meeting between the two coaches in a non-conference home-and-home setting.

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Jacob Davis
JACOB DAVIS

Jacob Davis is a reporter for Arkansas Razorbacks on SI, with a decade of experience covering high school and transfer portal recruiting. He has previously worked at Rivals, Saturday Down South, SB Nation and hosted podcasts with Bleav Podcast Network where his show was a finalist for podcast of the year. Native of El Dorado, he currently resides in Central Arkansas with his wife and daughter.

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