SAN JOSE, Calif. — Darius Acuff Jr. bent over, stared to the floor and wrapped two clenching hands around his knees.
The pose was common across his freshman season with Arkansas basketball. In second halves, a player who battled nagging injuries across multiple months searched for that final bit of energy to push Arkansas across the finish line.
But on Thursday, March 26, the stance was less about rejuvenation and more of a release. Brayden Burries was at the free-throw line with 2:30 remaining. He was about to extend Arizona 's lead over the Razorbacks to 22 points. There were only a handful of possessions left in Acuff's college career.
When the final buzzer sounded, Arkansas' season ended in a whimper. The Wildcats (35-2) controlled every facet of a 109-88 victory over the Hogs (28-9). Acuff, the SEC Player of the Year and a finalist for the Naismith Award given to the best player in all of college basketball, could not lift the Razorbacks to their first Final Four since 1995.
He fell two victories short, but Acuff lifted the program. He left Arkansas basketball in a better place than he found it, and his impact will be felt as long as John Calipari is the head coach in Fayetteville.
"Maturity, leadership skills, body language," Calipari said of Acuff. "Your body language screams. His really screamed. You look at him now, he's like all the best players that I've coached. He's like that."
Recruiting scouts wondered if he could run a college offense. Acuff ended up being the best point guard in the country, averaging 23.5 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 48.4% overall and 44% from 3. Wins against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament Final and High Point in the NCAA's second round showed he had a clutch gene that few players could match.
Calipari joined the Razorbacks in 2024 after 15 years of turning five-star recruits into first-round draft picks at Kentucky . In his first year with Arkansas, the Hall of Fame coach reeled in three recruits with various five-star ratings in Boogie Fland , Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III .
None of them became first-round picks. It ended a 17-year streak for Calipari.
He will start a new streak with Acuff, but that wasn't always a foregone conclusion. Acuff was the No. 11 player in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. That is a lofty ranking, but it doesn't match previous Calipari recruits like John Wall , Anthony Davis and countless others. A question remained about Calipari's tenure at Arkansas.
Could he still get the best high school recruits in the country away from the Kentucky brand?
Yes, and Acuff provided the perfect assist.
The Detroit native developed under Calipari's stewardship, and multiple sources told the Southwest Times Record that Acuff's success was unsurprisingly a factor in Jordan Smith Jr.'s commitment to Arkansas. The No. 2 ranked recruit in America, Smith is the biggest fish Calipari has reeled in since joining the Hogs. Smith will be one of three five-stars in the Arkansas class, joining JJ Andrews ( Little Rock ) and Abdou Toure (West Haven, Conn.)
Another lead guard with an NBA future will call Bud Walton Arena home next year. It will be tough work for Smith to fill Acuff's shoes in the short-term. He was a national media darling who said all the right things during a historic season.
"I mean, (attention) is cool, but like I said, I'm still focused on truing to win," Acuff said prior to the Sweet 16. "Season's still going, so I'm just trying to keep it rolling."
The next time Arkansas fans see Acuff bent over in a game's closing stages, he'll be wearing an NBA jersey. His time with the Razorbacks is over, but Acuff's impact will be felt in the years to come.
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Darius Acuff Jr leaves lasting impact on Arkansas basketball, John Calipari
