Auburn looks to contain Arkansas’s Darius Acuff, Meleek Thomas in Saturday SEC matchup
Auburn basketball will face No. 15 Arkansas in its eighth game against a ranked opponent this season
The Razorbacks come into Neville Arena with a 12-3 record and conference victories over No. 19 Tennessee and Ole Miss. Arkansas is led by 5-star guard Darius Acuff Jr., who averages 19.9 points per game, 6.2 assists and shoots 49.1% from the field.
Auburn coach Steven Pearl called Acuff one of the best guards in the country during his press conference this week.
“Arkansas is obviously a good team, and coach [John Calipari] has done a great job putting this group together. They’ve got eight really good pieces that do a lot of really good things. Off to a 2-0 start in conference play so far. Beat Louisville and Texas Tech in the nonconference, have a really prolific offensive attack,” Pearl said Thursday afternoon.
“They’re shooting it at a high rate — they’re shooting it 40 percent from 3 so far this year and have one of the best point guards in college basketball in [Darius Acuff]. Not just freshman point guards but point guards in general. They present a lot of challenges, and it’s really going to challenge our on-the-ball defense, which is something we’ve struggled with,” Pearl added.
Auburn has allowed 79.5 points per game this season after dropping to 9-6 and 0-2 in SEC play. Arkansas ranks 18th in the country averaging 90.5 points per game.
Arkansas’s wings in freshman Meleek Thomas and veteran Trevon Brazile are also averaging double digit point totals for the Razorbacks.
Thomas averages 15.3 points and a team-high 1.5 steals, as Brazile contributes 13.5 points and a team-high 1.4 blocks. Billy Richmond and Karter Knox were also players who impacted last year’s matchup against Auburn and were key on the Tigers scouting report.
“[Meleek Thomas] is such a prolific shot-maker and shot-taker. I’m going to tell the guys, he’s going to make some shots, and you’re going to be like, ‘What the hell happened?’ He’s such a special and unique shot-maker,” Pearl said. “So, he’s going to make some, and you got to get on to the next play. [Trevon Brazile] has just completely evolved his game, and he’s a pick-and-pop four- or five-man now and shooting it at a really good percentage.”
“[Billy Richmond] is a guy that can really get downhill and finish around the rim. He’s 4-for-8 in his last five games from three. [Karter Knox] is a guy that’s tremendously improved his three-point shooting,” Pearl added. “So, they have a bunch of guys that have returned from a year ago that have all gotten better and then they got some really special freshmen that just do so many good things.”
Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall scored a game-high 32 points and added 12 rebounds in a 90-88 loss to Texas A&M on Tuesday.
As the only player in the SEC in the top five in both scoring and rebounding, Hall views tonight’s Arkansas matchup as another test to the Tigers toughness.
“They’re very big, things like that. So, they’re going to be a good test for us. But one thing that we have at our advantage is we’re experienced. We’ve been in these big games. So, this thing shouldn’t get to us,” Hall said. “We just have to get on our run, man. We get momentum, just like a game. If we get momentum with one game, I think we can make something special.”
Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. CT and it will be televised on ESPN.