Arkansas Razorbacks guard Darius Acuff Jr. (5) drives to the basket as Texas A&M Aggies guard Pop Isaacs (2) defends. Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

John Calipari wants Darius Acuff Jr. to get more respect in CBB POTY race

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Feb 26, 2026 2:44 PM ET

Arkansas head coach John Calipari went to bat for freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. on Wednesday after Acuff scored 22 points in the No. 20 Razorbacks' 99-84 victory over Texas A&M.

Acuff Jr., who is averaging 22.2 points per game this season, scored 49 in a Feb. 18 loss to Alabama and scored 22 on Wednesday against Texas A&M despite starting 1-12 from the field.

"I'm a little disappointed, and I'm not trying to put more on the kid: Why isn't [Acuff] in the equation in the player of the year in the country?" Calipari said Wednesday night. "What are you saying? He's averaging as many as all those people."

CBB Player of the Year contenders

"Those people" include Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer, who is averaging 22.7 points per game and scored 35 in a Nov. 27 win over Arkansas and BYU freshman forward AJ Dybantsa, who leads the country in scoring at 25.1 points per game.

"He's doing things in the guts of games."
Arkansas basketball coach John Calipari says guard Darius Acuff should be getting more buzz as a contender for national player of the year.
Watch Calipari's full press conference: https://t.co/Do6XFeFfpv pic.twitter.com/Wqu91PpjXZ
— WholeHogSports.com (@wholehogsports) February 26, 2026

Boozer and Acuff Jr. are fifth and eighth in the country in scoring, respectively.

Fox Sports ranked Acuff third in its Player of the Year ladder on Wednesday night.

"He's got six assists, he's got three rebounds," Calipari said of Acuff. "He's doing things in the guts of games. Yeah, maybe they are, but he is too. So why isn't he being mentioned?"

"He's playing when he probably could be taking some time off. He goes through the shootaround and only does half of it, so he has enough to play the game."

Acuff Jr. was in a walking boot before his 49-point outburst against Alabama and played all 50 minutes in Arkansas 117-115 double overtime loss. He's played in all 28 games for the Hogs this season, averaging 34.7 minutes per game and has yet to not score in double figures.

Calipari will need Acuff Jr. at his best ahead of Arkansas' huge road matchup with No. 7 Florida on Saturday.

"Like, should he play down in Florida? Probably not," Calipari said. "But I'll tell you right now, if I said, 'You're not playing down there', he'd bust out laughing."

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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