SAN JOSE — When star Arkansas freshman Darius Acuff Jr. opted not to play for Tommy Lloyd’s USA Basketball team last summer, the easy way would have been to just text him the news.
Acuff said he couldn’t do that. Not after saying he had one of his best experiences playing for Lloyd a year earlier, when he was the MVP of the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup in Argentina, playing for the Lloyd-coached Team USA.
“When I had to tell him, I didn't want to, but I couldn't just leave a message,” Acuff said. “I had to hit him back. I love coach Tommy. He’s a great coach. It was a hard decision to make. But I knew it was what me and my family wanted. I wanted to be on my team the whole summer, and just get closer with them.”
Acuff, who will lead the Razorbacks into a Sweet 16 game against Lloyd’s Arizona team on Thursday, declined to say if he sees any similarities in the Wildcats that the USA’s U18 team had.
Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. (5) drives to the basket past High Point forward Cam'ron Fletcher during the second half in the second round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, March 21, in Portland, Ore.
But he said pretty much the same things about the UA coach’s approach that the Wildcat players do.
“Tommy's a great coach. He loves all his players, no matter who you are,” Acuff said. “He's a great connector coach. He's gonna tell you great advice, gonna give you the confidence that you need. It was a great experience. That was one of my best memories of my lifetime, first time out the country. I learned a lot from coach Tommy, and I appreciate him a lot.”
After Acuff turned down the U19 invite last spring, Lloyd said Acuff was a “great young man” and said he wished him nothing but the best. During his pregame news conference Wednesday, Lloyd offered more of the same.
“Darius is a supreme talent, and he's a great young man,” Lloyd said. “Darius is a serious guy. He doesn't always say a lot. I was only around him for three, 3½ weeks or something. So I'm sure there's more to him than I saw, but what I know is he's a supreme competitor, and I know that's a guy that's not afraid of the moment. He has the ability to kind of, quote-unquote, get the eye of the tiger.
“He has that ability and that mentality to kind of rise up his game based on the importance of the game. So I'm sure we're going to get a great effort out of Darius tomorrow.”
Arkansas scouting insight
One coach who might have a particularly unique insight on the matchup between Arkansas and Arizona: Texas assistant coach David Miller, a UA graduate who began his coaching career under Sean Miller (no relation) and later joined him with the Xavier and Texas staffs.
Miller and the Longhorns faced Arkansas just a few weeks ago, losing 105-85 on March 4 at Fayetteville, Ark.
“Super, super, super athletic,” David Miller said. “As athletic as any team I've ever scouted at Arizona, Xavier or whatever. They're liked size across the board. When they switch, I think people don't understand their switching is so effective because they lose nothing. I mean, they're switching 6-7 on a 6-9, a 6-9 on a 6-11. It’s a lot.”
“I don't know if I've ever seen a better college point guard than Acuff. He’s that good. You just have to get back in transition. Their transition game is huge because defense to offense, steals, blocks, high ball turnovers, that's what gives them momentum."
Wildcat blood in Texas
Miller is one of five Longhorn staffers with UA ties, including former UA standout forward Ryan Anderson. David Miller and fellow UA grad Adam Cohen are also assistants, while former UA director of basketball operations Ryan Reynolds is Texas’ Chief of Staff.
Arizona forward Ryan Anderson (12) passes the ball over USC forwards Bennie Boatwright (25) and Nikola Jovanovic (32) in the second half during a game at McKale Center on Feb. 14, 2016. Arizona won 86-78.
David Miller was a graduate manager at UA from 2013-15 before leaving to work at Alabama and UC Santa Barbara, under former UA associate head coach Joe Pasternack. He then re-joined UA under Miller as director of on-campus recruiting and analytics from 2019-21, and became an assistant at San Jose State in 2021-22, when Sean Miller was out of coaching.
David Miller then re-joined Miller at Xavier (2021-22 to 2023-24) and Texas this season.
“It’s been amazing,” David Miller said, noting that the flack Sean Miller took for leaving Xavier last spring for Texas was borne out of passion.
“Xavier is a really special place,” David Miller said. “ I think that people don't understand the support at Xavier. Really, really strong. There’s no other sports that matter that much. So when you talk about Xavier, the fans, administration, it's all about men's basketball.”
Calipari points to FT line
Arkansas coach John Calipari indicated the matchup with Arizona could come down to the free throw line.
Or maybe he was setting up the game officials.
The Razorbacks average 23.1 free throw attempts per game, hitting free throws at a 75.0% rate. Arizona averages 26.6 free throw attempts per game and shoots 73.0% from the line.
Arkansas head coach John Calipari, center, talks with players during practice on Wednesday in San Jose, Calif., ahead of a Sweet 16 game against Arizona in the NCAA college basketball tournament.
"This is one of those games, folks, where we do some things a little better than them, they do some things a little better than us," Calipari said. "Tommy has done a great job with his team. They play to their strengths just like we do.
"They shoot about the same amount of free throws per game as we do. They do it different. They pound it big, we slash. But it's the same. They make one free throw, 1.2 or 1.3 more than we make per game.
"So my thought is if they let it go when we're both beating each other, I'm fine with that. If you want to call a lot of fouls, they're going to be called both ways because we play the same way.
"So my guess is at the end there will be the same amount of fouls, near the same amount of free throws on both teams because they do it one way, they do it another, but the final result has been the same. That's what makes this an interesting game."
