Arkansas bulldozes Mississippi State behind Acuff’s 24 points
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Darius Acuff continues to show why he’s one of the country’s most dynamic freshmen.
Acuff scored a game-high 24 points, while adding eight assists and five rebounds, as Arkansas cruised to an 88-68 win at Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon. The Razorbacks improved to 17-6 overall and 7-3 in SEC play to pull a half-game back of Florida and Texas A&M for the conference lead. The Gators and Aggies face each other on Saturday night.
Acuff, who started the day as the SEC’s fourth-leading scorer, hasn’t quite been in the same conversation as fellow freshmen Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa. That doesn’t mean he’s anything less than a star, though. He finished the day 9-of-19 from the floor and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Trevon Brazile added 19 points while Meleek Thomas chipped in 17. Nick Pringle was the day’s top rebounder with 11 boards.
The Razorbacks led nearly from wire to wire, going up as much as 16 with 8:48 to go in the first half before taking a 43-30 advantage into the locker room. Their lead never got below 13 in the second half as the Bulldogs never looked like a legitimate threat to come back in this one.
Josh Hubbard’s 16 points led the way for Mississippi State, which fell to 11-12 (3-7 SEC) and has now lost seven of its last eight games. Achor Achor had 15 points while Jamarion Davis-Fleming added 12.
The Razorbacks remain on the road as they travel to face LSU on Tuesday. The Bulldogs return to action on Wednesday as they welcome Tennessee.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
