Darius Acuff injury update: John Calipari reveals Arkansas guard's SEC Tournament status

Arkansas head coach John Calipari confirmed that guard Darius Acuff Jr. will be available for the Razorbacks’ first game of the SEC Tournament, per CBS Sports‘ Jon Rothstein. Acuff didn’t play in Arkansas’ regular-season finale against Missouri.

Acuff’s injury is undisclosed, but it’s no mystery whether Arkansas will be happy to have him back on the court. The star freshman earned SEC Player of the Year honors earlier this week, and will be instrumental to the team’s postseason efforts.

Acuff is averaging 22.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game, while shooting 49.3% from the field and 43.7% from beyond the arc. In Acuff’s most recent outing, he notched 28 points and 13 assists en route to a comfortable win over Texas.

Calipari believes conference player of the year isn’t a high enough honor for Acuff. The 67-year-old HC believes the former five-star prospect should be in the National Player of the Year conversation.

“Look, I’m a little disappointed, and I’m not trying to put more on the kid. Why isn’t he in the equation for the player of the year in the country? What are you saying?” Calipari said in February. “He’s averaging as many as all those people? He’s got six assists. He’s got three rebounds. 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 could probably take some time off games and he’s playing anyway. I mean, he goes through the shootaround and only does half of it so he has enough [energy] to play the game.”

Darius Acuff Jr. will need reserves of energy if Arkansas hopes to win its first SEC Tournament since 2000. The Razorbacks will have a double bye as a 3-seed in the tournament, but still must win three games in three days to secure the conference title.

Though Acuff didn’t play in Arkansas’ last game, it was an important day for John Calipari. The College Basketball Hall of Fame member earned his 900th career win, becoming only the fifth coach to do so. He joined Mike Krzyzewski (1,202), Jim Boeheim (1,116), Rick Pitino (910) and Roy Williams (903).

Calipari will look to add another piece of hardware to his illustrious résumé this week. Arkansas will begin its SEC Tournament play on Friday at 8:30 CT. The game will air live on the SEC Network.