Darius Acuff is the star for Arkansas, but Kentucky must also contain Meleek Thomas

Kentucky is preparing multiple game plans for Arkansas star guard Darius Acuff, but the Wildcats can’t afford to forget about his freshman backcourt partner, Meleek Thomas.

Much like Acuff, Thomas was someone that former Kentucky head coach John Calipari recruited heavily to Lexington. You might remember the infamous official visit photoshoot, where Thomas was pictured in a Kentucky uniform while pretending to dig into the ground with a plastic toy shovel. That was nearly two full years ago at this point. Had Calipari remained at UK, there’s a good chance both Acuff and Thomas would be playing for the blue and white right now.

But instead, those two will be playing against Kentucky on Saturday while rocking red and white.

Thomas is a talented prospect in his own right, albeit a different type of player compared to Acuff. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter is considered a borderline first-round pick in this year’s draft by ESPN. After coming off the bench for most of the season, Thomas was inserted into the starting lineup a couple of weeks ago, which kick-started the Razorbacks’ current three-game winning streak.

Across eight SEC games, Thomas is averaging 15.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.8 steals in 28.3 minutes per outing. He’s been lights out shooting the ball, too: 48 percent from the field, 48.7 percent from deep on 4.9 attempts per game, and 80 percent from the free-throw line. Against league competition, Thomas is a team-high +77 across 227 total minutes played, per CBB Analytics. Arkansas’ most recent win over Oklahoma saw him go without making a three-pointer for the first time all season, and yet he still managed 16 points in an 83-79 victory.

“I think for Meleek he’s learning about himself,” Arkansas assistant coach Kenny Payne said of Thomas on Friday. “It was great to see him not have to have threes go in to have a productive game. I thought he was excellent defensively. I thought he made good passes. Him attacking the lane just shows he’s a three-level scorer. He doesn’t have to depend on the three-point line to get baskets.”

Other than drawing shooting fouls, Thomas has been doing just about everything on offense at an average or above average level in SEC play. He and Acuff take nearly 45 percent of all Arkansas’ shots. Kentucky’s backcourt will certainly have its hands full with Calipari’s star freshmen on Saturday in Fayetteville.

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