Being among the most valuable players in NIL does not grant immunity from criticism. Darius Acuff, who carries a $1.1 million On3 NIL valuation, learned that firsthand against Houston. Despite his elite status, he drew coach John Calipari’s ire after a costly mistake in a 94-85 loss, a reminder that accountability still comes first.

“It was a close game, and he threw it on a breakout for no reason where he threw it. And I’m like ‘What are you? Why would you do that? And I said, if you’re not into this, you can’t be out there.’ Then I put him back in, but I let him know that’s not acceptable. You’re holding guys accountable even in all this stuff,” Calipari said, expressing his displeasure with how things turned out.

“They got to know that there are certain things that is not missing a shot or turning the ball over. That is the guy’s between you; there’s no one there. All you got to do is deliver the ball, and he gets a layup. Now the game is at 7 or 8, and we bounce it off the guy’s ankle, I mean there are things that you go to as a coach, you say, ‘No, not happening.'”

But it isn’t all criticism as the coach added, “he (Acuff) played a good game, he kept us in, he did some good stuff. I had him handle the ball way more because the other guys were turning it over. So I said, ‘All right, then we’ll keep the ball in his hands.”

There’s no doubt Acuff had a solid game. The freshman scored 27 points and made 7 assists along the way, showing every bit why Reebok would want to associate with him for a lucrative deal. Malique Ewin was the second-highest point scorer with 20 points after coming off the bench, and so did Billy Richmond (12 points).

Acuff’s 8-11 FT and 9-15 FG clearly show how much of an overall impact he had on the game, even though things didn’t go the way he would have wanted. However, Acuff wasn’t the only player who drew flak from coach John Calipari; there were two others who the coach felt needed to improve their game.

Maleek Thomas and D.J. Wagner’s Performance Needs Work Feels Arkansas Coach

“We got a good team, we’ve got to have guys who play better. T.B’s got to play better, Carter’s got to play better, Maleek Thomas got to play better. Like I want to keep him on the floor, but got to play better. Even DJ’s got to play better, make better plays, but he made some shots at the end, which was pretty good stuff,” John Calipari said as he gave his impression on how his team has been faring and what areas he needs to improve to stay competitive.

The surprising name here was Wagner, who did decently, in fact, and contributed 11 points to the team’s tally. But Calipari wants to push him even further than his limits so that Arkansas can be a much more formidable side.

TB, as in Trevon Brazile, had a rare off day. The forward, who usually is a big threat on the rebounds, could only salvage 5 points. Brazile also gave away fouls and didn’t make his way back onto the court until the start of the second half.

Maleek Thomas also hit way below his usual average of 14 points, so the coach made quite a fair assessment of the situation. The Razorbacks will have a tough road ahead with Tennessee waiting for them on January 4th. So, some minor refinement in play and strategy is the need of the hour.