Scouting Diaries: Arkansas vs. James Madison

Stephen Gillaspie RETURNS from his Holiday break to share his notes from the Arkansas/JMU matchup!

It feels so good to be back!

It also feels good to discuss the 2026 NBA Draft Class again.

I’m not sure if you all missed my regular contributions, but I 100% missed being behind a keyboard. I went home to my LOVELY home state of Arkansas to spend some much-needed time with my family. It was only for eight days, but it felt both longer and shorter at the same time.

This scouting trip almost didn’t happen. Prior to leaving Georgia—a 16-hour drive with four children 12 years of age and younger—I asked my beautiful, amazing wife if she minded me bringing some podcasting equipment, or maybe just a computer to still type on.

She looked at me with her gorgeous, blue eyes, smiled, and said: “No.” Honestly, I’m glad I listened—not only because I was present in the five different homes we drove to, but because it forced me to be creative.

This was my first time home in about five years, and this would be the first time during that time that I would be a stone's throw from Fayetteville, Arkansas. Having not planned at all to attend a Razorback game this year, I saw that the Hogs were playing on the 29th. Being that it was during the holiday season and it being short-notice, I all but assumed that I wouldn’t be able to be granted media credentials to cover the game for the No Ceilings community, but I reached out anyway. To my pure delight, I was “a go” to attend on behalf of No Ceilings NBA.

Not only was I able to go, but I also got to catch the game with my dad—something we haven’t done since I was about 10 (you can try and do the math).

There was such an emotional connection for me to go to this game, but we’ll get to the stuff you’re here for—game notes!

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Meleek Thomas | Arkansas | Guard/Wing | Freshman | 6’5” | 185

I loved Meleek Thomas coming into the season, and I feel like I held onto him being a lottery-level talent longer than the consensus. Prior to the game against JMU, Meleek’s last three games saw him score seven points against Houston, three points against Queens (NC), and eight points against Texas Tech. His shooting splits were 22/21/100 (three attempts) during that stretch. To say that Meleek needed to do something quickly would have been a huge understatement coming into this matchup.

Watching him in warmups, Meleek looked good. Actually, most of the team looked good shooting the ball in warmups—which is likely why the shot nearly 54% on 28 attempts. Meleek did most of the heavy lifting from deep, going 6-of-10 from deep in the game. As soon as he came out of the bench, you could see that Thomas was going to be aggressive in the game. His first points came at the free-throw line—something that I was pleased to see, considering he has had a Free Throw Rate that has been sub-28. Seeing the ball go through the net from the charity stripe must have done something for his confidence in this game. Meleek heat-checked himself throughout the night. Perhaps the most enjoyable to see in person was Thomas going for a Darius Acuff Jr.-esque pull-up middy that he connected on.

While this game did show all of the heights one could hope for from Thomas as a scorer, the areas of concern did bubble up a bit. There were no assists from him tonight. On one hand, the team leaned on him heavily for his play finishing this game—so you don’t want to fault him too much. On the other hand, there was one play where Meleek pump-faked, allowed the defender to fly by, and then leaped from the elbow on a double-clutch middy that probably would have been an opportunity for Thomas to showcase some ball movement.

I left feeling incredibly happy for Meleek despite it coming against the level of competition that it did. Post game, D.J. Wagner spoke about how much his team believes and expects games like what Thomas put up—that they weren’t surprised by the outing. Meleek himself spoke about how his preparation hasn’t wavered throughout the season, and that he expects games like this one.

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Malique Ewin | Arkansas | Big | Senior | 6’10” | 240

As a Razorback fan, I was worried about Malique Ewin after the first few games with the team. Coming into the season, I loved the idea of Ewin on the team. I loved the idea of Arkansas being able to play Five-Out—playing Malique alongside Trevon Brazile and the options Coach Calipari could roll out on the perimeter. After Coach Cal challenged Ewin to play bigger, he has.

In true Coach Cal fashion, there simply has to be an over-qualified bench player on his team, and that’s what Ewin has been. That trend continued in this game. Only a few minutes into the game, Ewin subbed in for Nick Pringle and immediately went into the two-man game with Darius Acuff Jr. That pick-and-roll is so much fun to watch, because they are so comfortable attacking different spots from the same look. Once Ewin got the ball rolling to the rim, it was all but a wrap for the defense. Malique even showcased some fun passing, too, finding Karter Knox on an off-hand, high-English bounce pass for an easy finish. Honestly, it was incredible that the ball fit through the window Malique had to work with.

The finishing and passing were fun, but Malique also finished with a game-high nine rebounds. He even chipped in with a couple of blocks. It was on that end of the floor that I could really see the emphasis that Ewin and the coaching staff have put in a lot of work. It’ll need to be consistent as the season continues into conference play.

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Darius Acuff Jr. | Arkansas | Guard | Freshman | 6’3” | 190

Some may say I buried the lead, waiting until now to discuss Darius Acuff Jr. After all, Darius is making a real case to be considered as the top guard in this class—potentially on his way to being a Top 5 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. I’m not trying to sound hyperbolic here, but Acuff looked like a true pro during his warmups. Everything was planned and a part of a scheduled routine. His stretching, his shooting, his handling—all of it was a ton of fun to see as a fan, and assuring as a scout.

What was crazy about Darius Acuff’s performance in this game was how “another day at the office” it felt. He finished with 17 points and six assists—and it felt like his foot wasn’t as “on the gas” as it could have been (I mean this in the BEST of ways). Acuff was calculated. He spent much of the game looking to get his teammates warmed up. With the Razorbacks coming into conference play, there was a tangible feeling I felt that Darius wanted to make sure his guys walked out of this game confident. He wanted Meleek to feel like a flamethrower. He wanted Ewin to feel like one of the best big men in the SEC. He wanted Billy Richmond (more on him in a moment) to play like a high-feel playmaker infused with a maniacal defender. He tried to get Trevon involved from deep, and did everything he could to make that happen on his part. This may sound reductive (and I don’t mean for it to), but he played like THE Point Guard.

While I could ooze with hyperbole about the offensive performance, Darius put in some real work on defense. The off-ball rotation and buy-in that Acuff played with really impressed me. Sure, I know it was against James Madison, but Acuff was high-energy in his screen navigation. He even gave second efforts on the defensive side on the few times when he was forced off his spot. His effort and rotations crescendoed into an emphatic, weak-side block.

I’m still working through untangling who I like the most between Darius, Mikel Brown Jr., and Kingston Flemings as the top point guard in this class, but I came away truly impressed by Acuff’s professional approach to what could have been a “trap game”.

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Billy Richmond III | Arkansas | Wing/Forward | Sophomore | 6’6” | 205

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but I love Billy Richmond. How I know Billy is good is that my dad (who actually has a very sharp mind for sports) couldn’t stop talking about him. Seeing him in person was so awesome because I got to see how long he was up close. My goodness.

Most know about the things Richmond does well on the court, and most of those things come on defense. One aspect of his game that I feel he has built upon is his second-side playmaking. That micro-skill was on full display against James Madison. Billy finished with six assists, and they weren’t simply schemed looks. There was a play where he caught a pass on the left wing while looking to see where Meleek Thomas was relative to him. Richmond gathered the ball while turning back toward the rim, and then attacked the basket. This drew in Meleek’s defender, leaving him open. Billy kicked the ball out to Meleek for an open three. This newfound playmaking has been an awesome development that we’ve seen more often this year,

Of course, Richmond did all of the “Billy GOAT” things against JMU as well, crashing the glass and applying pressure to ball handlers. He did put up a couple of threes, and those looked about like how you would picture in your mind’s eye. Coach Cal spoke glowingly of Richmond’s production from this game—particularly how the Second Half defense picked up once he was put back on the court.

A true dog.

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Quick Hits

• Trevon Brazile was totally fine in this game. I mentioned earlier that Darius Acuff Jr. tried his best to get Brazile going from deep, but Brazile just couldn’t connect. His athleticism showed more on defense, where he chipped in with three blocks and two steals. He also had some nasty dunks, one coming from a backscreen set by Ewin that led to Trevon throwing down a one-handed jam.

• Karter Knox has been a player that I have wanted to be a true standout for the past couple of seasons, but he has been inconsistent. There was one play where Knox got to the rim and went into a reverse-cradle layup that missed. My dad noted: “Karter can get to the rim whenever he wants, but he puts up s*** like that”. Dads say the darndest things.

• DJ Wagner went 4-of-5 from deep in this game, with four assists. Speaking with DJ, I see why he has the role on the team that he does. He builds the confidence of his teammates, and he wants to take on the task of being a veteran leader. When he is hitting from deep, he provides a real wrinkle as a total playmaker.

• With all due respect to James Madison, there wasn’t a standout on their team. Bradley Douglas was the leading scorer on the team according to the box score, but that didn’t match the eye test. He fouled a ton on defense and turned the ball over often. I would have guessed Justin McBride was the leading scorer, as he had an impact from multiple areas of the floor. Beyond those two, no one else scored in double digits—which was the reason the game was no contest.

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BUT WAIT…

I wanted to break this up from the beginning of this article because I know many basketball fans want to read about basketball—which I totally get. But, to continue with how great it was to cover my team as a credentialed media member, I wanted to share some clips from the post-game press conference. Getting to talk with Coach Calipari was some bucket list-level stuff that I was super grateful for. Here are the questions that I asked during the press conference.

Coach Calipari:

Meleek Thomas and DJ Wagner:

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