'Killer mentality' makes Darius Acuff Jr. one of March Madness' top players
There may be no player better in the clutch than Arkansas' Darius Acuff Jr., and that's thanks to the "killer mentality" he's developed.
SAN JOSE, CA — Darius Acuff Jr. stood at the top of the arc inside the Moda Center and took a deep breath. The second-round game against High Point was in the balance, Arkansas up by two points with two minutes to go.
The Razorbacks needed a bucket to stave off the upset, and the ball was in the hands of the right man. Acuff looked at the clock and looked back down at the court. Like a lion grazing through the prairies, a rattlesnake rattling its tail, a hawk circling the sky, he let everyone know it’s time for the deadly strike.
“We know who he is, that killer mentality that he's got,” said forward Billy Richmond III. “We just knew he was going to score that play. ” Sure enough, Acuff drove down the lane for a picturesque finger-roll layup, making it a two-possession game.
On the Razorbacks' next possession, he hit the dagger 3 to finish off the kill. Of all the talented freshmen in the country, none of them may be more clutch than the SEC Player of the Year. He has elevated his game on the biggest stage, becoming a deadly assassin, turning anyone standing in his way into his next victim.
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