The players who will join first-year Arkansas basketball head coach John Calipari at SEC Basketball Media Day were announced on Tuesday.
Calipari will be joined by guard Johnell Davis and forward Adou Thiero in Birmingham, Alabama, next Tuesday, Oct. 15, with a time window of 2:30 p.m. to 4:35 p.m. CT.
Both Davis and Thiero are entering their first seasons with the Razorbacks, as Davis transferred to Arkansas from Florida Atlantic and Thiero followed Calipari from Kentucky over the offseason.
Davis is a fifth-year senior who has spent the last four seasons with the Owls of Florida Atlantic. He was a key part in the team’s Final Four run in 2023, as he averaged 13.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game that season. In the postseason, he bumped that average to 15.4 points in five games, including an explosion for 29 points in the second round against Fairleigh Dickinson.
Last season, his numbers were even higher, as the Gary, Indiana, native averaged 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest. He worked out for several NBA teams after the season ended, but opted to remove his name from the 2024 NBA Draft and play at Arkansas.
Thiero is heading into his third season of college basketball after playing two seasons at Kentucky under Calipari. Last season he appeared in 25 games and averaged 7.2 points and five rebounds per game.
Where Thiero stands to improve the most is in his three-point shot, something he’s said has been a focus for him this offseason.
“That will make it harder for defenders to guard me, because they cant just sit back,” Thiero said Sept. 12. “When they’re closing out, I can shoot the ball and it’ll go in, so they’ll have to get a hand up and I can beat them off the dribble. With my size, I can get to the rim, finish, with my athleticism I can dunk on somebody.”
Davis and Thiero are two of seven transfers on this year’s team, which only features one returning scholarship player from a season ago — junior forward Trevon Brazile.
The Arkansas Razorbacks are currently in preseason practice and will take the floor for preseason charity exhibitions against Kansas inside Bud Walton Arena on Oct. 25 and at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, against the TCU Horned Frogs on Nov. 1. Be sure to tune in to HawgBeat for updates on the Hoop Hogs ahead of season tip-off.
