AJ Dybantsa won the first Summer League showdown with Darius Acuff Jr., and the Washington Wizards pulled away late to beat the Sacramento Kings 104-85 on a night that had plenty of buzz around it.
The game was tight early in the fourth quarter before Washington took control in the closing minutes. Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, finished with 23 points, and the head-to-head matchup with Acuff was the main attraction.
Neither guard was especially clean as a scorer. Dybantsa shot 6-15 from the field, hit just one of six 3-point tries and went 5-6 at the line. He also added seven rebounds, two assists, three steals, two blocks and three turnovers.
Acuff, the former Arkansas guard and SEC Player of the Year, scored 12 points on 4-14 shooting, missed all four of his 3-point attempts and made 3-4 free throws. He finished at minus-12, while Dybantsa was plus-18.
Acuff did hand out four assists, but the turnovers were a problem. He gave it away five times, and the Kings as a team had 14 turnovers in a game where that kind of sloppiness was hard to survive against Washington.
Dybantsa has been one of the biggest names in Summer League so far. He opened with 27 points on Thursday in Washington’s win over No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson Jr. and the Utah Jazz.
Acuff came into this game with some momentum of his own after making noise in the California Classic. He had the game-winning assist to Nique Clifford in his July 4 debut and then hit a game-clinching shot against the Milwaukee Bucks in his second game.
Tuesday offers another chance to get back on track against the Brooklyn Nets at 5 p.m. CT on Prime Video.
While Acuff and Dybantsa were battling, Meleek Thomas, Acuff’s former UA teammate and backcourt partner, put up 30 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in front of Arkansas head coach John Calipari.
That kind of production has to look good to Calipari, who is watching both of his one-and-done guards shine in Summer League. A year after Arkansas had just one player taken in the second round, some college basketball pundits likely wondered whether Calipari had lost a step when he arrived in Fayetteville. Instead, he’s still showing he can get young guards to the NBA.
That also points to a promising setup for Arkansas next season, with the No. 1 recruiting class in the country set to be in place.
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