Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jordan Smith Jr. has yet to play a regular-season minute for Arkansas, but the freshman point guard’s name is already on a national award list.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame put Smith on the 2027 Bob Cousy Award watch list Monday. He’s one of 20 players on it.
The Cousy goes each year to the top point guard in NCAA Division I men’s college basketball. This will be the 24th time it’s handed out.
Bob Cousy played at Holy Cross before his career with the Boston Celtics. He went into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 1971.
John Calipari knows the award well. Two of his guards have won it.
Tyler Ulis took it home in 2016, and Darius Acuff Jr. did the same in 2026.
Smith is trying to give Calipari a third.
What Smith brings to Fayetteville
He showed up on campus with a pretty full résumé.
Smith was the consensus National High School Player of the Year last season. He was a McDonald’s All-American and played in both the Nike Hoops Summit and the Jordan Brand Classic.
MaxPreps, USA Today, Sporting News and Naismith Awards all put him on their first-team All-America lists.
None of that guarantees a thing in the SEC, of course. Just ask any freshman who’s tried to run an offense on the road in February.
Still, it’s easy to see why the Hall of Fame didn’t wait on a box score to include him.
He’ll get his first real test in a few weeks.
Plenty of SEC company
Seven other SEC players are on the list with the Hogs’ freshman.
Missouri’s Jason Crowe Jr. and LSU’s Donovan Dent are among them, along with Florida’s Boogie Fland and Alabama’s Aden Holloway.
Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard made it, as did Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford and Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner.
From outside the league, the field includes Indiana’s Markus Burton, Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau, UConn’s Silas Demary Jr., St. John’s Quinn Ellis and Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr.
Marquette’s Nigel James Jr., Miami’s Acaden Lewis, Virginia’s Chance Mallory and West Virginia’s Miles Sadler are on there too.
So are Louisville’s Jackson Shelstad, Houston’s Dedan Thomas Jr. and BYU’s Robert Wright III.
One more tuneup
The Razorbacks still have one more exhibition to play.
Memphis is up Wednesday (Oct. 28) at 7 p.m., with SEC Network+ carrying the game.
You can also hear the game on the radio on ESPN Arkansas 93.7 and 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in Fort Smith and the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.
That game isn’t included in the 2026-27 season ticket package. Anyone planning to go will need to buy tickets for the Memphis exhibition separately.
