Arkansas has three former Kentucky commits; how are they doing in their freshmen seasons?

John Calipari‘s first team in Arkansas is not far off from what this season’s Kentucky team would look like if never left Lexington. The Wildcats’ former head coach brought three UK players and three UK commits with him to Arkansas. Those six make-up (or did make-up; I’ll explain in a second) Calipari’s nine-man rotation in Fayetteville.

We’ve already talked plenty this week about DJ Wagner, Adou Thiero, and Zvonimir Ivisc — who all played under Calipari at Kentucky. Thiero was even in Lexington for two seasons and has continued to develop at an unexpected rate. Wagner and Ivisic were solid contributors as freshmen in 2023-24, but they were never close to being considered superstars. They’ve been solid at Arkansas, but nothing more.

What about the incoming freshmen though? Calipari originally signed a six-man 2024 recruiting class at Kentucky, including in-star product Travis Perry who stuck with the Wildcats during the transition to Mark Pope. Two others, Jayden Quaintance and Somto Cyril, went elsewhere. Quaintance is playing good basketball at Arizona State as a 17-year-old. We all saw what Cyril brings to the table when Kentucky came up short on the road to Georgia earlier this season.

The remaining three followed Calipari to Arkansas: PG Boogie Fland (No. 18 overall in the 2024 recruiting class), SF Karter Knox (No. 22), and SF Billy Richmond (No. 28). All three have been part of the Razorbacks’ rotation this season. None have been better than Fland though, who was averaging 15.1 points, 5.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 34.1 minutes per outing. Unfortunately, his season came to an end earlier this month after he underwent hand surgery. Fland was Arkansas’ second-best player this season, an All-SEC candidate, and is a projected first-round NBA Draft pick.

But his season (and likely college career) is officially over. It’s a huge loss for Arkansas and another reason to believe Kentucky will have the edge on Saturday. As for Knox and Richmond, the two rookie wings have filled in as decent contributors.

Knox was coming off the bench to begin the year but has started eight of Arkansas’ last nine games. His numbers have improved along with the increased playing time. Knox, the younger brother of former Wildcat Kevin Knox, is averaging 8.0 points and 3.1 rebounds in 23 minutes per outing. That being said, his shooting has been a mess. Knox is just 38.2 percent from the field over his last nine games and 31.3 percent from deep. He’s had shooting performances of 1-7, 1-6, 1-5, and 3-9. If his shots not falling and he’s not getting to the free-throw line, Knox struggles to make a consistent impact.

Richmond is further down the rotation. He’s played in all 20 games for the Razorbacks but has essentially been a non-factor since SEC play began. Richmond is averaging just 1.4 points in 9.3 minutes per contest through seven conference games. The 6-foot-5 wing is 0-3 from long range for the entire season. With Fland now out, Richmond is serving as Calipari’s eighth man and the last player off the bench.

How much of a factor will Knox and Richmond be in their Rupp Arena debuts? We’ll find out on Saturday starting at 9:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.