Mark Pope praises Adou Thiero's physicality: 'There's no easy answers with him.'

John Calipari won’t be the only familiar face taking the Rupp Arena floor on Saturday night. A handful of former Kentucky players will return to the place they once called home, just with red and white colors instead of blue and white.

DJ Wagner and Zvonimir Ivisic were two impactful Wildcats from the 2023-24 season who followed Calipari to Arkansas. But the Razorbacks’ best player so far this season has been another former Kentucky hooper: junior wing Adou Thiero.

Arkansas’ season has not gone according to plan in year one under Calipari. The Hogs are 12-8 on the season with an ugly 1-6 mark in the Southeastern Conference. But one of the few bright spots this season in Fayetteville has been the emergence of Thiero. The 6-foot-8 bulldozer has taken another leap, even higher than the one we saw in Lexington from his freshman to sophomore campaigns.

“He’s a monster. Like he’s playing elite-level basketball and he’s just devastating physically,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said of Thiero on Thursday. “He’s playing with such an incredible intensity, and motor, and physicality. He’s great downhill. Great at getting to the rim. He’s actually pretty functional in mid-range. He really guards. He’s a one-through-five defensive player. In some ways, BBN knows him better than I do. But he’s putting together a really, really special season and he’s a handful for sure. There’s no easy answers with him.”

Thiero is performing like an All-SEC player and potential first-round NBA Draft pick through 19 games at his new home. He’s averaging 16.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.9 blocks in 28.5 minutes per outing. Thiero’s outside shooting is still a work in progress (22.6 percent from deep this season on 1.6 attempts per game), but he’s more efficient than ever.

The native of Pennsylvania, who was not a prized recruit out of high school, was a 34.5 field goal percentage guy as a freshman, which he bumped to 49.2 percent last season at UK. But this season? Thiero is shooting 57.2 percent from the floor with a 64.1 percent clip from inside the arc. He’s been excellent at using his 220-pound frame to bully his way to the free-throw line. Thiero has been a Top 50 player in the country at getting to the line this season (6.3 attempts per SEC game) while shooting just a hair over 70 percent.

If there’s anyone on this Arkansas roster Kentucky has to slow down on Saturday, it would be the former fan-favorite.

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