While most folks sit back in a tryptophan daze, Arkansas will have its hands full this Thanksgiving.
The No. 22 Razorbacks (5-1) are tasked with trying to slow down arguably the best player in college basketball when they take on No. 4 Duke (7-0) inside Chicago’s United Center at 7 p.m. CT Thursday.
Even though he’s just a freshman, Cameron Boozer is built like a tank at 6-foot-9, 250 pounds, and has easily lived up to his preseason hype as a consensus top-5 recruit in the class.
He’s generating buzz as a potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft and Jay Bilas, who played at Duke before becoming an ESPN analyst, couldn’t help but gush over him during an appearance on the Razorback Daily podcast.
Bilas even compared him not a noted Razorback slayer who helped the Blue Devils knock Arkansas out of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
“Cameron Boozer reminds me a lot of Paulo Banchero, except at this stage of his development, I think he’s ahead,” Bilas said. “I think he’s a little bit more skilled. He shoots it better from the perimeter. He’s a difficult matchup.”
Banchero put up 16 points and 7 rebounds in that game against the Razorbacks. Those are solid numbers, but John Calipari’s squad would probably be happy with limiting Boozer to a similar stat line.
One of two twin sons of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, the heralded freshman is averaging a whopping 21.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks in just 28.0 minutes – and that doesn’t include a 24-point, 23-rebound performance in an exhibition win at Tennessee.
Just seven official games into his college career, it’s become abundantly clear that Boozer is a very difficult matchup. No college defender is going to feel fully comfortable guarding him one-on-one and Bilas is at a loss for how the Razorbacks are going to stop him Thursday night.
“Honestly, I don’t know who you put on him as an individual defender that you would feel comfortable (with),” he told co-hosts Matt Zimmerman and Quinn Grovey.
