Competition the Key Entering Final Exhibition, Start of Season
If you want an example of why John Calipari’s system works, look no further than the point-guard position on this year’s Kentucky team.
Two highly touted freshmen – Quade Green and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – man the spot. Both players could have gone elsewhere and walked into a guaranteed starting position and likely starting role.
Instead, Green and Gilgeous-Alexander settled on a school where they would be challenged, where they would have to compete.
“They come every day to work, and they enjoy that,” assistant coach Joel Justus said. “They’ve gotten better since they stepped foot on campus in the summer. They didn’t ask questions about who was coming in the process. They didn’t worry about anybody else who might be here.”
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| Kentucky vs. Centre | ||
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Fri., Nov. 3 – 7 p.m. ET |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: SEC Network |
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| UK | 2016-17 Team Stats | CC |
| 32-6 | Record | 14-11 |
| 16-2 | Conference Record | 9-5 |
| 84.9 | PPG | 77.0 |
| 71.5 | Opp PPG | 75.0 |
| .473 | FG% | .465 |
| .424 | Opp FG% | .434 |
| 39.8 | RPG | 34.6 |
| .353 | 3PT FG% | .368 |
| .424 | Opp 3PT FG% | .337 |
| .703 | FT% | .750 |
| 15.4 | APG | 15.0 |
| 6.0 | SPG | 4.7 |
| 5.3 | BPG | 3.0 |
The way it worked out, two of the top-10 point-guard prospects in the country landed in Lexington. In practice, they battle one another at every turn, one typically wearing blue and the other white. Come game day – the next being UK’s third and final exhibition vs. Centre College on Friday at 7 p.m. in Rupp Arena – they wear the same color jersey and often end up playing together.
The result, though neither Green, Gilgeous-Alexander, nor UK as a team are close to a finished product, is constant improvement.
“I think they’re both obviously extremely good basketball players who like I said come to practice every day,” Justus said. “And you have to do that here to get better, and that’s what they’ve done.”
Point guard is like every other position for Kentucky in that no one knows what it will look like or who will be playing it come March. Competition, both in practice and in games, is the way that all gets sorted out. Calipari and his staff made that fact clear during the recruiting process, so it’s come as no shock the players are now living it.
“They know what this is about and this group knew that when they came, and that’s something we have been pleasantly surprised with throughout practice,” Justus said. “Our guys are comfortable fighting for time, fighting for minutes. I think that’s why we’ve seen a jump from week to week to week, especially in games.”
The next jump Calipari is asking of his team is in rebounding. Last time out, the Wildcats were outrebounded 30-25 in a 92-67 win over Morehead State.
“He was definitely very upset about it,” Tai Wynyard said. “He never likes to be outrebounded at all, by any team, so just definitely that was a huge part of the game where he didn’t like. He’s been focusing on that a lot more.”
Wynyard played just three minutes in the last exhibition in returning from a back injury, as well as a broken nose suffered at the hands – or, more accurately – elbows of Nick Richards. The sophomore didn’t play much a season ago, but he sees opportunities to earn more playing time this season through – you guessed it – competition.
“Rebounding is going to be a key for us to be able to win this year,” Wynyard said. “It’s going to be a huge focus with Cal. He’s putting in some drills just to kind of implement and try to focus on rebounds some more.”
Richards, along with Sacha Killeya-Jones, is Wynyard’s completion in the post.
“Tai, he’s been here for a couple years, Sacha, I’m basically the only freshman who’s a big,” Richards said. “So, I gotta compete for minutes in practice every day. It’s going to be a challenge. I work hard every day with these guys. They push me every day to get better in practice. It’s being really competitive.”
Of the three, only Killeya-Jones had a rebound against Morehead State, grabbing five in his 13 minutes. Calipari and his staff will be looking for improvement from them on the boards, but they’re not alone.
“I think the answer is everybody,” Justus said. “I think when you have a 6-foot-6 point guard (Gilgeous-Alexander) who can rebound, and I think when you have even Quade who is a guy that we want to play fast and get the ball out it starts there. But, it really should come from all five positions. That’s a programmatic stressor for us – everybody should rebound. We chart that in practice. We track that in games. Who is even attempting to rebound?”
Trying. That’s really the essence of it all.
“I think for the first time, when you have young kids that come here, this is the hardest that they’ve ever worked,” Justus said. “What Cal has continued to tell them is, ‘That’s hard, but you need to work harder.’ I think for them it’s finding that point of practice when they say, ‘Man, this is tough. Let’s push past that.’ ”
UK Overcomes Stiff Morehead State Challenge in Kentucky Cares Classic
Two weeks ago, the game wasn’t even on Kentucky’s schedule. Fans found a way to be there anyway, and they got to watch their Wildcats survive a battle.
UK hosted a fearless Morehead State squad in the Kentucky Cares Classic on Monday in Rupp Arena, downing the Eagles in an early exhibition test against a Division-I opponent that was closer than the 92-67 final score suggests. Hamidou Diallo scored 23 points to lead all scorers, while Quade Green had 20, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 17 and Kevin Knox 16.
It was a unique atmosphere in Rupp, with tickets to the game sold separately from any other this season and no television broadcast. That meant the 14,138 in attendance were the only ones able to watch a competitive game with Morehead State, coached by former Kentucky staffer Preston Spradlin.
UK’s length and athleticism caused problems from the outset for the Eagles, leading to 26 turnovers. That generated plenty of transition opportunities for a team that’s still a work in progress in the half-court. The Cats had 30 points off turnovers, often generated by its two-headed point-guard monster of Green and Gilgeous-Alexander, who combined for nine assists and six steals.
Kentucky’s 12 steals and even more deflections helped make up for the Eagles’ 30-25 rebounding edge and 49-percent shooting from the field, including 10 of 21 from 3. Morehead State didn’t back down when the Cats built a 16-point lead late in the first half and cut the margin to two points at the 12:34 mark of the second.
That brought the contingent of fans cheering on in-state Morehead to its feet, but Kentucky – both the team and fans – answered in kind. UK turned up the pressure and promptly ran off a 12-0 run to build a 66-51 lead. The Eagles never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
The way the Cats responded to the Eagles’ rally was encouraging, but the most important development of the evening was two Kentucky schools coming together to do good. Full net proceeds from ticket sales totaling $448,220 from the Kentucky Cares Classic will benefit victims of recent disasters through Team Rubicon, a non-government 501(c)(3) organization that unites the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams. • The Wildcats changed up their starting lineup and inserted sophomore veteran Weynen Gabriel and freshman point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander alongside freshmen PJ Washington, Kevin Knox and Hamidou Diallo
• Kentucky shot an impressive 77.4 percent from the foul line
• It was the first time UK played in a non-televised game since Nov. 14, 2015, vs. NJIT
Wildcats Roll Past Thomas More 103-61
Kevin Knox scored 27 points and classmate PJ Washington added 15 points and 10 rebounds as Kentucky rolled past Thomas More 103-61 in an exhibition game on Friday night at Rupp Arena.
Nick Richards had 14 points for the Wildcats and Hamidou Diallo added 12. Sophomore Wenyen Gabriel was the fifth Wildcat in double figures, scoring 11 points to go with 10 rebounds.
Kentucky exploited its height advantage, outrebounding the Saints 49-26. The Wildcats shot 55.1 percent (38 of 69) from the floor, including 5 of 16 (31.3 percent) from 3-point range.
The Wildcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead early behind three points from Washington. Quade Green then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend Kentucky’s lead to 13-4.
Kentucky extended its lead to 21-6 on a layup by Diallo. But after a Thomas More timeout, the Saints went on an 11-2 run to cut Kentucky’s lead to 23-17. The Wildcats responded with a 17-3 run to take a commanding 40-20 lead. Kentucky would lead 53-30 at the break.
In the second half, Kentucky pulled away, building the lead behind a balanced offensive effort and 60.6-percent shooting. The 42-point margin of victory was Kentucky’s largest lead of the game.
• The Wildcats started five freshmen vs. Thomas More. The last time a UK team started five freshmen in a regular-season game was the 2014 national championship game vs. UConn
• UK held Thomas More without a field goal for 10:57 in the first half
• It was the seventh straight exhibition game Kentucky has surpassed 100 points, dating back to the 2013-14 season
• The Wildcats dominated the specialty stats, smashing Thomas More in the paint (58-14), in second-chance points (26-9) and fast-break points (26-2)
