Exhibition the First Test of Cats’ Toughness
Toughness is a hot topic around the Joe Craft Center these days.
As John Calipari considers the nearly limitless potential of his 11th Kentucky team, he sees that as the primary obstacle for the Wildcats on their path to contending for the 2019-20 national championship.
With UK’s young roster, Coach Cal expects opponents to use physical play to neutralize the Cats’ many gifts. How they contend with that will go a long way to determining their ultimate fate.
So, it’s no surprise the Cats will enter their first exhibition with toughness top of mind.
“We just want to show that we’re tough,” freshman Keion Brooks Jr. said. “Coach believes that could be the only thing standing in our way from doing something special. We just want to show our toughness and how we go out and compete, especially on the defensive end taking what we do in our drills in practice and translate it into 5-on-5 against somebody else.”
 |
||
| Kentucky vs. Georgetown | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Sun., Oct. 27 – 5 p.m. ET |
||
| Coverage | ||
|
TV: SEC Network |
||
| UK | 2018-19 Stats | OPP |
| 0-0 | Record | 0-0 |
| 0-0 | Conference Record | 0-0 |
| 75.8 | PPG | 87.8 |
| 64.4 | Opp PPG | 72.3 |
| .477 | FG% | .498 |
| .400 | Opp FG% | .417 |
| 38.5 | RPG | 41.9 |
| .354 | 3PT FG% | .358 |
| .345 | Opp 3PT FG% | .349 |
| .739 | FT% | .688 |
| 13.5 | APG | 15.5 |
| 5.9 | SPG | 5.7 |
| 4.8 | BPG | 3.5 |
Someone else, in this case, is Georgetown College, which No. 2 UK will face at 5 p.m. on Sunday in Rupp Arena. Chris Briggs’ team is the defending NAIA national champion, so the Tigers can play. Both squads will be ready to compete, but Sunday’s game is still an exhibition. Learning and improvement are the priorities.
“It’s going to be very exciting even though it’s just a practice game,” sophomore Nick Richards said. “Obviously we’re going to try to win, but this is a game we can use to see what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are and where we’ve got to get better.”
Of course, Calipari will be keeping a close eye on how the Cats respond to physical play, but he’s not looking for a fight.
“Well, toughness is not just pushing and shoving,” Calipari said. “It’s not what your body looks like. Toughness is a mental toughness of you can be pushed and you don’t cave in. That toughness.”
Coach Cal doesn’t ignore strength as a component of toughness – the offseason physical transformations of some of his players are proof of that – but there’s a lot more to it than that.
“It’s as much mental toughness as it is physical,” Calipari said. “Physical is part of it. If you are standing up and not in a stance, you can’t be physically tough here. You’ll get pushed around. So, all of the things that – like last year with Reid (Travis) and PJ (Washington), there was a toughness and a mental toughness that they had. We’re expecting EJ (Montgomery) and Nick and Nate (Sestina) to do the same things, and Keion.”
Brooks is an interesting case study on that front. The 6-foot-7, 205-pounder freely admits he doesn’t “look like a bruiser,” but that doesn’t mean he can’t meet Calipari’s standards for toughness. He intends to prove it.
“I might not look it, but I’m going to play hard and I’m going to go out and compete every possession,” Brooks said. “That’s what the coaches expect from me. That’s what my teammates expect from me. So I’m going to go out and make sure I play hard every possession.”
Until this week with the addition of 6-9 pitcher Ben Jordan to the roster, Brooks had spent the bulk of his time at the four going toe to toe with Montgomery. Now, he’s free to swing between there and the three spot.
“I’m trying different combinations now in practice,” Calipari said. “I’ll tell you who has really helped is Ben Jordan, because now Keion can get work at three and EJ gets to go against Nate, which helps them. And Ben gets to beat up on Nick. So, Keion can be four some too to stretch the court.”
Spoken like a coach doing a fair bit of early season tinkering. His players are excited he finally has a game in which to do that.
“We’ve been going at each other’s necks for about almost two months now,” Brooks said. “I’m just excited to finally get out and all play together and play against somebody else.”
Competitive Blue-White Game a Good Early Step for UK
From the moment John Calipari took the microphone before the Blue-White Game, it was clear Friday night’s event would be unconventional.
Coach Cal revealed the scrimmage would start a bit late with a couple of players rehabbing from injuries. And even more startlingly, Calipari told the thousands assembled in Rupp Arena they would see some zone defense.
But when the Blue-White Game did begin, in spite of the uniqueness of the format, things weren’t all that different from normal. The Wildcats, as they have in every such scrimmage, flashed talent, potential and all the work they have ahead of them in equal parts.
White defeated Blue 81-80 in a competitive edition of the annual scrimmage, with all nine scholarship players scoring in double figures. Immanuel Quickley, looking like a sophomore breakout could be coming, led the way with a game-high 25 points and added seven rebounds and six assists in splitting his time between the two teams.
Nate Sestina wasn’t far behind in scoring 22 points for Blue, flashing a potent inside-out game by making four 3-pointers in eight tries and vocal leadership throughout.
Nick Richards and Keion Brooks Jr., meanwhile, had identical double-doubles with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Richards’ go-ahead free throws in the final two minutes were the game’s final points.
Playing on opposing teams throughout were point guards Ashton Hagans and Tyrese Maxey, and they were impressive in doing so. Maxey seemed in command from start to finish in posting 17 points, five rebounds and five assists against just one turnover, while Hagans had 14 points, six assists and just one turnover himself. Hagans also made 3-of-6 3-point tries, an encouraging sign for the sophomore, and Maxey took advantage of the running clock when he was fouled in the final seconds.
• It was the 12th season the Blue-White Game was played in Rupp Arena
• Attendance was 13,574. The 2016 crowd of 16,089 is the highest-attended Blue-White Game
• The teams combined to shoot 50.3 percent from the floor (67 of 133). The Blue team shot a combined 50.0 percent from the floor and 32.1 percent from 3-point range
Family Returns Home for Alumni Weekend
Kentucky has held a number of alumni functions in recent seasons, including alumni games, Big Blue Madness and reunions for elite teams, but UK welcomed back any and everyone with ties to the program last weekend for alumni weekend. Former players, coaches, staff members, managers and more were invited back.
Festivities included the Blue-White Game, tours of the practice facility Saturday morning, lunch, practice and a reception Saturday night. Approximately 90 former players, coaches and staff members — plus their family and friends — spanning eight different decades were in attendance.
Kentucky Picked to Win 49th SEC Title
Eleventh-year head coach John Calipari has often described Kentucky as the hunted within the ranks of the Southeastern Conference. With more regular-season and tournament titles than the entire league combined, it’s not a far-fetched mantra. If the 2019-20 preseason media poll conducted by the league’s media proves true, Kentucky will once again be the pursued.
UK was voted to win their sixth regular-season title under Calipari by the league’s media members. Should Kentucky achieve the feat, it would mark the program’s 49th overall regular-season title.
It’s the 15th time since the 1998-99 season the Wildcats are the overall preseason favorite. Calipari has directed his teams to regular-season SEC crowns in 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Kentucky has claimed the SEC Tournament title six times under his direction in 2010, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Each school selected media members that cover their team and additional media from across the nation were selected by the conference office to comprise the voting panel. Points were compiled on a 14-13-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Each media member also voted for two All-SEC teams.
