Kentucky-Virginia Tech game will make a dream come true

As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander termed it, the Kentucky-Virginia Tech game on Saturday will fulfill a dream he shares with his cousin (and Tech freshman) Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

“We’ve been dreaming about his game our whole life,” Gilgeous-Alexander said Friday. “We’ve never really had a real basketball game against each other.”

Growing up in nearby towns in Ontario, Canada, the cousins played plenty of one-on-one games. This will be the first time they oppose each other in a team setting.

Gilgeous-Alexander claimed to be the better trash talker, but said he had kept his taunts to a minimum.

“I don’t want to hurt his spirit,” he said. “I’ll let the game hurt his spirit.”

Shoot!!!!

UK Coach John Calipari said his spirits might be lifted if Gilgeous-Alexander was not hesitant to shoot. He said Gilgeous-Alexander needed to simply take the open shot rather than try to draw oohs and ahhs from the crowd.

“It’s the easiest thing you can do: shoot!!,” said Calipari, who added that two of the three outcomes of a shot are good: the ball goes in or a teammate rebounds the miss.

“Shoot the ball!!!!,” Calipari said in an exaggerated shout. “Quit trying to make wrap-around passes. Just get it up off the backboard.

“That’s a daily statement to him.”

Hokie homecoming

Saturday’s game is something of a homecoming for one member of the Virginia Tech staff. Lyle Wolf, the director of student-athlete development, is a Lexington native and graduate of Henry Clay High School and Transylvania University. He said he was excited for the chance to work in Rupp Arena.

“I have watched many, many (UK) games,” he said. “My grandfather always had basketball tickets, so I kind of grew up watching the Wildcats, and kind of always have been a fan.

“Obviously, my lens on basketball changed from a fan standpoint to more of a business standpoint. So I don’t keep up as much as I used to.”

Wolf, who played safety on Henry Clay’s football team, walked on the Transy basketball team as a freshman. This was a learning experience.

“I was not as talented as I thought I was at the time,” he said. “I know that now for sure.”

After graduating in 2010 with a degree in business finance, Wolf worked what he called “a regular job” in Lexington that left him still searching for a career. His parents encouraged him to pursue something he enjoyed and loved. This led him to basketball.

As a self-described “naïve kid,” Wolf said he sent emails to between 150 and 200 college coaches asking for a position as a graduate assistant. An assistant at Marquette, Brad Autry, replied with advice: Work at as many summer camps as you can, get in position to make an impression on as many coaches as you can.

This led Wolf to become seventh grade coach at Sayre for Ted Hall. Then he became junior varsity coach.

Marquette Coach Buzz Williams — the only coach to reply to a Wolf email with a hand-written note — hired Wolf as graduate assistant for the 2012-13 season. Two years later, when Williams moved to Virginia Tech, he retained Wolf on his staff.

Wolf has previous experience working in Rupp Arena. He was a staff member for the Marquette team that played first- and second-round NCAA Tournament games here in 2013.

Of the game at Kentucky, he said, “It’s an unbelievable and unique experience for me.”

PG warning

Tech point guard Justin Robinson, who will be making his 63rd career start Saturday, made an impression on Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy. Robinson had 13 points and eight assists in an 83-80 overtime victory against the Rebels on Dec. 2.

“You can’t really speed him up . . . ,” Kennedy said. “We didn’t do nearly as good a job (as needed) of just containing Robinson.”

Robinson is averaging 9.9 points, shooting “only” 45.8 percent from three-point range and enjoys a better than two-to-one assist-to-turnover ratio (58 assists, 23 turnovers).

Ole Miss also struggled when Virginia Tech went small. Chris Clarke, a 6-6 junior, played center when Kerry Blackshear Jr., was out of the game.

“It really causes a matchup (problem) because of his ability to facilitate off the bounce,” Kennedy said.

Clarke had 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists against Ole Miss.

Rebounding rub

Virginia Tech has started only one player taller than 6-5 all season. Opponents have grabbed 33 more offensive rebounds than the Hokies.

UK has rebounded 41.5 percent of its missed shots.

Hence Williams said, “The things we’ve been really poor at thus far through 10 games are things Kentucky . . . may be the best in the country at. That will be the rub on Saturday.”

The Virginia Tech coach also said of rebounding, “That will be our struggle, not only against Kentucky. I think that will be our struggle from this point forward.”

Calipari said Virginia Tech was good enough to play a full-court game and not to have to sag its defense into the lane. Williams suggested otherwise.

“The only chance you have at beating Kentucky is limiting their second shots,” the Virginia Tech coach said, “and doing everything possible regardless of your scheme to try to force them to take shots outside the paint.”

Injury update

Calipari said he believed Quade Green (poke in eye against Monmouth) and Sacha Killeya-Jones (ankle) would play against Virginia Tech.

As for Jarred Vanderbilt, the UK coach again said he would not play the freshman forward until he could “compete at a high level.”

Logo engraved

Virginia Tech freshman Nickeil Alexander-Walker said he knew about UK’s history of basketball success. UK had “engraved its logo into college basketball,” he said.

Alexander-Walker said he attended a UK game with his cousin last season shortly after they played in the Marshall County Hoop Fest.

Rupp experience

Williams led Marquette to victories over Davidson and Butler in Rupp Arena as part of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. The latter was Brad Stevens’ last game as Butler coach.

“As good an environment, in my opinion, as there is in the country,” Williams said of Rupp Arena, “but I think it’s comparable to other places in our league.”

Etc.

Dan Shulman and Dick Vitale will call the game for ESPN2.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Kentucky-Virginia Tech game will make a dream come true."