Who gets the start for Kentucky? Here’s UK’s first five for season opener vs. Duke.
The college basketball season is finally here, and Kentucky’s first starting lineup of the 2021-22 campaign is set.
The Wildcats’ starting five for the Champions Classic clash with Duke on Tuesday night will be Sahvir Wheeler, TyTy Washington, Kellan Grady, Keion Brooks and Oscar Tshiebwe, the same lineup that John Calipari used for UK’s two exhibition games against Kentucky Wesleyan and Miles College.
UK’s starting five features four players who are new to the program, though Washington is the only freshman in the Kentucky lineup. Wheeler, Grady and Tshiebwe all joined the Kentucky program from the transfer portal earlier this year, with Wheeler and Grady coming to Lexington over the summer from Georgia and Davidson, respectively, and Tshiebwe transferring from West Virginia to UK at the semester break last season.
Brooks — a junior forward — is the only Wildcats player from the 2020-21 season in Tuesday’s starting lineup. He started three of 16 games last season — averaging 10.3 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game — after missing the first part of the season with an injury.
The starting lineup against Duke will not feature returning graduate student guard Davion Mintz, who led the Wildcats in scoring (11.5 points per game), outside shooting (56 made three-pointers) and playing time (30.8 minutes per game) during the 2020-21 season. Mintz started 21 of 25 games for a UK team that went 9-16.
Playing time was pretty evenly distributed over Kentucky’s two exhibition games, with every available scholarship player logging at least 10 minutes per game in both contests. Junior forward Jacob Toppin missed the Kentucky Wesleyan game with an injury, though he played 16 minutes off the bench against Miles College and has earned praise from Calipari since then.
“There are some guys that, when you put them on the stage, they’ll blossom,” Calipari said after that game last Friday. “That you’re not sure about them because in practice. When they get on the stage, they do it. There are other guys that earn the right to get on that stage with how they practiced. But at the end of the day, merit wins out. I mean, Jacob is jumping into the rotation because of his energy, not how he played. The energy, the toughness, the attacking — he’s playing. Now, he only practiced seven days, so it’s all merit based.”
Incoming transfer CJ Fredrick — a former state champion and Sweet Sixteen MVP at Covington Catholic — missed both of the exhibition games with an injury and has been limited in practice in recent days. Calipari implied earlier this week that he would not play against Duke but could return to the court in the near future.
UK has 12 scholarship players this season, with sophomores Dontaie Allen and Lance Ware, and freshmen Daimion Collins and Bryce Hopkins also on the roster. Calipari said at UK’s media day last month that he expects every player on the team to get an opportunity to start at some point this season as he works through his rotation and tries to figure out the best approach to a roster that is incredibly deep.
Washington, a projected NBA lottery pick in 2022 and the No. 14 overall recruit in the 2021 class, led the Wildcats in scoring with a total of 33 points over the two exhibition games. He also logged the most minutes (57) of any UK player during the preseason.
Tshiebwe averaged 11.0 rebounds in just 20.0 minutes per game during the two exhibitions and is expected to be Kentucky’ greatest inside force this season.
UK will play its home opener in Rupp Arena at 7 p.m. Friday against Robert Morris.
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 9:31 PM.
