Lance Ware brings the energy. And the Cats love it. ‘He’s like the anchor for our team.’
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Game day: No. 4 Kentucky 106, South Carolina State 63
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Thursday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and South Carolina State in Rupp Arena.
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Often overlooked, rarely outhustled, Lance Ware made the most of his minutes Thursday night.
The junior forward has started all four of Kentucky’s games this season, but he’s the first to acknowledge that his role will change once reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe returns to his regular spot as the Wildcats’ starting center.
That transition could come as early as Sunday’s game at No. 2 Gonzaga, but the tuneup for that trip served as another reminder that Ware is ready to bring the energy whenever John Calipari calls his number.
Tshiebwe made his season debut in Tuesday’s double-overtime loss to Michigan State, playing 34 minutes just four weeks after undergoing surgery on his knee. Ware still got the start, however, and he also subbed in for Tshiebwe after the Kentucky star fouled out at the end of the first overtime period.
With Calipari looking to get Tshiebwe some rest between marquee games — he played just 14 minutes in Thursday night’s 106-63 victory over South Carolina State — Ware earned another opportunity at some meaningful playing time.
His final stat line: 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting in 14 minutes. And, yet again, lots of energy.
“It’s awesome, and it always gets me playing harder,” said CJ Fredrick, who led the Cats with 17 points Thursday night. “I love being in the game with Lance. He just plays so hard, so I try to find him anytime I can. When he’s running up and down like he was tonight, I always try to find him. He’s like the anchor for our team, for sure.”
Ware hasn’t always played this way.
The Camden, N.J., native got a relatively late start to his basketball career. He didn’t begin pursuing the sport until he was in seventh grade, and it took some time for Ware to figure things out on the court.
Surprisingly, that nonstop energy that’s become his calling card was late to arrive.
“I used to be really lazy,” he told the Herald-Leader. “Especially when I first started playing. I did not play hard at all. It was something I had to develop.”
It finally started to come late in his sophomore season of high school, going into his junior year.
There were some folks around him who saw the promise, but they also didn’t see much of a basketball future for Ware unless he was able to pick up the intensity.
“I had some conversations with some people that basically told me, ‘You can’t get anywhere in this game … like, there are very, very, very, very, very few players that are really good and they don’t play hard,’” Ware said. “And those are the really super-skilled ones that make it look easy, but they’re actually playing hard. So you have to bring an edge to something in this game, because there’s so many good players, and, surprisingly, not a lot of players play that hard all the time. So if that’s something I can have an advantage on, I’ll do it.”
What prompted Ware to make the change?
“I saw how fun it was,” he said. “Players hate when another player is playing harder than them. Because I was that guy. Especially when I first started playing, I was like, ‘Why is he playing so hard? It’s 9 in the morning, why is he playing so hard?’ And then I turned into that guy. And then it was like, ‘OK, nobody likes to guard me. Nobody likes to play against me, because they already know I’m going to play so hard.’”
On Thursday night — after Ware turned in a career high with those 12 points — Fredrick’s eyes widened when he was told that his teammate used to consider himself a “lazy” player.
“I can’t imagine that,” he said. “No. Everything I’ve seen, he’s the opposite of lazy. He’s just always like an energy bunny. He’s always going.”
Kentucky’s ‘instant spark’
With Tshiebwe on the bench due to a knee injury for UK’s first two games last week, Ware, who averaged just 6.3 minutes per game last season, got some real run at the “5” spot.
And his value to this Wildcats’ team was evident right off the bat. In the opening minute of Kentucky’s first game against Howard, the 6-foot-9, 235-pounder grabbed a rebound, blocked a shot and dived on the floor for a loose ball.
“It just so happened that those three things happened so quickly. But, yeah, just to bring an instant spark,” Ware said of his intended impact. “Whether it’s to start the game, middle of the game — there were plenty of games last year when I got in and the energy changed. I enjoy that. I bring pride to that.”
His game isn’t always pretty. In fact, it’s usually not. He relishes in physical play around the basket, likes to bang with opponents for rebounds and loose balls, admittedly takes joy in getting under other players’ skin with a hard-nosed style. On a roster often filled with five-star recruits, Ware is there to remind opponents that it’s not all flash.
“It’s just playing hard,” he said. “They think that just because they’re playing Kentucky that we’re not just as excited to play them. And that’s not the case. I want to win just as bad as you want to win. You’re fighting for your life, I’m fighting for my life. That kind of thing.”
Calipari said Thursday night that Ware is “way more confident” this season than he has been in the past. He’s said numerous times over the last two weeks that — once Tshiebwe fully returns — those minutes backing him up at the “5” spot will go to whoever is doing what the team needs in the moment.
Freshman center Ugonna Onyenso has been mighty impressive relative to early expectations, but Calipari clearly thought Ware was better equipped to play down the stretch against a physical, gritty Michigan State team Tuesday night. Two days later, Calipari said Ware got more run than Onyenso against South Carolina State because he was sprinting the court, putting himself in position to get baskets, and fighting the Bulldogs for rebounds and loose balls.
“Lance went in and did it,” Calipari said.
Ware will make mistakes on the court. He acknowledges that, too. After Thursday night’s game, he voluntarily raised his own miscues from the Michigan State loss two days earlier. He knows he’s not the same player as Tshiebwe, and he knows that whatever minutes he gets backing him up moving forward will have to be earned. He also knows that the energy he brings to the court is contagious.
After an emphatic dunk in the second half against South Carolina State, one of the referees blew his whistle and signaled a technical foul.
“I thought I got the T,” Ware said. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”
The call was on Jacob Toppin, who’s spent the last three years in UK’s program playing alongside Ware and was so excited by the jam that he started doing the, “You just got dunked on” head-tap motion.
“I guess that’s a technical foul nowadays,” Ware said with a grin.
His stat line rarely jumps off the page, and fans might get frustrated at times by his play, but Ware clearly has his teammates’ adoration. During the preseason, starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler was asked who would step up if Tshiebwe was forced to miss time.
He bristled at the question, asked if the questioner remembered UK’s victory over North Carolina from last season.
“Oscar got two fouls,” Wheeler said. “Lance came in and changed the game. He provided rim-protection. He provided energy.”
And he’ll be around to do it again, whenever he’s asked. That’s the way he likes to play.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said. “I do. I really do.”
Next game
No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Gonzaga
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Spokane (Wash.) Arena
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 3-1, Gonzaga 2-1
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 80-72 on Nov. 27, 2002, at the Maui (Hawaii) Invitational
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 11:29 PM.
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