Will shot-blocking sensation Ugonna Onyenso get more time for Kentucky moving forward?
Oscar Tshiebwe — college basketball’s reigning national player of the year — caught the ball near the block and went to work. His back to the basket — only 18-year-old teammate, Ugonna Onyenso, between him and the rim — Tshiebwe quickly turned and attempted a turnaround hook shot.
Onyenso promptly sent the ball back toward the other end of the court.
At that moment, Kentucky Coach John Calipari called a stop to the scrimmage.
This was two days before the Wildcats defeated Michigan, and the team was practicing in a small gym several miles west of the O2 Arena, the site of Sunday’s game.
The Kentucky coach was already walking from his spot near halfcourt toward the area where Onyenso’s rejection had occurred, and Tshiebwe slowly and dejectedly turned around to face him. The look on his face said the UK star was expecting some criticism to come his way.
Calipari clearly saw the same expression.
“You’re all good,” he told Tshiebwe without breaking stride, turning his gaze on Onyenso.
Then he pointed at the freshman and made an announcement to everyone on the court.
“I gotta start playing him more if he’s doing that s--- right there,” Calipari said.
Tshiebwe hadn’t done anything wrong. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. The shot he put up looked just like countless he had made in the past. It’s a shot that should have been unblockable. And it was, if anyone other than Onyenso had been on the other end of it.
Calipari has said it before this season: Onyenso does things that no one else on this team can do. His college career is just a few games old, but — by the time he leaves Kentucky, whenever that time comes — it’s fair to think that he’ll be doing things no one in the country is capable of.
Two days after that practice, Calipari stuck to his word.
When it came time to give Tshiebwe a breather in the first half, Onyenso was the first one off the bench. And when it came time to sub out the Kentucky star when foul trouble hit in the second half — the game close against a quality opponent — Calipari walked down the sideline and pointed at Onyenso once again.
“Do you think Ugonna should be playing?” the UK coach asked reporters following Kentucky’s victory Sunday night. The question was rhetorical. “Well, of course,” was the answer he was looking for.
Onyenso recorded four points, two rebounds and two blocked shots in seven minutes against the Wolverines, making his only shot from the field. Those numbers aren’t going to jump off the page, but they did represent a shift from Calipari’s previous tendencies.
In the first two games of the season — while Tshiebwe was out with a knee injury — Onyenso and junior forward Lance Ware basically split time at the “5” position. Ware played 41 minutes. Onyenso played 39 minutes.
Calipari said at the time that — when Tshiebwe returned — the bulk of the backup minutes would be divvied out based on matchups and who was playing well. Until Sunday, that wasn’t really the case.
In the four games that followed — when both Onyenso and Ware were available — Ware always got more time on the court. In the Cats’ biggest games during that stretch — against Michigan State and Gonzaga — Ware played 15 and 10 minutes, respectively.
Onyenso played 68 seconds in the double-overtime loss to the Spartans. He played 83 seconds in the loss to Gonzaga. The night before the Cats left for London, he didn’t leave the bench against Bellarmine.
On Sunday, Ware didn’t play at all in the first half. He played exactly 90 seconds in the second half.
Onyenso’s time on the court against Michigan wasn’t extensive, by any means — and it won’t be as long as Tshiebwe stays healthy — but it might be a sign of a breakthrough of sorts for the near-7-footer who just turned 18 years old a few weeks before this season began.
The Nigeria native — by way of the NBA Academy in Africa, with a one-semester stopover at Putnam Science Academy (Conn.) — didn’t join UK’s team until the end of August, a late reclassification from the high school ranks. The delayed arrival caused him to miss the Cats’ trip to the Bahamas earlier that month — what was largely organized as a team-building series of exhibition games — and so he was a relative unknown, even to his teammates, by the time he got on campus.
He clearly endeared himself to his fellow Wildcats rather quickly. The older players smiled when his name was brought up in the preseason. He was affectionately known as “Ugo” to both his teammates and coaches before UK had even played its first game.
But he still started off a step or two behind. He’s done his best to make up for lost time.
Veteran point guard Sahvir Wheeler said Saturday that one standout of the trip to London to that point had been getting to know Onyenso better, marveling at his knowledge of world soccer on the team’s trip to visit the home of Chelsea FC the day before. Calipari talks about Onyenso from week to week as if he’s still seeing new parts of his game and personality.
He makes mistakes, sure, in practice and in games. That’s part of the process.
One reporter noted after Sunday’s victory over Michigan that the Cats defended Wolverines center Hunter Dickinson differently when Onyenso came in for Tshiebwe — and the results didn’t work out in UK’s favor. That wasn’t by design, said Calipari, who explained that the young Wildcat was supposed to make things more difficult for the Michigan star before he got the pass in the post.
“Because if you’re behind, he’s really good at spinning, going baseline quickly — you don’t have a chance to guard him,” he said.
Indeed, Calipari had spent time in Friday’s practice going over this exact topic.
Onyenso, clearly, is still learning.
“But, let me say this,” Calipari finished. “Ugonna impacted the game. … Blocks, rebounds — they’re like, ‘Who is this guy?’”
Those who have watched Kentucky closely know who he is. It’ll probably be a while longer before the rest of college basketball figures it out.
As long as Tshiebwe stays healthy and out of foul trouble, Onyenso is unlikely to get much extended time on the court. The UK star will get his 30ish minutes per game — probably more against the Cats’ toughest opponents — and Ware will still factor into the mix, especially when Calipari needs someone with his grit on the court.
But Onyenso’s future is blindingly bright.
Consider this: he’s played only 11.1 minutes per game to this point, yet he’s averaging 2.1 blocked shots — good enough for 26th nationally. Only one player ahead of him on that list has registered more blocked shots per minute this season: Western Kentucky’s Jamarion Sharp, who leads the nation in the category. And Sharp is three years older than the UK freshman.
So Onyenso will continue to wait, and he’ll surely continue to improve while battling the different looks that Tshiebwe and Ware and Daimion Collins bring at him in practice each day. And, in the meantime, everyone might get a few more glimpses of him as the growth continues.
“You know now that I need to play Ugonna,” Calipari said. “He’s gotta be that other big. And that’s what I’ll do.”
Next game
Yale at No. 16 Kentucky
When: 1 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Yale 8-2, Kentucky 6-2
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0.
Last meeting: Kentucky won 79-58 on Dec. 27, 1961, in Lexington.
This story was originally published December 8, 2022 at 6:30 AM.
