Will tournament time produce a breakout star for Kentucky? ‘I’m just going to be ready.’
A common theme throughout this Kentucky basketball season — and just about any with John Calipari as the head coach, for that matter — has been a simple one: “Be ready.”
It’s a state of mind Calipari always wants in his players that don’t receive ample playing time, and it’s an idea that the UK coach has pushed after just about every game this season, whether those Wildcats he’s directing it at had played or not.
Often, Calipari’s tangents related to this topic come across as attempts to simply keep reserve players working hard or opportunities to publicly express that a little-used player has a bright future at Kentucky, as long as he waits his turn.
This season, however, those scholarship players farther down Kentucky’s bench have had to indeed be ready. Going into the postseason, only two Wildcats — Antonio Reeves and Chris Livingston — have played all 31 games. There have been injuries galore, and several of those have come during games, forcing Calipari to scramble with lineup adjustments and leading to relatively big minutes for players who don’t typically receive them.
With the Cats still hurting as tournament time begins — neither Cason Wallace, Sahvir Wheeler nor CJ Fredrick practiced Monday — the chances for one of those lesser-used players to make a significant splash could still be high.
And March has a funny way of facilitating such breakouts.
Sometimes in the Calipari era, those have come in the form of key contributors playing well above their typical grade. Aside from Brandon Knight’s game-winner, the defining image of Kentucky’s upset win over top-seeded Ohio State in the 2011 NCAA Tournament is Josh Harrellson rifling a ball off the chest of first-team All-American Jared Sullinger. But Harrellson also scored 17 points — his second-most ever as a Wildcat — grabbed 10 rebounds, blocked three shots, went 7-for-9 from the floor and made all three of his free throws in that game.
Similarly, Wenyen Gabriel played significant minutes during the 2017-18 season, but no one could have seen his 7-for-7 performance from three-point range against Alabama in the SEC Tournament coming before it happened.
Other times, those flashes of postseason brilliance come from truly remarkable places.
The best example is Marcus Lee’s dunkfest against Michigan in the 2014 Elite Eight. Lee had 10 points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes after playing just one minute total in UK’s previous three NCAA Tournament games.
In that same tournament, little-used freshman Dominique Hawkins, who hadn’t played more than five minutes in any game in more than two months, logged double-digit minutes as a defensive stopper in tourney wins over Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin, then played seven minutes in the national title game loss to UConn.
More recently, Dontaie Allen went into the 2021 SEC Tournament shooting 2-for-15 from deep over the previous month, then proceeded to hit six three-pointers and score 23 points out of nowhere against Mississippi State, nearly leading the Cats to a victory.
The main rotation is set for this Kentucky team, but — the more games UK plays this postseason — the more likely it is that a player like Adou Thiero or Daimion Collins or Lance Ware or even Ugonna Onyenso could come off the bench and make a major impact on any given night. Obviously, staying ready is the first step.
“You never know when you’re going to play, so if you go into the game ready then you don’t have to get ready if Coach calls your name,” Thiero said.
A freshman who came to Kentucky accustomed to playing major minutes for his high school team, this season has been a stark shift in usage for Thiero, who has gone some weeks without playing at all.
“It’s pretty difficult, because you’ll go a stretch of not playing games and then kind of go into a slump, because you haven’t played,” he said. “But you just gotta stay focused and be ready for the next game, even if you don’t play.”
Thiero’s be-ready approach has paid off following UK’s recent backcourt injuries. He was forced to play a season-high 24 minutes in Saturday’s win at Arkansas, tallying seven points, five rebounds and two assists — all career highs.
When UK’s lesser-utilized players haven’t been playing this season, they’ve been consistently engaged on the bench. Aside from players sitting with injuries and some moments of dejection late in games that the Cats no longer had any chance of winning, the Kentucky bench has typically been a pretty boisterous place.
Ware, a junior forward, is often the most animated.
“I love basketball,” he said. “So just being able to watch and tell guys certain things, or tell Coach something that I see, or to be able to give encouragement or cheers — I’m just a basketball junkie. And when I get in, it’s even better, because I get to play and do my thing.”
At times, Ware has stood up with UK’s coaches, shouting out instructions.
“I do coach a little bit,” he acknowledged, adding that he sees himself as a leader for this UK team, even if he plays fewer minutes than most of his teammates. Calipari has called Ware one of his smartest players at various times over the past three years. For him, staying engaged has never been an issue.
If UK is to make a run in March, it’s likely to be guys like Oscar Tshiebwe, Jacob Toppin, Reeves, Wallace and Livingston leading the charge. But maybe Thiero has a breakout game at an opportune time? Maybe Ware has a flurry of activity at the rim to save the Cats in a tournament game? Maybe Collins goes on a Marcus Lee-like dunkfest or Onyenso plays in a pinch and starts swatting shots?
Stuff like that has happened before.
“I’ve just been going in every game thinking, ‘If I play, I’m gonna go and try to help the team as much as possible.’ So I’m just going to be ready,” Thiero said. “If my name’s not called, I’ll just be on the bench being everyone’s biggest cheerleader. Just being a great teammate. And that’s all I can do. But I’m just going to be ready — whenever I get my chance.”
Friday
Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt
What: SEC Tournament quarterfinals
When: About 9:30 p.m.
Where: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 21-10 (12-6 SEC), Vanderbilt 19-13 (11-7)
Series: Kentucky leads 155-48
Last meeting: Vanderbilt won 68-66 on March 1, 2023, in Lexington
SEC Tournament
At Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
(All times Eastern)
Wednesday
No. 13 seed Ole Miss 67, No. 12 South Carolina 61
No. 14 LSU 72, No. 11 Georgia 67
Thursday
No. 9 Mississippi State 69, No. 8 Florida 68
No. 5 Tennessee 70, No. 13 Ole Miss 55
No. 10 Arkansas 76, No. 7 Auburn 73
No. 6 Vanderbilt 77, No. 14 LSU 68
Friday
No. 1 Alabama 72, No. 9 Mississippi State 49
No. 4 Missouri 75, No. 5 Tennessee 71
7 p.m.: No. 2 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Arkansas (SEC Network)
About 9:30 p.m.: No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 6 Vanderbilt (SEC Network)
Saturday
1 p.m.: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Missouri (ESPN)
About 3:30 p.m.: Texas A&M-Arkansas winner vs. Kentucky-Vanderbilt winner (ESPN)
Sunday
1 p.m.: Championship game (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 6:30 AM.
