Kentucky basketball rides a ‘small ball’ style to win over Germany in GLOBL JAM opener
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Kentucky at the 2023 GLOBL JAM
Click below to read all of the coverage from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com from the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team’s gold-medal winning performance in Canada.
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The lineup didn’t look anything like it will when the real basketball season begins, and these young, inexperienced Kentucky Wildcats clearly have plenty to work on, but UK managed to tip off the GLOBL JAM with a rather impressive victory Wednesday afternoon.
Antonio Reeves scored 24 points, fellow college veteran Tre Mitchell added 20 points, and freshman phenom D.J. Wagner tallied 16 to lead the Cats to an 81-73 win over Germany, which might be Kentucky’s top competition at the international tournament this week.
The Mattamy Athletic Centre, with a capacity of about 3,000 for basketball games, was about half full for Kentucky’s opener in the GLOBL JAM, a FIBA-affiliated showcase that will see the Wildcats play Canada on Thursday and Africa on Saturday before a final medal game Sunday.
Those in attendance — most of them wearing UK apparel — got an early glimpse at John Calipari’s next team, a group featuring the nation’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and a roster that could include multiple lottery picks in next year’s NBA Draft.
UK was playing without big men Aaron Bradshaw (foot) and Ugonna Onyenso (ankle), forcing Calipari to play more of a “small ball” style in the GLOBL JAM opener.
The Wildcats started running immediately, looking for every opportunity to get in transition, be it pushing the pace after a defensive rebound or trying to turn steals into fast-break buckets. UK’s halfcourt defense was porous at times — to be expected from a young group with only a few weeks together as a team — and most of the Cats struggled to make outside shots, but Kentucky largely played an entertaining brand of basketball in Wednesday’s opener.
Reeves, the Cats’ top backcourt scorer last season, carried that over into the summer by showing off his versatile offensive game. Mitchell, a recent transfer from West Virginia, went 4-for-6 from three-point range despite playing the “5” role, proving to be another versatile player with experience.
Other than those fifth-year players, the Cats relied on five freshmen and a sophomore (Adou Thiero) who played relatively little last season.
Thiero took advantage of a bigger role in Wednesday’s game, using his athleticism and increased physicality to mix it up with the taller German players. He had nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
Wagner was the most impressive of the freshmen, hitting his first three shot attempts and getting to the basket at will. He finished with 16 points and six assists. Fellow projected NBA lottery pick Justin Edwards struggled offensively, but he also showed an ability to create scoring opportunities for himself and helped in other ways (a team-high nine rebounds plus three assists).
Freshman guard Rob Dillingham was the Cats’ sixth man Wednesday, and he kept German defenders on their heels with his array of dribble moves and quick-burst scoring potential. Reed Sheppard provided energetic defense and unselfish passing off the bench (six assists to tie Wagner for tops on the team). And fellow freshman Jordan Burks — a 6-9 guard who was pressed into duty at the “5” spot — managed to elicit the biggest roar of the game from UK fans with an alley-oop finish in the second half.
Kentucky had 24 assists and just 13 turnovers, while Germany committed 22 turnovers and shot just 35 percent from the field. The Cats led by double figures for most of the second half before a late German flurry narrowed UK’s advantage in the final minutes.
The German squad featured a pair of 7-footers and several players that play professionally at that country’s highest level, as well as a couple of Division I college players in America.
All four teams in the event played in closed-door scrimmages Tuesday — the Cats beat Africa in theirs — and the Herald-Leader was told by those in attendance that Germany looked like it would be Kentucky’s most formidable competition of the week.
If that’s the case, Wednesday’s showing was a positive one for Calipari’s Wildcats, a team that is overwhelmingly light on college experience.
Ugonna Onyenso injured
Kentucky center Ugonna Onyenso did not play in the team’s GLOBL JAM opener Wednesday after suffering an ankle injury in a win over Africa during a closed scrimmage Tuesday afternoon. UK Coach John Calipari tweeted Wednesday morning that the 6-11 sophomore would be unable to play against Germany. He did not specifically rule him out for the Wildcats’ three games later in the tournament, but Calipari did say on his pregame radio show that it was unlikely Onyenso would be able to play during the event.
Onyenso walked into the arena less than an hour before the scheduled tip-off time Wednesday, wearing a large boot on his left ankle and using two crutches. He moved slowly and gently from the entrance to the tunnel leading back to the UK locker room, not giving the appearance of a player who was likely to play this week.
Calipari said Wednesday morning that Onyenso had six blocked shots in the scrimmage against Africa before leaving the court with the injury. The second-year UK player is expected to be a shot-blocking force for the Cats during the 2023-24 season after playing sparingly behind Oscar Tshiebwe as a freshman.
UK was already without five-star freshman big man Aaron Bradshaw, who suffered a foot injury in late March and recently underwent a medical procedure. Calipari has not put a clear timetable on Bradshaw’s return to the court.
Kentucky’s starting lineup
By the end of last season, the Wildcats’ starting five of Cason Wallace, Antonio Reeves, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe was well-established.
Obviously, the 2023-24 first five will look much different, with Wallace and Livingston being selected in this year’s NBA Draft and Toppin and Tshiebwe signing free-agent pro deals. Those departures left Reeves as the only UK returnee to play major minutes a season ago.
For Wednesday’s game against Germany, the Wildcats sent out D.J. Wagner, Reeves, Justin Edwards, Adou Thiero and Tre Mitchell to tip things off.
With Onyenso sidelined, Mitchell — a 6-9 power forward — slid into the starting center position, while Thiero, a second-year UK player, played the small-ball “4” role to start the game.
Freshman guard Rob Dillingham was the first UK player off the bench, and he took over point guard duties when Wagner was not on the court.
Kentucky vs. Canada on TV
For game two of this GLOBL JAM trip, the Wildcats will play the host country, with a matchup against Canada’s 23-and-under team coming Thursday night.
The game will be played at 8 p.m. in Toronto, but fans back in the United States won’t be able to watch this one live. CBS Sports Network will air the matchup on a delay at midnight, about two hours after the conclusion of the game.
UK fans can follow the action by listening live (or streaming) with Tom Leach and Jack “Goose” Givens on the call for the UK radio network. (Fans in the Lexington area can catch that broadcast on WLAP-AM 630 or WBUL-FM 98.1.
Kentucky will return to live TV on Saturday with the pool-play finale against Africa. That game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 3:44 PM.
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