Will Kentucky have two 7-footers vs. North Carolina? ‘We’re looking forward to it ...’
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Preview: No. 14 Kentucky vs. No. 9 North Carolina
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday night’s Kentucky-North Carolina men’s basketball game at the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta.
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Two weeks ago, Aaron Bradshaw made his college basketball debut.
Could Ugonna Onyenso make his comeback for Kentucky this weekend against North Carolina?
It sounds like that’s still on track to happen.
John Calipari has been hinting at Onyenso’s return, and the UK head coach said on his weekly radio show Monday that the 7-footer would be back in the Wildcats’ practices this week, expressing hope that he’d make his season debut against the Tar Heels in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday in Atlanta.
UK assistant coach Bruiser Flint met with reporters Thursday in Lexington and talked as if Onyenso would indeed be on the court at some point in the blue-blood matchup. The game against No. 9-ranked UNC will feature a particularly tough battle on the inside, where Tar Heels veteran — and preseason All-America center — Armando Bacot lurks.
Kentucky has already faced one preseason All-America center this season, and Hunter Dickinson went for 27 points and 21 rebounds in Kansas’ 89-84 victory over the Cats. In that game, UK had neither Bradshaw nor Onyenso — both remained sidelined due to offseason foot injuries — and that left 6-9 forward-turned-center Tre Mitchell and UK’s lineup of long guards and wings to deal with the 7-2, 260-pound Dickinson inside.
Will Bacot — at 6-11 and 245 pounds — be able to do something similar Saturday?
“Hopefully we can handle him (better) because we got two guys that can match up against him,” Flint said. “That wasn’t the case against Dickinson. He’s very similar. I think Dickinson is probably a little bit better offensively. But Bacot is very powerful. His game is all power. You’re not going to necessarily see him step out and shoot 3s. It’s going to be all around the basket. He’s going to mush you a little bit. And we gotta do a good job against him. We can’t let him control the game by just outphysical-ing us. I think that’s a big part of it with him.”
Flint also noted that Bacot runs the floor well, and UNC loves to run, bringing one of the nation’s highest-scoring offenses into Saturday’s game, where the Heels will meet a similarly skilled offensive team in Kentucky.
Onyenso is in his sophomore season with UK but played sparingly down the stretch as a freshman. Over the final two months of the season, he saw the court just once, for three minutes in Kentucky’s 86-54 blowout of Auburn in Rupp Arena.
But Calipari has been quick to praise Onyenso’s work ethic and potential at every turn, hyping his ability to be one of college basketball’s best big men this season. That was before he sustained a foot injury the day before the Cats began play in the GLOBL JAM tournament in Canada in July. He underwent a medical procedure a few days after that and had been sidelined from then until this week.
“Ugonna was really good yesterday. He really was,” UK assistant Chuck Martin said on the “Behind Kentucky Basketball” podcast Wednesday. “He looks healthy, he looks strong. He looked really good defensively — in pick-and-roll coverage — considering he hasn’t done anything in three or four months.”
Throwing Onyenso into the mix against North Carolina and Bacot, who will be making his 141st college start Saturday, is quite the tall task. What are the realistic expectations, if he does play?
“That’s a good question, because we don’t know ourselves,” Flint said Thursday.
“He’s been pretty good in practice. Ugo played last year — I think it helps him a little bit more than Aaron just coming in his first year — so Ugo has a pretty good idea of what we’re doing and what we’re asking him to do. He’s been good this week. We’re looking forward to getting him out there. I think he brings a different presence, in terms of physicality and, again, defense. That’s the thing he does: defensive rebounding.
“So we’re looking forward to it just as much as you guys are. … He’s a kid that picks up things pretty quickly, and he’s got some experience. He was here last year, so he understands a lot of the stuff we’re trying to do.”
Flint noted the importance of the debut of Bradshaw, who played 13 uneven minutes in UK’s stunning loss to UNC Wilmington on Dec. 8 before taking a star turn in the Wildcats’ victory over Penn on Saturday in Philadelphia. In that game, Bradshaw — sidelined since late March — scored 17 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots to lead the Wildcats, who had struggled mightily with rebounding and had little rim-protecting presence before his debut.
Onyenso played only 110 total minutes as a freshman, but he had 16 blocked shots in that time, including four games with three-plus blocks in the first three weeks of the season.
Kentucky’s other 7-footer, freshman Zvonimir Ivisic, is still waiting on word from the NCAA regarding his amateur status. He is practicing with the Wildcats until a final judgment on his eligibility for this season arrives.
Flint said getting Bradshaw in against UNCW — plus the extra week of practice between that loss and the Penn game — helped him get acclimated and put him in a better position to excel against the Quakers.
Onyenso will jump into a tougher spot Saturday, if he does indeed get on the court, but the Cats will have just two games — Louisville on Dec. 21 and Illinois State on Dec. 29 — between then and the SEC opener at Florida on Jan. 6.
That time will be packed with practices, which should help Onyenso transition back into playing shape and give his UK teammates more opportunities to get used to a different lineup.
“It’s not easy,” Flint said. “Because you’re used to playing with certain guys — they do certain things — then, all of a sudden, boom, you throw a couple (new) guys in there. But that’s what practice is about. …
“But it’s still going to take some time.”
No. 14 Kentucky vs. No. 9 North Carolina
What: CBS Sports Classic
When: About 5:30 p.m. Saturday (following a game between Ohio State and UCLA that starts at 3 p.m. on the same court)
Where: State Farm Arena in Atlanta
TV: CBS-27
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 7-2, North Carolina 7-2
Series: North Carolina leads 25-17
Last meeting: Kentucky won 98-69 on Dec. 17, 2021, at the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas
This story was originally published December 14, 2023 at 1:33 PM.
