Checking in on the future Kentucky big man who ‘outplayed’ the nation’s No. 1 recruit
The buzz on one of John Calipari’s future big men could not have been better coming out of this past weekend’s Hoophall Classic, arguably the top showcase on the national high school calendar.
Lance Ware — a 6-foot-9 power forward — played all 32 minutes and tallied 18 points, 14 rebounds and four steals to lead Camden (N.J) to a 61-59 victory over nationally ranked Rancho Christian (Calif.), a team that features its own highly touted post player: Southern Cal signee Evan Mobley, a 7-footer and the No. 1-ranked recruit in the 2020 class.
Mobley finished the game with a respectable 14 points and 10 rebounds, but it was Ware who scored the victory … and the positive press clippings that followed, a few suggesting that the Kentucky signee had “outplayed” the country’s No. 1 recruit.
Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans was in the building for Saturday’s game, and he didn’t dispute the notion that Ware had gotten the better of the matchup.
“Yeah, he outplayed him. I’ll say that,” Evans said. “I’ll also say this: They did a great job of game-planning against Evan. They sent two or three guys at him every time he caught the ball. They pushed him away from the bucket. Every time he turned, he had two guys in front of him. So, the game plan kind of made that happen. But I’m not going to slight Lance, either. Lance brought it. And Lance did what he had to do to kind of get the upper hand.”
Evans has long been a fan of Ware’s game. He says the future Wildcat has never had a poor showing in front of him, even going back to his earlier high school days, before he was ranked as a national recruit. Ware, who signed with UK in the fall, entered those 2020 rankings at No. 47 following his sophomore season. He hovered between the mid-40s and mid-50s for more than a year before jumping 20 spots after a stellar end to this past summer.
Rivals.com ranks him at No. 33 going into the next update, which will come later this month.
Evans said he’s probably the wrong guy to ask about Ware’s progression on the court — “He just never plays bad in front of me,” he said — but he has noticed a change in the 18-year-old’s approach over the past few months.
Brunson’s coaching pays off
This past offseason, former NBA guard Rick Brunson took over as the head coach at Camden, bringing with him both the experience of a pro player and the knowledge of someone who spent several seasons as an NBA assistant coach.
Ware’s Nike league coach, Andy Borman, previously told the Herald-Leader that he noticed an immediate change in the star forward’s mentality after spending some time with Brunson during a summer break from AAU ball. “He was just a different kid,” Borman said. “Things that he had done (some in the past), he was just doing them every single time.”
Evans has also noticed an uptick in both intensity and consistency.
“There’s no lack of toughness with him,” he said. “Rick has done a phenomenal job of getting him to play possession by possession, not taking plays off, and competing and impacting the game on both sides of the floor.
“You’re not going to play for Rick Brunson and not play every possession. That’s the accountability. And, let’s face it, how many five-star guys or top-50 guys are going to be held accountable like that? Because, most of the time, you’re the best player on the team. Rick doesn’t care about that. Rick’s going to play the guys that want to compete and play hard. And Lance is proving that.”
Evans noted the similarities between Ware’s current coach and his future coach, Calipari, who often speaks of effort and isn’t shy to quickly send players from the court to the bench if he feels that effort is lacking.
“So this is exactly what was needed — on Lance’s end — to be prepared for Kentucky,” Evans said.
‘Perfect’ fit for Kentucky?
Evans’ colleague, Rivals national analyst Eric Bossi, was also at Saturday’s game and later wrote that Ware’s “energy will be very welcomed in Lexington” next season.
There’s a whole lot of skill to go with it.
“He’s the kind of guy that Cal wants and likes,” Evans said. “He’s the kind of player that can have the ball thrown into him in the short corner and the high post and the low-block area. He can make the pass. He can shoot it. He can score over his right shoulder. He’s skilled. He has a feel. He’s tough. … So there’s definitely a lot to be excited about.”
Like 2020 classmate Isaiah Jackson — the Wildcats’ other frontcourt signee for next season — Ware has been described as a team-first competitor who isn’t too preoccupied with his line in the final box score. He’s certainly a game-changer on the court, but he was averaging just 10.6 points per game going into the weekend. “He’s not like some other guys that are all about stat-chasing,” Evans said.
And, as both players continue to progress and scouts get more and more looks at them, it’s becoming even more apparent that Ware and Jackson could complement each other very well in Kentucky’s frontcourt next season.
“Defensively, they’re perfect together,” Evans said. “Isaiah is the rover that can guard near the bucket and is an elite shot-blocker away from it. Lance has good feet — he can guard away from the bucket as well. And that kind of fits into what Cal wants: multi-positional defenders that can guard a ball screen, can hedge, can recover, do all that stuff.
“Offensively, I think they’re even better together. Because Isaiah is still a little bit on the rawer side. And Lance enjoys playing facing the bucket. At the end of the day, that’s what he wants to do. Isaiah can, too, but he’s more of a lob finisher, putback guy, whereas Lance is a lot more refined in the halfcourt.”
