Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s exhibition win over Kentucky State
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Game day: No. 4 Kentucky 111, Kentucky State 53
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Thursday night’s men’s basketball exhibition game between Kentucky and Kentucky State in Rupp Arena.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 111-53 win over Kentucky State in an exhibition game on Thursday night at Rupp Arena:
1. This was a game played under difficult circumstances
Not only was Kentucky missing a pair of injured starters in Oscar Tshiebwe and Sahvir Wheeler, but the Cats are in the process of dealing with the unexpected death of Daimion Collins’ father this week. Collins was not with the team Thursday night. He’s back at home in Texas taking care of family.
After the game, John Calipari talked extensively about having to inform both Daimion and his mother about the death of Ben Collins, who passed away Tuesday in Lexington at the age of 43. Ben Collins had been in the gym with his son the night before and on the phone with his wife before passing away.
“I feel for Daimion,” Calipari said. “I worry about him.”
Calipari said he has had teammates over to his house to help deal with the situation. The coach said he had a parent of one of Collins’ teammates call and ask the coach to take care of his son because “he’s never been through something like this before.”
Calipari also said he asked the team if it wanted to play this exhibition game. The team said it did.
“There’s not really anything you can say,” said the coach. “It’s how can we help? What can we do?”
2. The second exhibition was much better than the first
After UK’s less than impressive 56-38 victory over Missouri Western State last Sunday, the Cats looked much improved on Thursday in their second shot. In fact, this was more like it, more of what we expected to see in that exhibition opener.
Kentucky rolled to a 61-25 halftime lead over the Thorobreds. The Cats ended up shooting an even 50 percent from the field and made 12 of 26 three-point shots after making just seven of 22 from behind the line against Missouri Western State. Antonio Reeves was 5-of-10 from three on the way to a game-high 23 points. CJ Fredrick was 3-of-5 from three.
“Tonight we made shots,” Calipari said afterward. “The other night we didn’t make shots.”
Also on Sunday, the Cats didn’t rebound. In fact, they were outrebounded 36-35 by their Division II opponents. Thursday night, Kentucky dominated the boards 57-38. Newcomer Ugonna Onyenso grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Lane Ware snatched nine off the glass. Jacob Toppin collected six rebounds to go with his 21 points.
The Cats also blocked 11 Kentucky State shots. Onyenso blocked four shots and Ware blocked three as both picked up some valuable playing time with Tshiebwe on the bench.
3. What’s the injury situation for the opener?
With the two exhibition games in the books, Kentucky opens the regular season on Monday against Howard at 6:30 p.m. The SEC Network has the television coverage.
Calipari said Thursday he would be “stunned” if Tshiebwe plays Monday. The coach said he would be “somewhat surprised” if the reigning National Player of the Year, who is coming off knee surgery, is ready to play next Friday when the Cats face Duquesne at Rupp. After that, Kentucky faces Michigan State on Nov. 15 in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.
Calipari said he did not know the status of Wheeler, who injured his leg in the exhibition game on Sunday. In Wheeler’s place Thursday, Cason Wallace was credited with five assists. Fredrick had a game-high six assists for the Cats, who finished with 19 on the night.
“Now, with all that’s happening, it’s going to take a little more time,” Calipari said of the injuries, admitting that with the two starters out, “We’ve got to see some stuff.”
We should see some more stuff come Monday.
This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 11:33 PM.
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