Final: Kentucky basketball 81, Germany 73 in GLOBL JAM 2023 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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It might be the middle of July, but BBN gets a sneak preview of Kentucky basketball 2023-24 when the Wildcats take on Germany in a first-round game of GLOBL JAM 2023 in Toronto.
John Calipari’s team features eight new faces, including six freshmen. (A seventh freshman, Aaron Bradshaw, is back in Lexington rehabbing after surgery for a broken foot.) The Wildcats will be facing older, more experienced players in the round-robin event which also features teams from Canada and Africa.
Our Ben Roberts is in Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter at @BenRobertsHL. You can follow me on Twitter at @johnclayiv. Mark Story has the details on how you can watch Wednesday’s game.
You can follow a UK basketball Twitter list here.
Kentucky basketball roster for 2023-24
Final: Kentucky 81, Germany 73
Kentucky defeats Germany 81-73 in GLOBL JAM
Antonio Reeves scored 24 points and Tre Mitchell added 20 points as Kentucky defeated Germany 81-73 in the opening game of GLOBL JAM 2023 in Toronto.
D.J. Wagner aded 16 points for the Wildcats, who forced 22 turnovers by the Germans.
“We made some shots in the second half,” UK coach John Calipari said. “Tre (Mitchell) hit those threes.”
Kentucky plays Canada at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Read Ben’s game story from the Wildcats’ victory.
Kentucky extends lead over Germany through three quarters
Kentucky outscored Germany 25-16 to take a 64-52 lead after three quarters in the opening game of GLOBL JAM 2023.
Antonio Reeves (20) and Tre Mitchell (16) combined for 36 points for the Cats, who went 5-of-8 from three-point range in the third quarter.
Mitchell hit a pair of three-pointers early in the third quarter, the second of which put Kentucky up 47-42 with 7:18 left in the quarter. A Reeves’ three made it 50-45 Cats at 6:50. Mitchell hit another three to make it 54-45 with 5:37 left in the quarter.
Kentucky starts hitting three-pointers in third quarter
After Kentucky went 3-for-12 from three-point range in the first half, UK coach John Calipari said during his halftime interview he’d like to see the Wildcats make some more threes.
Request answere. Tre Mitchell hit a pair of three-pointers early in the first quarter. Then Antonio Reeves buried a triple for a 50-45 lead over the Germans with 6:50 left in the quarter.
Kentucky leads Germany 39-36 at halftime
Antonio Reeves led the way with 13 points as Kentucky held a 39-36 lead over Germany at halftime in the opener of GLOBL Jam 2023.
Reeves was 4-of-10 from the floor, including 2-of-5 from three-point range. Defensively, UK forced 13 German turnovers in the first half. UK’s Adou Thiero had a big blocked shot right before halftime.
Kentucky went on a 16-2 run for a 35-28 lead before Germany jumped back in front 37-35 on a Jonas Mattiseck three-pointer. Germany was 8-of-17 from three-point range over the first 20 minutes..
UK obviously missed injured big men Ugonna Onyenso and Aaron Bradshaw around the rim.
Kentucky was 1-of-8 from three-point range with 6:04 left in the quarter but finished 3-of-12 from beyond the stripe in the first half.
Kentucky and Germany tied at end of first quarter
Germany put together a 10-0 run to take a 17-15 lead before UK’s Rob Dillingham scored with 18 seconds left to tie the game at the end of the first period of the GLOBL JAM opener.
Kentucky was 7-of-21 from the floor over the first 10 minutes while Germany was 5-of-16. The Germans turned it over seven times.
UK led 15-9 with 3:13 left in the quarter before Germany went on its run. Patrick and Delow each with five points for Germany.
Kentucky takes early lead over Germany
Thanks to forcing multiple turnovers, Kentucky leads Germany 8-5 midway through the first quarter.
D.J. Wagner leads the Wildcats with four points. Aduo Thiero has three after a fast break basket and an and-one. Antonio Reeves hit one of two free throws.
Germany’s Patrick has all five points for the UK opponent. Germany has made just two of seven shots and has turned it over four times.
Kentucky’s starters for game with Germany
Here are Kentucky’s starters for Wednesday’s game:
▪ D.J. Wagner - Freshman guard from New Jersey, ranked as high as No. 4 by 247Sports for Class of 2023.
▪ Antonio Reeves - Fifth-year guard who was UK’s second-leading scorer last season.
▪ Tre Mitchell - Senior transfer from West Virginia who averaged 11.7 points and 5.5 rebounds last season.
▪ Adou Thiero - Sophomore forward who averaged 2.3 points in 20 games last season.
▪ Justin Edwards - Freshman forward ranked as high as No. 3 by 247Sports for Class of 2023.
Ugonna Onyenso out for Wednesday’s game
On Tuesday, Kentucky scrimmaged against the team from Africa as a prep for the opening of the tournament on Wednesday. There were reports that UK center Ugonna Onyenso injured his ankle in the closed scrimmage.
On Wednesday, Kentucky Coach John Calipari confirmed the injury and said the 6-foot-11 sophomore would miss the opening game against Germany.
Kentucky is already without freshman big man Aaron Bradshaw, who underwent a medical procedure after injuring his foot in the McDonald’s All-American game. The 7-foot Bradshaw did not make the trip to Canada. He’s back in Lexington rehabbing the injury.
Ben Roberts wrote about Onyenso’s development.
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 12:00 AM.
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