Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win over Germany in GLOBL JAM 2023
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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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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 81-73 victory over Germany in the opening game of GLOBL JAM 2023 on Wednesday in Toronto:
1. Veterans Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell lead the way
The old guys got it done. On a team with the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, one that features seven freshmen, it was the veterans — one old, one new — who were the first-game stars for John Calipari’s club.
Fifth-year player Antonio Reeves, in his second season in a UK uniform, scored 24 points to lead all scorers. The second-leading scorer on last year’s Kentucky team, the transfer from Illinois State was 8-of-16 from the floor, including 3-of-7 from three-point range.
Tre Mitchell, the newest Cat on the roster, scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in his UK debut. The transfer from West Virginia didn’t commit to Kentucky until June 26. No problem. Mitchell was 7-of-13 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. The 6-foot-9 forward buried three three-pointers early in the third quarter as UK extended its 39-36 halftime lead over the Germans.
Remember, neither of these players were technically on Kentucky’s roster at the end of May. Reeves had just pulled out of the NBA Draft but had made it clear he wanted to check out other options. He ultimately returned to Lexington. Mitchell was a Mountaineer until WVU Coach Bob Huggins resigned — Huggins now claims he did not resign — after being arrested for DUI in Pittsburgh.
This Kentucky team may rely heavily on the heralded rookies, but there’s no doubt that both Reeves and Mitchell will play important roles.
2. D.J. Wagner impressive in his Kentucky debut
No other Kentucky freshman has received as much preseason publicity as D.J. Wagner, the 6-3 guard from New Jersey with the fabulous bloodlines. Wagner’s father, DaJuan, played for John Calipari at Memphis. Wagner’s grandfather Milt was a star player on Louisville’s 1986 NCAA championship team.
D.J. Wagner was ranked as high as the No. 1 player in the class of 2023 before finishing at No. 6 on the final 247Sports list. There will be a lot of curiosity about how the highly touted Wagner will play this season. There was a lot of curiosity about how Wagner would play in Toronto.
The opening-game reviews were good. Wagner ended up with 16 points. He was 7-of-15 from the floor, including 2-of-5 from three-point range. With a quick first step, Wagner was able to get the ball to the rim against the Germany defense. He was 5-of-10 from two-point range.
Wagner did turn the basketball over five times, but he had six assists, a pair of steals and a pair of blocked shots. He was part of a Kentucky defense that, well, check out takeaway No. 3.
3. Kentucky’s defense disrupted the Germany offense
The pre-Canada book on Kentucky was that the Wildcats would be able to score, but might struggle defensively. After all, there hasn’t been much summer practice time to work on defense. And both of the big men on UK’s roster were unavailable Wednesday. Ugonna Onyenso, the 6-11 sophomore, injured his ankle in a scrimmage against Africa on Tuesday. And Aaron Bradshaw, the 7-foot freshman, was back in Lexington after undergoing surgery on his broken foot.
Turns out a lack of rim protection isn’t a problem if the opponent can’t get the ball to the rim. Kentucky forced the Germans into 22 turnovers, including 13 in the first half on the way to a 39-36 lead.
Kentucky was credited with 10 steals, including two each for Adou Thiero, D.J. Wagner and Reed Sheppard. Justin Edwards, Tre Mitchell, Antonio Reeves and Jordan Burks had one steal each.
Germany was 26-of-74 for 35.1 percent from the floor, including 13-of-41 from three-point range for 31.7 percent. The Germans were 5-of-24 from beyond the arc in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Kentucky made 31 of its 74 shots for 41.9 percent while going 9-of-27 from three for 33.3 percent.
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 5:26 PM.
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