Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s blowout win over Canada in GLOBL JAM 2023

Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s blowout 93-69 win over host Canada in GLOBL JAM 2023 in Toronto on Thursday:

Reports of an unselfish Kentucky look to be true

During the rounds of player interviews before John Calipari’s Wildcats made the trip north of the border, players gushed about the way the team that had been sharing the basketball during the early practices. The claim was Cats were passing up good shots to pass the ball to a teammate with a better shot.

If these first two games are any indication, the players weren’t lying. After being credited with 24 turnovers in UK’s 81-73 win over Germany on Wednesday, Kentucky was credited with 27 assists on 35 made field goals on the way to crushing Canada.

After being inserted into the starting lineup, freshman guard Rob Dillingham dished out a game-high nine assists. Sophomore forward Adou Thiero contributed five assists. After contributing six assists on Wednesday, freshman guard Reed Sheppard was credited with four assists on Thursday.

The willingness to share helped the winners shoot 48.6 percent from the field. UK made 35 of its 72 shots. The Cats were 11-of-30 from three-point range for 36.7 percent.

Kentucky was again disruptive on defense

Wednesday afternoon, the athletic Cats forced Germany into 22 turnovers. To prove that was no fluke, Kentucky came out and forced Canada into 21 turnovers on Thursday. That’s 43 turnovers committed by UK opponents over two games.

Sheppard led the way with four of UK’s 12 steals. Tre Mitchell, Justin Edwards and Jordan Burks had two steals each.

Wednesday: Germany turned it over on 25.7 percent of its possessions. Thursday: Canada turned it over on 26.1 percent on its possessions.

Canada ended up 28-of-71 from the field for 39.4 percent. The Canadians were just 3-of-18 from three-point range for 16 percent.

Impressive showings for Sheppard and Edwards

Reed Sheppard and Justin Edwards both struggled with their shooting Wednesday, but the freshmen duo bounced back Thursday.

Edwards grabbed nine rebounds but missed six of his eight shots from the floor, including all three of his three-point attempts against Germany. Versus Canada, the 6-foot-9 forward from Philadelphia scored nine points in the second quarter and finished with 16 on the night. Edwards was 5-of-16 from the floor, but was 3-of-8 from behind the arc.

Sheppard contributed six assists, but went 0-for-4 from the floor in the opener on Wednesday. All four of his misses came from behind the three-point line. It was a different story in the second game. Sheppard was 5-of-8 from the floor, including 2-of-4 from three point range on the way to 14 points.

Sheppard also had a late first-half highlight when he blocked a shot, then dunked on the other end.

By the way, Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 23 points. The fifth-year player has scored 47 points in the two games.

This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 10:38 PM.

John Clay

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-472-4218

John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky, he covered UK football from 1987 until being named sports columnist in 2000. He has covered 20 Final Fours and 42 consecutive Kentucky Derbys. Support my work with a digital subscription