Men's Basketball

Analyst Says DJ Wagner Has Grown Significantly Off The Court

Published

3 years ago

July 26, 2023

DJ Wagner and the Kentucky Wildcats playing against Team Germany at GLOBL JAM

UK Athletics

Being one of the prized recruits of the 2023 recruiting class and an expected Top 10 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, there are high expectations for DJ Wagner. Coming to Kentucky, he has had to make some changes both on and off the court and Rivals basketball analyst, Krysten Peek, has been following Wagner’s development for years and talked to fellow Kentucky media member Larry Vaught.

Getting Used to Sharing the Basketball

Wagner has long been a ball-dominant player, but now that he’s teaming up with other high-level guards like Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, Peek claims that there will be some “growing pains”. A large part of that will be learning to play an off-the-ball role in certain situations.

That is not because Wagner isn’t good enough to lead Kentucky, but because the talent and versatility around him feature NBA-level guys as well. Peek has noted that since Wagner’s commitment to Kentucky in November, he has grown more comfortable playing off the ball to close out his senior season, and even in postseason all-star games, such as the McDonald’s All-American Game.

At GLOBL JAM, Wagner showed that improvement off-the-ball. While Wagner is undoubtedly more comfortable when he has the ball and is in control, he also showed the ability to catch and shoot (specifically in the corner), cut effectively, and make good reads for the hockey assist.

The Biggest Area of Growth: Handling the Spotlight

With that said, Peek says that Wagner’s on-court adjustments isn’t his biggest area of growth, that has taken place off the court. “DJ’s biggest growth in his game has been off the court. He is really good at talking to the media now, and that wasn’t always true,” Peek said.

“I even asked him recently about the brawl that ended his high school team’s season and he had an answer (and a great answer) about how every time you step on the court, you have to learn positives and negatives from it.”

Coming to a place like Kentucky, everything is magnetized and scrutinized, something Peek says he is prepared for. “That to me is the biggest area of growth in DJ for me. He’s going to have a lot of NIL deals and he’s much more comfortable in front of the camera,” Peek said,

“He is going to be okay at Kentucky where everything he does will be watched and scrutinized. But I really think he’s ready for that part of his career now, too.”

Considering that Wagner has been labeled as a future star since a very young age, and that he comes from a family of NBA pedigree from his father and grandfather, has had the pressure to succeed. According to Peek, he is primed for his freshman season at Kentucky, even when he inevitably hits adversity.

Read Krysten Peek’s comments on DJ Wagner for yourself here.

Men's Basketball

Kentucky’s Otega Oweh Selected No. 41 Overall in Second Round of the NBA Draft

Published

8 hours ago

June 24, 2026

Kai McClelland

Photo via Tristan Pharis

It’s sad to say goodbye to a superstar, a player who always had the ball in his hands when the clock ticked away, created countless memories and who’s name will always carry weight in any given conversation.

That superstar is Kentucky’s Otega Oweh, with his dream to play professional basketball coming true on the night of Wednesday, June 24.

Selected with the No. 41 overall pick, the Miami Heat originally had rights to Oweh but would quickly move him to the Oklahoma City Thunder via trade.

The New Jersey native was a standout player in the NBA Combine in May, leaving behind an impressive body of work at Kentucky with 1,255 career points as a Wildcat. Oweh will more than likely be a two-player under league contract, but members of the Big Blue Nation know very well that he’s the type of personality to fight his way to the top.

Joining former Wildcats Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cason Wallace, Oweh will now be the third member of the team to go from the bluegrass to the bright lights of the NBA.

The 6-foot-5 guard is now Mark Pope’s fourth draft pick ever, joining teammates Koby Brea (No. 41, Suns, 2025), Amari Williams (No. 46, Celtics, 2025) and Jayden Quaintance (No. 20, Spurs, 2026).

Men's Basketball

Mark Pope Compares Justin McBride to Former Kentucky Star

Published

19 hours ago

June 24, 2026

Tristan Pharis

Mark Pope says Justin McBride gives him "Julius Randle vibes." The James Madison transfer has shed 10+ lbs and is a Kentucky basketball early surprise.

UK Athletics

The Kentucky basketball team started practicing earlier this month, and one of the biggest surprise performers thus far has been James Madison transfer Justin McBride. One reason for that is the offseason work he has put in before arriving in Lexington.

McBride, who previously played for Oklahoma State, Nevada, and most recently, James Madison, is listed at 6’8 and 250 pounds on Kentucky’s roster list. Those listed numbers are bigger than any of his previous stops, but he is currently in the best shape of his career.

According to one source, McBride has lost 10-12 pounds of fat from his top playing weight at James Madison. That has allowed him to be more mobile in practice, a pleasant surprise to what the staff was expecting of him coming in.

Mark Pope had a comparison for McBride in a ‘Mark Pope vs. the Shot Clock’ segment on UK Sports Network.

“Julius Randle vibes, seriously,” Pope said.

Randle was the SEC Rookie of the Year and an All-American in his one season at Kentucky, so high praise for McBride. However, Pope is not comparing McBride to Randle in terms of talent, but in terms of style.

McBride grades excellent as a catch-and-shoot guy in analytics, shooting 40% from deep last season, an ability that Randle has shown in the NBA. Also similar to Randle, he can use his size to get to his spots in the paint and muscle his way for a rebound.

Having a bully-ball kind of player, who is also efficient from three-point range, is a welcome addition for a Kentucky program that has struggled with physicality in recent seasons.

Mark Pope vs. the Shot Clock ⏱️

Meet your 2026 @KentuckyMBB team in 30 seconds pic.twitter.com/NLexvGpySl— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) June 23, 2026

Also posted on A Sea of Blue.

Men's Basketball

Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance Drafted First Round by the San Antonio Spurs

Published

1 day ago

June 23, 2026

Kai McClelland

Brett Davis | IMAGN Images

It’s every kids dream to play professionally one day, let alone be able to play for the University of Kentucky on the way to the next level.

Although Jayden Quaintance’s time with the Wildcats ended anticlimactically, his NBA dreams have officially come true at just 18 years old.

The Cleveland, Ohio native began his collegiate career with the Arizona State Sun Devils, starting in all 24 games he played in. Before his unfortunate knee injury, Quaintance was good for nearly a nightly double-double, averaging 9.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game to go along with 2.6 blocks a night.

He would transfer to Kentucky ahead of his sophomore season, making his first appearance on Dec. 20 against St. John’s. Finishing the game with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, many members of the Big Blue Nation were confident that their superstar had finally debuted.

Only appearing in three more games for the 2025-26 season, it was quite clear that his eyes were set on playing at the next level, not taking any chances of another injury.

Selecting Quaintance with the No. 20 overall pick, the Spurs have now added on to their elite front court and will likely utilize him as a two-way player. They drafted UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. just six picks later, proving that they plan to utilize some form of paint beast to go alongside superstar Victor Wembanyama.

Quaintance is Mark Pope’s first first-round pick in the NBA Draft ever, following Koby Brea and Amari Williams from Pope’s first season in the bluegrass, who both went early in the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft.