Coming off of a resume-building win against the Michigan Wolverines, the Kentucky Wildcats played their first Saturday home game of the season against the Yale Bulldogs. It was just the second meeting between the two teams, the first since 1961.

From the tip, Kentucky looked fully prepared and had no lack of energy, which translated to the scoreboard. Through five minutes, the Wildcats had scored 15 points on over 55 percent shooting from the floor. Pair this with a defense that forced a disciplined Yale team into making some uncharacteristic mistakes, and Kentucky went up 23-11 at the under-12-minute media timeout.

Yet, the Kentucky offense went stagnant and made just two field goals for a seven-minute stretch. As a result, Yale was able to trim the lead by just three and keep it close for the remainder of the first half, with Kentucky leading 33-27.

With regained confidence, the Bulldogs came out in the second half with eight straight points t take a 35-33 lead. This was a wake-up call, and the Wildcats responded, notably Oscar Tshiebwe who scored 12 straight to give Kentucky a 45-40 lead.

From that point, Kentucky never got closer than four, responding to any Yale attempt to rally back. With ten minutes to go, the Wildcats really started to pull away outscoring Yale to close out the game, outscoring them 16-5 over a six-minute stretch.

In the end, Kentucky walked away with a 69-59 win that they can learn from and help them improve. Let’s take a closer look.

Inconsistent Offense

Against Yale, Kentucky’s offense played as well as they had all season, but only for the first ten minutes.

Through that opening ten-minute stretch, Kentucky scored 25 points and shot over 58% from the field. In that time they were able to play through the offense and score on opportunities early in the shot clock. However, the Wildcats scored just 8 points in the final ten minutes of the half, in large part due to some poor offensive lineups.

In the second half, the only offense was purely Oscar Tshiebwe, as he dominated for scored 22 of the Wildcats’ 36 points, and displayed the dominance he showed last season. While it worked, Kentucky will have to find better ways to generate offense against more talented teams.

The most concerning part, Fredrick-Reeves-Wallace combined for just 13 shot attempts. Outside of Tshiebwe, these three players are Kentucky’s best offensive options. With Tshiebwe able to generate his own offense through rebounding, they should arguably be the first options.

Freshman Day

Cason Wallace has proven himself as one of the best all-around freshmen in the country, and he showed why again on Saturday. In the first five minutes, Wallace scored 8 of Kentucky’s 15 points, including two three-pointers. Those eight points were all that Wallace scored, but he added in 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal.

Wallace wasn’t the only freshman making an impact, as Chris Livingston had one of his better performances of the season. His final stats of 7 points and 2 assists, may not jump the page but he looked much more confident.

With that said, Livingston did have his learning moments and it was comical to watch Toppin substitute in and out for him at those times. However, this game was important for Livingston to help him prepare for a difficult conference schedule and run in the NCAA Tournament.

Oscar Looked Better Than 85% Healthy

After sweeping the National Player of the Year awards and breaking numerous records last season, Oscar Tshiebwe set himself a pretty tall bar. So far this season, he is averaging an impressive 14.2 points and nation-leading 13.5 rebounds, but it is evident that he is missing some quickness and bounce.

On his weekly call-in show on Wednesday, John Calipari talked about Tshiebwe’s health, saying that he is only about “85%” following a preseason knee surgery. On Saturday, he looked to be getting closer to 100%.

The reigning National Player willed Kentucky to a win, being their primary source of offense for the last 25 minutes of the game. Tshiebwe finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, scoring 22 in the second half.

After the game, Tshiebwe said that with his performance he feels like he jumped up to 95%.

Game MVP: Oscar Tshiebwe

Oscar Tshiebwe led the team in five major statistical categories: points (28), rebounds (12), assists (2), blocks (2), and steals (2). Without him, the Wildcats could have very well dropped the game. Need I say more?