I was confident in Kentucky’s chances against Tennessee and they won by 17. A big factor being Tennessee not playing a ranked team since Dec 10th. Since Tennessee’s win over Gonzaga that day, Vols have zero KenPom top-25 wins, Cats now have seven in that same span (including UT). Let’s take a look and analyze Kentucky’s statement win over the #1 team in the country.
PJ Washington has a shot at SEC Player of the Year
Anyone watching the game could see that PJ Washington was the best player on the floor and exposed Grant Williams who was pegged preseason SEC player of the year. In 7 of the last 8 games, Washington has scored 20 or more points and is averaging 21.0 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 1.4 apg, and 1.3 bpg on 55.4% FG and 50% 3P. PJ Washington’s recent performances are proof that he made the best decision to come back for his sophomore year. PJ is playing like one of the best bigs in the country and his performance against #1 Tennessee definitely improved his case for national awards.
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This is NOT the Typical Calipari Team
Coming into the season and we knew this was a team that had a chance to be special and they showed that on the biggest stage against the #1 team in the country. Most Cal teams are stereotyped as “young and soft”. However, this team has experienced bigs that were not afraid of Tennessee’s physicality. From the tip, Kentucky was prepared to bully Tennessee and did just that outrebounding Tennessee by 13.
Ashton Hagans Broke Through the Freshman Wall
Calipari has talked about the metaphorical Freshman wall that many freshmen at Kentucky hit during the season. Hagans appeared to hit that wall three games ago as he was averaging 4.7 ppg, 4.7 apg, 1.7 rpg, and 3 TOpg along with 38.5% FG and 20% 3P. Hagans regained his aggressiveness against Tennessee with a 9 pts, 7 ast, 2 reb, 1 TO, and 50% FG performance. For this team to reach its peak performance, Hagans needs to be a leader that can defend the perimeter and is aggressive and efficient on the offensive end, and that’s just what Hagans was last night.
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Tyler Herro Showcases He Is More Than a Shooter
Coming into the season we anticipated Tyler Herro to be one of the premier shooters on this years team. While that has been the case (35.5% 3P, 45.5% FG, 91.8% FT) he has shown that he is much more than a shooter. Herro is second on the team in assists and steals with 2.3 apg and 1.0 spg, showing that he is able to distribute the ball and although not amazingly quick, he has the ability to get into passing lanes. As a 6-5 guard he rebounds and gets after it on the boards, averaging 4.0 rpg on the season, Herro finished the game with a quiet double-double with 15 pts and 13 reb.
This Team Still Has Room to Grow
Although more experienced than most Kentucky teams under Calipari, this team is still young with five freshmen (six if you count Baker as a redshirt freshman). Since losing to Duke by 34 points on opening night, Kentucky has clawed their way back into the national championship conversation, and deservingly so. Kentucky is currently ranked 14th in offensive efficiency and 7th in defensive efficiency (only 6 teams ranked in top-20 in each category). Kentucky looked very impressive and received positive contributions from each player. However, Kentucky still showed room for improvement when allowing Tennessee to go on a 13-0 run in 2 1/2 min to cut the lead to 10 as they made plenty of mental mistakes and showed a struggle with the zone. Trust in Cal as he always has his best product on the floor come March!
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Team Stats
Box Score
Beating the #1 team in the country by 17 points, it has been a great weekend for the Big Blue Nation. GO C-A-Y-T-S!
In recent seasons, Kentucky has struggled to find players to make plays when they need it most. That hasn’t always been the case, some examples of players that had the ability to make a play to secure a win include: Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and John Wall among others.
Well speaking of some of the players I just mentioned, former Kentucky guard and current student assistant Tyler Ulis recently joined the Sources Say podcast and talked about how great this team can be this upcoming year.
Ulis calls this year’s team “pure hoopers”.
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“They’re basketball players. Hoopers. Pure hoopers, all of them. And they love the game,” Ulis said. “How me and Devin (Booker) were in the gym, me and Zay (Briscoe), me and Jamal (Murray), that’s what these guys are doing. They all want to get better — scared to fail, scared not to make it. That’s what shows they want to be great.”
As what defines a pure hooper, according to Ulis. “Anyone can make a play, anyone can get in the lane, anyone can knock a shot down,” Ulis said. “We have so many options and so much depth, it’s hard not to have fun with this team.”
With the new roster and additions to the coaching staff, the goal is for Kentucky to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament this year. As for Ulis, he is excited to see what this year’s team can do.
“I can’t say it enough: I’m extremely excited to see how this goes. We’re deep with a lot of players, and they’re skilled.”
Earlier this week the Kentucky basketball team caught an unexpected shot. From who? The Texas women’s basketball team. On Tuesday, the Longhorns’ social media team tweeted a video of Drake, a professed Kentucky fan, coming to visit campus and the team.
However the caption is what caught people’s attention, “we don’t have to go to Drake’s house… he comes to ours,” Clearly trying to throw a shot at Kentucky for visiting Drake’s Toronto mansion back in July, during the team’s trip to Canada for GLOBL Jam.
It didn’t take long for the Big Blue Nation to respond, as just 12 minutes later the Tweet’s caption was edited to say “thanks for stopping by🤘”.
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That being said, let’s not act like Drake made a specific trip just to visit the Texas Longhorns, he was in Austin for a stop in his music tour. Not to mention that Drake has attended multiple Kentucky games and events.
Texas will soon be in the SEC, and maybe Drake will be there in Kentucky gear to set the record straight.
One of the top players in the class of 2024, Tre Johnson recently made the move to Link Academy in search of high-level competition on a big stage, which is a reason he says is why he will wait until the Spring before making a decision.
The top five guard possesses all of the scoring tools, and is a player that Kentucky really wants. He still has a few visits to take, with Alabama and Arkansas visits coming soon, plus another visit to Kansas, and another visit to Baylor. Johnson previously visited Kentucky back in late January.
Johnson has a final list of Kentucky, Baylor, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, and pro options. The Wildcats are rumored to be a top-three option long with Baylor and Texas. This delay may give Kentucky a better chance. With that said, he is not in a big rush to decide, as he is more focused on getting acclimated to his new home at Link Academy, as well as improving as a player.
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Tre Johnson is one of the best pure scorers in all of high school basketball, and is certainly being prioritized by multiple top schools. Current intel suggests that Baylor and Kentucky are the top contenders, but with him pushing back his decision, there is more time to tell.