Kentucky basketball’s 92-77 victory over Georgia on Saturday night improved the Wildcats to 12-3. Fifteen games down, 16 to go in the regular season.
So, at the halfway point, more or less, here are five things we think we know about John Calipari’s Cats:
1. This is a very good offensive team
Last year’s 9-16 team ranked 84th in adjusted offensive efficiency. This year’s team ranks 10th. Last year’s team scored 90-plus points just once all season. This year’s team has already scored 90-plus in five games.
Need more proof? Last year’s Cats shot 41.7% from the floor. This year’s team is shooting 49.4%. Kentucky shot 57.1%, the seventh time in 15 games that the Cats have shot 50% or better. Last year’s team shot 50% or better just twice.
2. This is a good passing team
A year ago, Kentucky averaged 12.6 assists and 14.0 turnovers per game. The current Cats are averaging 17.5 assists per game, compared to just 11.9 turnovers per game. A nice turnaround.
Through Saturday’s action, point guard Sahvir Wheeler was third in the nation in assists per game at 7.3. Wheeler missed the Georgia game because of a neck injury, but in stepped freshman TyTy Washington to set the school single-game assist record with 17, topping John Wall’s mark of 16 set on Dec. 29, 2009, against Hartford.
3. We’re starting to take Oscar Tshiebwe for granted
Kentucky’s sophomore center scored 29 points and grabbed 17 rebounds against Georgia. We barely notice. Washington’s assist record was the headline. A double-double every game is what we now expect from Tshiebwe.
Calipari wants his center to focus on the here and now. No peeking ahead.
“What I told him today at the shootaround was don’t worry about two months from now,” said the coach. “That will screw you up. Worry about how you’ve been playing. How did you get to this point? What did you do to get this point? How about this? Keep doing it.”
4. Davion Mintz can be a key piece off the bench
If anything good came out of last year’s disaster, it was the way the Creighton transfer played down the stretch. Mintz was Kentucky’s most consistent player, scoring in double figures each of the final five games. In UK’s final two games, Mintz had 16 assists, compared to just one turnover.
The additions of Wheeler and Washington pushed Mintz to the bench this season, his sixth as a college player. Then an early-season illness caused the North Carolina native to miss four games. And Mintz admitted last week he struggled to find his groove after returning to the floor.
Saturday, we saw the 2020-21 Mintz. First off the bench, he made seven of his 10 shots from the floor, including five of his seven three-point attempts on the way to 19 points in a season-high 30 minutes. He has now scored 45 points in his last three games. And he’s giving Calipari a potent point-producer off the bench. That could prove invaluable moving forward.
5. This can be a Final Four team
The pieces are there. Tshiebwe is a rebounding machine. Washington is a smooth and versatile guard. He scored 17 points to go with his 17 assists Saturday. When locked in from the perimeter, Kellan Grady can open driving lanes for his teammates. And, as Calipari keeps saying, Wheeler is the “guy who stirs the drink.”
Keion Brooks and Jacob Toppin could be the wild cards. Calipari doesn’t necessarily need both to play well at the same time, but he needs at least one to be on his game. Toppin was terrific at LSU, Brooks was not. Toppin didn’t respond as well to a rare start on Saturday, but Brooks turned in a nice second half, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the final 20 minutes.
“I’m trying to get Keion to smile more,” Calipari said Saturday. “Have fun with this.”
The second half of Kentucky’s season could be a lot of fun.
