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Jacob Toppin credits Kentucky for rebounding effort

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater02/23/23

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Kentucky F Jacob Toppin
James Gilbert | Getty Images

Kentucky is one of the nation’s best rebounding teams with an average of 38.4 boards per game. A big part of that is obviously Oscar Tshiebwe, who’s tied for the national lead with an average of 12.7. However, Jacob Toppin said it goes deeper than that when it comes to the Wildcat’s success on the glass.

Toppin spoke about Kentucky’s rebounding dominance following another great effort during their 82-74 win over Florida. He first joked that Tshiebwe finished just third on the team in rebounds. With that said, he also pointed out how that actually says a lot about their effort in that area as a team.

“It shows Oscar can’t rebound,” joked Toppin. “(But) it just shows that we have a lot of guys, different guys that can crash the boards and get rebounds for us.”

Chris (Livingston) did a wonderful job doing that. Even our other guards mixed it up a little bit,” Toppin said. “It just showed what type of team we are.”

Wednesday’s victory was the seventh straight game Kentucky won the rebound battle. They’ve been specifically great in that area as of late. During this recent three-game win streak, Kentucky has won the glass by an average of 14.3 rebounds.

However, as much credit as Toppin gave the team, the Wildcats could thank him and Livingston for the 19-board differential in Gainesville. He tied a season-high with 11 while Livingston finished with a career-high of 15. They were able to handle business in the paint with no Colin Castleton as they were the only two players in the game to grab five or more rebounds.

Rebounding is an area that Kentucky can find success in every game if they give the effort they’ve shown lately. Getting production there from other contributors like Toppin rather than Tshiebwe alone only makes them that much better in that aspect.