Kentucky coach John Calipari breaks down challenge of defending UCLA's Jaime Jaquez

No. 13 Kentucky will certainly have its hands full with No. 16 UCLA and star Jaime Jaquez. At least, head coach John Calipari thinks so. The Bruins star is a complete player offensively and defensively. But it seems like Calipari is concerned with how his Wildcats’ offense will operate on offense with Jaquez playing stout defense.

UCLA is 9-2 this season, coming off a big road win against No. 20 Maryland. There seems to be palpable buzz about the Bruins this winter.

Calipari expected a fight going into this one, as Kentucky enters 7-2 fresh off a win over Yale Dec. 10.

“Well, they get and play through Jaquez,” Calipari said. “They can throw lobs to the big kid. And like I said, defensively, they get their hands a lot of balls too. So when you drive if you just think you’re throwing, you gotta be aware and the guy that you’re throwing to has got to move to a more open area. 

“But if you stay where you are, they get their hands on balls. They’re really good. I mean this will be a really hard game for us. It will be.”

This season, Jaquez averages 17.1 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 2.1 assists per game, 0.6 blocks per game and 1.8 steals per game. He shoots 56.3% from the floor.

As a member of the Class of 2019, Jaquez was a four-star prospect out of Adolfo Camarillo (Calif.) High, according to the On3 Consensus. He was the No. 7 overall prospect in the state, the No. 21 small-forward prospect in the class and the No. 86 overall prospect in the class.

The Wildcats have four players averaging more than 10 points per game, something that could be very advantageous. Oscar Tshiebwe leads the way with 16.1 points per game, 13.3 rebounds per game and shoots 59% from the floor. Antonio Reeves (13.9 per game), Jacob Toppin (11.9) and Cason Wallace (10.7) round out the quadrant of double-figure players.

“The toughness for UCLA also comes from their guards,” Calipari said. “The guards will play physical and they bump and grind and they’re active and so they’re good. You know, I’m anxious to see how we perform. I think we’re better than we were three weeks ago, we execute better. We’re playing more together instead of ‘okay, all we can do is throw it to you and you try to get a basket’ and we’re doing things together better. 

“There’s less confusion on what we’re doing. And that’s because we’re together practicing, we’re together doing a lot of scrimmaging more so than I’ve done in the past.”