Burger Boys separate themselves in Kentucky vs. Arkansas battle

Arkansas was one of three schools with three McDonald’s All-American selections in 2022, joining Duke and Kansas for the most. Kentucky was tied for next-most with two, joining Alabama, Texas and UCLA to make up multi-selection programs.

For the Razorbacks, five-star guard Nick Smith Jr. was the prize, the No. 3 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus and a potential top-5 draft selection in 2023. From there, Anthony Black at No. 15 overall and No. 3 among combo guards, followed by Jordan Walsh at No. 22 overall and No. 9 among small forwards.

As for the Wildcats, Cason Wallace at No. 8 overall and No. 1 among combo guards, followed by Chris Livingston at No. 16 and No. 6 among small forwards.

And then if you want to take it a step further, Daimion Collins was a Burger Boy in 2021, ranked No. 15 overall and No. 4 among power forwards. Three on the current roster who signed with Kentucky out of high school, four including Oscar Tshiebwe, a 2019 McDonald’s All-American and West Virginia signee who later joined the program in 2021.

The focus here, though, are the players between the bookends of Smith Jr. and Tshiebwe — the former has been limited to just five games due to a right knee injury and missed the head-to-head battle in Lexington on Tuesday, while the latter is a senior and a polarizing topic as of late due to his recent struggles on both ends of the floor. Among first- and second-year Burger Boys available inside Rupp Arena, though, all five lived up to their high school projections — some more surprising than others.

Cason Wallace

We’ll start with Kentucky’s side, which had only Wallace playing up to his ranking and potential thus far in his career. The 6-foot-4 freshman out of Texas entered Tuesday night’s matchup averaging 12.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per contest on 48.6% shooting and 40.8% from deep, then followed it up with a 24-point, 5-assist, 3-rebound, 3-steal, 2-block effort as the Wildcats’ lead guard. He turned the ball over five times — four in the second half — under pressure thanks to the Razorbacks’ pressure and physicality, but you can’t ask for a better all-around effort elsewhere. Wallace was nothing short of brilliant in attack mode, finishing with craft and touch around the basket while knocking down a number of mid-range pull-up jumpers — his specialty. In a battle of five-star talent, the freshman guard again looked like a clear lottery pick.

Chris Livingston

Then there’s Livingston, who has had an up-and-down start to his career in Lexington. Averaging just 5.6 points and 3.0 rebounds on the year, the 6-foot-7 freshman has struggled to establish an identity in terms of role, sliding back and forth between the three and four spots with varying levels of success. He played well against lesser competition, had one standout performance vs. UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic, then disappeared through most of January. Then, a strong eight-point first-half effort vs. Kansas before sitting on the bench the majority of the second — “Chris Livingston should have played more in the second half,” John Calipari said after the loss. He followed it up with a solid six-point, seven-rebound effort at Ole Miss, then did some good things in Kentucky’s win vs. Florida. And then vs. Arkansas, another strong all-around effort that saw the five-star freshman score 13 points on 5-10 shooting and 2-3 from three to go with five rebounds in 33 minutes.

Calipari has been speaking a real breakthrough for Livingston into existence, constantly raving about the forward’s versatility and physicality, doing things other freshmen in college basketball simply can’t. He’s talked about how close he is a number of times, and now, it feels like he’s right there. His performance against the Razorbacks was the vision.

Daimion Collins

As for Collins, the spurts have been there in his two years as a Wildcat. A 6-foot-9 forward with a 46-inch vertical and a 7-foot-5 wingspan, he’s always been a highlight waiting to happen, capable of throwing down poster dunks and sending blocks into the stands — you can’t teach his physical tools. His struggles, though, have been mostly a product of his lack of strength to open his career, specifically in terms of diet and weight gain. He just hasn’t been able to battle inside with heavier bigs, unable to create leverage and match the physicality. And his jump shot — mechanically sound with a smooth release — just hasn’t fallen to justify any semblance of a face-up game for Collins moving forward. He’s been almost exclusively a pick-and-roll lob threat and rim runner.

Like Livingston, though, Collins is slowly starting to stack solid performances together and play with real confidence, a serious issue following the tragic passing of his father to open the season. The potential is ever-so-slightly shifting to production, most recently in the form of a seven-point, two-rebound effort in just eight minutes vs. Arkansas. And that low eight-minute number (two in the second half) isn’t due to anything he did individually, it was a questionable (wrong) coaching decision — still can’t get over Calipari’s explanation about Tshiebwe needing to be on the floor — that played into Kentucky’s loss.

But the growth is there for the former McDonald’s All-American. And a lot of that growth was shown alongside Wallace and Livingston — the trio closed out the final 3:48 of the first half together, a stretch that saw UK score on four of six possessions and cut the deficit to just one.

Anthony Black

Switching over to Arkansas’ high-profile freshmen, Black and Walsh played crucial roles in the blowout win for the Razorbacks. The former, a versatile 6-foot-7 playmaker who has emerged as the school’s lead guard, finished with 19 points on 8-15 shooting to go with five assists, five steals, four rebounds and a block in 38 minutes. He was active and disruptive on the defensive end of the floor — his five steals came in the second half — while also showing off a quick first step and long strides to set up smooth finishes around the basket. Considered a potential lottery pick going into the matchup, he only helped his stock.

As for Walsh, a versatile two-way wing off the bench, he played his role to perfection against the Wildcats. The 6-foot-7 freshman finished with 13 points on 4-4 shooting and 4-4 from the line to go with one rebound and one block in 22 minutes, embracing the sixth-man spark plug role and efficiently producing during his time on the floor. It was a high all-around scoring effort for the Razorbacks as a whole — 88 points is the most the team has seen since December 10 — so Walsh was only fifth overall, but his impact was clearly felt as a low-usage piece (6.5%, sixth on the team).

Nick Smith Jr.

And that’s not even accounting for Smith Jr., who returned to practice this week and is expected to return to the Arkansas lineup sooner rather than later.

“Nick, he has practiced the last few days with us,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “Obviously, he did not go on the road trip so he could continue to stay back here and work on his conditioning. We’re optimistic and hopeful that Nick will be able to play sometime here in the near future.”

The Razorbacks are playing their best basketball of the year and are now set to add their most talented scorer, another McDonald’s All-American. That could set up an interesting head-to-head rematch to close out the regular season, one featuring some of college basketball’s youngest and brightest stars.

Looking ahead

It’s how it should be, five-star recruits taking some early lumps before playing their best basketball of the year to close out the season. All of John Calipari’s best teams have been that way.

It doesn’t hurt Kentucky has four McDonald’s All-Americans signed in its 2023 recruiting class in DJ Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard, with Rob Dillingham being a clear fifth had he not been declared ineligible for the event at Overtime Elite.

Before that, though, the Wildcats will need their current blue-chip recruits to continue playing well (and more) to close out the season.