Chuck Martin: Ugonna Onyenso has "been huge" for Kentucky's defense

During John Calipari’s weekly radio show on Monday night, he suggested that sophomore big man Ugonna Onyenso will be a part of Kentucky’s closing lineup moving forward.

That specific lineup features Reed Sheppard, Antonio Reeves, DJ Wagner, Tre Mitchell, and Onyenso.

“I sat there and said, ‘This may be our finishing team,'” Calipari revealed.

This five-man lineup allows Kentucky the opportunity to thrive on both ends of the floor. With the 7-foot Onyenso and his 7-foot-5 wingspan lurking in the paint, the Wildcats can better defend the rim while also contending for more offensive rebounds. According to KenPom, against intraconference foes, Onyenso currently ranks first in the SEC in block percentage (12.7) and 20th in offensive rebounding percentage (7.6).

Surrounding Onyenso with four capable shooters allows him to worry even less about scoring the ball and even more about doing what the team needs from him at that moment — blocking shots, rebounding, defending outside of the paint, etc. He ranks fifth against SEC teams in defensive rebounding percentage (21.4).

“I think for people who have not seen (Onyenso) live — you know, you see him on TV, you obviously know he’s a seven-footer — but when you see him live, he’s one of the biggest human beings in the league,” Kentucky assistant Chuck Martin said during his press conference on Tuesday. “The way he can move for his size defensively in pick-and-rolls is unbelievable. So when you have a guy with that size and that type of agility defensively, he gives everyone on the floor courage that we can accomplish this rotation. So he’s been huge, he’s been huge for us.”

As KSR’s Jack Pilgrim noted, the five-man group of Sheppard, Reeves, Wagner, Mitchell, and Onyenso has made up 14 percent of Kentucky’s total lineup over the last five games — the highest of any group. There’s something about it that makes the coaching staff optimistic.

Calipari added that those five have a “will to win defensively” and know how to work as one collective unit on that end of the floor. That specifically stood out during Kentucky’s road win against Arkansas over the weekend, which saw the Wildcats’ defense hold the Razorbacks to just 57 points on 33.3 percent shooting.

All five played at least 15 minutes in the second half, helping fuel Kentucky’s comeback victory. There was a continuity between those five that improved as the half went along. Onyenso finished the night with six points (3-4 FG), four rebounds, and three blocks with a team-high +14 in the plus/minus category.

“I think we were connected,” Martin said of Kentucky’s second-half defense against Arkansas. “As the season goes on, you start to become more confident, defensively and offensively. I think our offense was a little bit ahead of our defense this season, but you’re starting to see signs of our defense really coming along and I think the other night at Arkansas was a great example of what we could be defensively. We were connected, we communicated, we knew the rotations, assignments, it was a good game for us.”

The caveat to this lineup is it will be situational. Calipari mentioned that the end-of-game rotation could vary depending on who is playing well in a particular game. But as of late, this is the group he fancies. We’ll see how it performs this week when Kentucky hosts Florida and No. 5 Tennessee at Rupp Arena.

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