As his confidence grows, Rob Dillingham is getting fancier on the hardwood

For anyone who watched Rob Dillingham play basketball in high school, you know just how fancy he can get on the hardwood. Kentucky fans have only seen a small glimpse of what that looks like. Dillingham built a reputation on being “shifty” — wiggling in and out of defenses for impossible one-handed finishes, or dribbling through his legs with rapid speed before firing off a stepback three that hits nothing but net. You don’t make your Instagram handle “robwithdashifts” by playing it safe on the court.

But highlights are one thing. And while Dillingham had plenty of them in high school, there were just as many shots that would make a coach pull their hair out. That was a common thought when John Calipari ultimately landed Dillingham and brought him to Kentucky — just how long would it take for Cal to go crazy after a few ‘what are you doing?’ plays in a row?

But to Dillingham’s credit, that hasn’t been the case this season. Not even close. He’s fully bought into Calipari’s system, and is doing so without sacrificing much of what makes him so special. Sure, Dillingham still takes a questionable shot every now and then (poorly timed fouls have truly been his only issue so far), but his overall decision-making has been better than anyone expected, which likely includes Calipari, as well. Dillingham is averaging 15.4 points and 5.7 assists (to just 1.3 turnovers) per game through seven outings this season on a shooting split of 52.6/53.3/75.

He’s been getting shifter and shifter as of late, too.

Over the last two games, in particular, Dillingham has been reaching deeper into his bag of endless tricks. He’s been busting out a move that helped make him famous in the highlight world back in high school: the “jelly” layup. You’ve probably seen the likes of Kyrie Irving and Ja Morant pull it off in the NBA. When executed the right way, it can be nearly impossible to block.

For someone like Dillingham who is only 6-foot-3 and still undersized despite his dedication to the weight room, it’s the perfect tool. The “jelly” layup is essentially a finger roll with some added flair. And it looks cool as hell when it works. This blogger noticed that Dillingham has been using that move more over the last two games. But why is just now being put on full display?

“Definitely confidence because Coach Cal, when I first got here, I was missing all my one-handed layups and Coach Cal tell me every play ‘Go up two hands, we don’t want to see that one hand.’ And then I get in the game and it’s natural and I make it,” Dillingham said on Friday. “But in practice I be thinking about it so really it’s definitely just getting way more confidence and getting comfortable because that’s what I feel like I can do.”

Rob Dillingham is so smooth. pic.twitter.com/puuAMSIh9E

— Rare Rookies #BBN (@rarerookies) November 28, 2023

Let’s make something clear: this kind of layup is widely difficult. It takes some stones to pull off during the middle of an actual game. You don’t see it very often because of how much coordination and skill it takes to execute. But Dillingham has been doing it since he was a kid. He just needed to get the basics clicking first before diving into the fancier stuff.

“We’ve been doing that since we were young, always spinning the ball and hitting it off the backboard,” Dillingham added.

With every passing day, Kentucky unlocks another layer to his game. We’re only seven games into the Rob Dillingham experience. Something tells me there is plenty more to come.

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