FINAL: Blue Team takes down White Team 100-89 in Blue-White scrimmage

It was Rob Dillingham‘s time to shine at the Truist Arena on Saturday night.

During Kentucky men’s basketball’s annual Blue-White Game scrimmage, which was held at Northern Kentucky University this year, the five-star freshman put on a show for the Big Blue Nation. Dillingham was a scoring machine from start to finish for the Blue team, finishing with 40 points, five rebounds, seven assists, and four steals on 14-23 shooting.

He was aided by sophomore teammate Adou Thiero, who plugged in 26 points and nine rebounds. Their play resulted in a 100-89 win for the Blue Team.

That's all for the Blue-White Game Presented by Kroger.

Blue Team: 100, White Team: 89. pic.twitter.com/PBe5yfqwEK

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) October 21, 2023

As for the White Team, they were led by an impressive second-half performance from five-star freshman Justin Edwards, who posted 18 of his 26 points after halftime. He also grabbed 10 rebounds. Fellow five-star freshman DJ Wagner wasn’t too far behind with 25 points, seven rebounds, and six assists while Antonio Reeves chipped in 17 points, although on a poor 6-19 shooting mark (1-9 3PT). Tre Mitchell was also a standout for the White Team, recording 14 points, 14 rebounds, and three assists.

Overall, the Blue Team simply outplayed the White Team. Blue shot over 56 percent as a team, including a 10-22 clip from beyond the arc. Although they were outrebounded 44-28, the Blue Team finished with eight more assists and seven fewer turnovers. White shot under 48 percent as a whole and just 6-24 from deep. Dillingham’s 40 points were 12 shy of Terrence Jones‘ Blue-White Game record of 52, which he set back in 2011.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, Kentucky was without seven-footers Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso. Additionally, the team’s third seven-footer, Zvonimir Ivisic, was held out for precautionary reasons. Regardless, the Big Blue Nation was still treated to some thrilling preseason basketball.

The first half was all Blue Team. More specifically, the first half was all Dillingham. The five-star freshman was scorching hot in the opening 20 minutes, pouring in 24 points on 9-16 shooting. He was handing out buckets in every form — tough layups at the rim, contested jumpers, and even a corner three-pointer that he was fouled on and then converted for the four-point play. Dillingham also chipped in three rebounds and four assists to round out his excellent first-half performance.

Also for the Blue Team in the first half, Thiero contributed 13 points and six rebounds, including a couple of three-pointers. On the other end of the court, the White Team was fueled in the first half by 12 points from Wagner and 11 more from Reeves. At the break, the Blue Team was in front 54-41 after shooting over 56 percent from the floor and making half of their three-pointers (7-14).

Out of the locker room, the White Team refused to go away quietly despite another quick start for Dillingham. Not even eight minutes into the second half, Dillingham already added nine more points to his total, but Edwards was matching him with 16 points of his own in the same amount of time. At the under-12-minute timeout, the White Team managed to make it just an eight-point deficit.

But once we hit the 10-minute mark of the second half, a running clock took over as the Blue Team slowly began to pull away. Considering all 10 Wildcats played every second of the game until around the 5:00 mark — which is when the walk-ons made their appearance — the energy levels began to fade away down the stretch. When all was said and done, the Blue Team walked away with an 11-point win over the White Team.

Kentucky will now gear up for real competition. The Wildcats will take on Georgetown College in the first of two exhibition games on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7:00 p.m. EST inside Rupp Arena. It will be streamed live on the SEC Network.