Kentucky Basketball Player Breakdown: Adou Thiero

Big Blue Nation is fully entrenched in the Kentucky Football season and rightfully so. However, basketball practice has started and we are less than a month away from the ‘Cats hosting New Mexico State. It may not seem like it, but hoops season is right around the corner.

As a fanbase, we got a taste of what this team would be like during the GLOBL JAM trip to Canada. Kentucky was excellent on their way to a 4-0 record, but there are still some unknowns. The Zvonimir Ivisc saga took a recent step forward, but he still needs to physically get here. Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso are on the mend but haven’t returned to practice yet.

As part of the lead-up to the season, we will be breaking down every scholarship player on the roster. Tre Mitchell and Ivisic have each been highlighted upon their commitments. Also, we’ve already broken down the five incoming freshmen as they committed. You can find KSR Film Room breakdowns of each of them below.

• Film Room: Aaron Bradshaw
• Film Room: Rob Dillingham
• Film Room: Justin Edwards
• Film Room: Reed Sheppard
• Film Room: DJ Wagner
• Film Room: Tre Mitchell
• Film Room: Zvonimir Ivisic

This series began with a breakdown of Ugonna Onyenso when he announced his return to Kentucky a few months ago. Now, we turn our attention to Adou Thiero who is also staying in Lexington for his sophomore season. The 6’6″ guard averaged 2.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in 9.5 minutes per game as a freshman. A former four-star recruit who grew late in his high school career, Thiero’s best basketball is likely still ahead of him. There were some Southeastern Conference games where he came up big last season and flashed real potential. Wins at Tennessee, at Mississippi State, and at Arkansas all featured strong performances from Thiero.

His role and contribution to the 2023-2024 Wildcats will still take some time to get sorted out. As it stands right now, he will play a role off of the bench at the 3 and the 4. Thiero is a bigger wing who can float between multiple positions and bring some physicality to the floor. That versatility, athleticism, and physicality will be what gets him on the floor. However, his skill development will determine how hard it is to actually take him out of games. There is a world where Thiero becomes a Swiss Army knife sixth man who plays a massive role on this team.

Let’s step inside the KSR Film room and take a deeper look into Thiero’s game. We will break down why fans are optimistic about his future in Lexington but also highlight some areas where he must improve.

Athleticism and Physical Tools

Adou Thiero certainly looks the part when he is walking through the airport. Much has been made of his continued growth even since getting to Kentucky. After standing just 6’0″ tall a few years ago, Thiero blossomed into the 6’6″ physical specimen that he is today. He is long, strong, and very developed in the upper body. Those physical tools allow him to make up for what he is still developing skill-wise. That is what allowed him to rebound, defend, and get to the foul line as a freshman. However, going forward, the hope is that Thiero can rely on more than just his physical gifts.

Thiero is an aggressive driver when he has space and is explosive at the rim. Against Arkansas, he was able to attack their pressure defense and find success as a driver. In a season-high 24 minutes, Thiero scored seven points, pulled down five rebounds, and dished out two assists. He really glides through the air, has the athleticism to finish above and around defenders, and can play through contact.

Above is another look from the Arkansas game where Thiero uses his athleticism to beat his defender off of the dribble and draw a foul. His free throw rate was truly off of the charts at 113.8. He will need to get more efficient in the other areas of his game, but his size and athleticism allow him to get to the charity stripe consistently.

Catch-and-Shoot Ability

If you are expecting Adou Thiero to make a sophomore leap then you probably are betting on him becoming a consistent catch-and-shoot threat from three-point range. He was just 3-9 last season, but if he can make open three-point shots it will get him on the court more and more. Kentucky needs more guys that make defenders help off of the dribble and guys that make defenders pay for helping off of the ball. Thiero at least flashes some raw ability to do a little bit of both.

Kentucky has shot 34.7% from three-point range each of the last two seasons. That is a good, but not great percentage that ranked 101st in 2022 and 137th in 2023. However, they were near the bottom of three-point attempts nationally in both seasons. That has been a common theme for John Calipari-coached teams in Lexington. Increasing the volume isn’t as much schematic as it is personnel-based. It is hard to increase three-point volume without increasing the number of capable shooters. If Thiero can simply become a guy who makes one three-point shot per game it will do wonders for the Wildcats offense.

Above is the exact type of three-point shot Kentucky needs Thiero to be able to make next season. He doesn’t have to run off of screens like Kellan Grady or create them for himself like Jamal Murray. If Thiero can simply knock down the open ones when his man helps it will potentially lead to a breakout sophomore season. Make people pay for helping this aggressively. Eventually, they will stop helping which leads to more layups.

Offensive Rebounding

It was obviously in a small sample size, but Adou Thiero’s offensive rebounding percentage was extremely high for a guard. When he was in the game the 6’6″ athlete collected 9.6% of Kentucky’s missed shots. For context, that is what Drew Timme averaged at Gonzaga, better than KJ Adams at Kansas, and not too far behind Trace Jackson-Davis at Indiana. His ability to crash from the perimeter, while also having the size and strength to mix it up around the basket, could allow him to maintain his elite offensive rebounding status.

Activity level and athleticism are two key components of being a high-level offensive rebounder. Thiero does a good job of being around the rim and has the physicality to bang around with larger defenders inside. There are some parts to his game that draw comparisons to Yves Pons who played at Tennessee. Pons was a better athlete and defender, but that is the type of ceiling that Thiero could start to work towards.

What Does All This Mean?

We have absolutely seen flashes of what Adou Thiero can bring to the table for Kentucky. The win at Arkansas last season was a perfect example of that. He has so much versatility on both ends of the floor that he can be thrust into almost any scenario. Whether it be additional ball handling, extra size on the perimeter, or an athlete to throw at an opposing star defensively, Thiero can provide quality minutes. However, he is also turnover-prone, foul-prone, and hasn’t proven himself as a consistent shooter. At the GLOBL JAM, Thiero was 0-6 from three-point range and just 8-14 at the free-throw line. It will be hard to play him consistent minutes if those numbers don’t improve. At the same time though, he was excellent on the glass and was consistently disruptive defensively.

Going into his sophomore season, we have a pretty good feel for what Thiero’s floor is. At worst, he is a versatile athlete that you can plug and play at multiple positions. That alone probably gets you 10 or more minutes per game on this Kentucky team. However, his ceiling is still very much undefined. He must improve as a shooter, both beyond the arc and even more importantly at the free throw line, to see his role expand further. It would be great to see Thiero grow into a sixth-man sort of role. Will he be ready for that in 2023-2024?

Improvements must be made, but Thiero is at least starting to take the shape of a legitimate rotation piece in the Southeastern Conference.