Kentucky flashes brilliance in blowout win vs. New Mexico State

Kentucky is who we thought it was — as of November 6, down three 7-footers playing with five freshmen in the current rotation.

Let’s get the negatives out of the way so we can get to the fun stuff. Frontcourt depth is an issue and the rebounding and interior defensive struggles are going to be there until the Wildcats get some bodies. 20 of New Mexico State’s points came inside, including seven second-chance points. And a lot of the damage came early, Kentucky settling in and finding ways to score elsewhere while getting rebounding help from the guards to combat those issues.

The Aggies led 6-5 with 16:42 to go in the first half and kept the deficit within two scores with just over three minutes remaining before the Wildcats pushed it back to 11 in the final seconds, NMSU closing it out with a three to make it 37-29 at the break.

And then all hell broke loose in the second half, Kentucky’s pure talent rearing its beautiful head to extend the lead to as many as 40 points by the final buzzer. The best part? It was an all-around effort that saw essentially everyone in the rotation play solid basketball, all eight players earning buckets — seven with multiple. The human victory cigars even got their time to shine in the Rupp Arena spotlight, with Joey Hart, Kareem Watkins, Brennan Canada and Walker Horn all checking in for a solid 46 seconds of game action.

The youth movement was an overwhelming success for the Wildcats to open the season with Kentucky’s five newcomers in the rotation combining for 61 of the team’s 86 total points. Rob Dillingham led the way with 17, followed by DJ Wagner with 13, Justin Edwards and Reed Sheppard with 12 points apiece and Jordan Burks with seven.

As for the vets, Antonio Reeves returned to his double-digit-scoring ways with 11 points on 4-10 shooting while Tre Mitchell added nine points, nine rebounds and five assists in his debut. Adou Thiero, who went down with a head injury in the second half and finished the game in the locker room, added five points to round out the scorers.

Just ask New Mexico State coach Jason Hooten what he thinks about how things went. That tells you the whole story.

“Thoughts on the game? Woof. Not a lot of good thoughts.”

Kentucky had plenty of them. Maybe the most important? 17 assists compared to just six turnovers, Justin Edwards earning three alone — probably best to put that spin move in traffic back in the toolbox. No one else had more than one, Rob Dillingham finishing with zero to go with five rebounds and three dimes.

“We only had six turnovers, guys. And we play fast. Three were by one guy,” John Calipari said after the win. “Why? All of these guys can dribble, pass and shoot.”

Spacing and ball movement are otherworldly with this group, especially considering it’s led by freshmen and it’s game one. They whip the ball around the floor and play free, play random. Less time spent drawing up plays for open looks and more creating space so the playmakers can make plays. That’s how Calipari’s best teams have played since he arrived in Lexington and this team is one of them.

Don’t believe me? Ask the head man himself, certainly on the offensive end.

“I would say they are one of the best,” he said, a clear sign of his confidence in a group that continues to flash brilliance every time it steps on the floor.

That comes with an asterisk, obviously. Best… assuming the bigs get healthy in a timely manner.* Calipari provided a minor update on all three while adding a note on Thiero’s head injury — “Adou has a headache, so it will be a day-to-day thing with him.”

For starters, Zvonimir Ivisic got food poisoning and was sick four days, losing ten pounds in the process — and that’s a kid who didn’t have ten pounds to lose.

“Are you kidding me? I mean, I’m saying, you have got buzzard luck, kid,” Calipari said. “Whether he would be eligible or not, I don’t know if he could play Friday. He hasn’t practiced for five or six days.”

As for some potentially good news, he says Aaron Bradshaw is “ahead of Ugonna (Onyenso) by two weeks, jumping and doing stuff,” but “probably still probably a week, two weeks away from practicing and being with us.” Could we see Kentucky’s highest-rated big man by the end of the month? It appears that’s on the table, even if it almost certainly means he misses the Champions Classic vs. Kansas next week.

Get one, maybe two of them back in the not-too-distant future for depth purposes and you have to be feeling good about where things stand going into the meat and potatoes of this schedule.

For now, it’s completely acceptable to enjoy the transition offense and unselfish play, the oozing confidence on both ends of the floor. Enjoy the Reed Sheppard deflections and highlight plays, Dillingham’s disruption and controlled chaos — two or three “what in the world” decisions are OK, says Calipari, “as long as it’s not five or six.” How about DJ Wagner going into takeover mode late, hitting daggers with a snarl only alphas play with? Or Edwards with the highlight slams, Reeves with the early threes, Mitchell with the vision and feel, Burks with the energy off the bench? The list goes on and on.

Above all else, there’s a clear chemistry and positive energy with this group we simply haven’t seen in recent years. Take postgame for instance, music blaring from the Kentucky locker room ahead of postgame duties, loud enough to hear from the media room.

Camaraderie is strong, and it deserves to be. The Wildcats have a good group, one that will only get better.