KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's overwhelming 111-53 win vs. Kentucky State

Two exhibition games, two wins leading up to regular season action for the Kentucky Wildcats. This time, a blowout 111-53 victory over Kentucky State, a dominant performance from start to finish.

Kentucky shot a smooth 50.0% from the field and 46.2% from three to go with 65.7% from the line while also dominating on the glass (57-38) and taking care of the ball with just 10 turnovers.

How did the Wildcats take care of business against the Thorobreds? KSR has the takeaways.

Eight scholarship players for Kentucky

The Wildcats were down three scholarship players, with Sahvir Wheeler (knee), Oscar Tshiebwe (knee) and Daimion Collins (personal) all missing the matchup. Walk-on Grant Darbyshire was out, as well.

In their absence, Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware all started for Kentucky, with Antonio Reeves, Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero all coming off the bench.

Of the eight available scholarship players, all of them finished with at least 18 minutes, including seven from Brennan Canada and two apiece from Kareem Watkins and Walker Horn.

Cason Wallace steps up at point guard

With Wheeler out, Wallace was thrust into the lead guard role, a position he thrived in. He was inefficient shooting the ball (12 points on 5-16 FG, 2-8 3PT) and turned it over three times, but thrived elsewhere (five rebounds, five assists, three steals, one block) with high usage. The 6-foot-4 freshman finished second on the team in the +/- with a +45 in 28 minutes.

Wallace hunted his shot a bit and it took away a bit from his overall performance, but you’ve got to like the confidence from your five-star rookie playing his first game as a full-time point guard at this level. The looks were clean and he still got to his spots with ease — misses come with the territory.

He’s going to have to play through mistakes as a lead guard, even when Wheeler returns from injury. This is experience is good for him.

CJ Fredrick is special (and not just as a shooter)

There may not be a better 3-point shooter in college basketball than Fredrick. He enters the season as a career 46.6% shooter from deep, and through three exhibition games (including the Blue-White Game), he’s knocked down 11 of his 16 total attempts. That’s 68.8%, folks.

Thing is, he’s not just a shooter. In fact, John Calipari called him “special” after the Missouri Western win, and it wasn’t even because of his shooting. “The other things he does; he moves his team, he plays so hard, he talks on defense,” he said. “It’s nice when you have older guys that really know what they’re doing out there.”

That’s exactly what Fredrick brought to the table once again Thursday vs. Kentucky State. He finished with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds and zero turnovers in 26 minutes, a stable force in the lineup on both ends. The 6-foot-3 senior hustled and made winning plays while also doing what he does best: shooting the rock.

Good things happen when Fredrick is in the game, simple as that.

Antonio Reeves gets back to his scoring ways

Wallace was the primary ball handler, while Reeves was the backup off the bench. He didn’t play like a role player, though, returning to his elite scoring ways with a team-high 23 points (7-14 FG, 5-10 3PT, 4-5 FT) to go with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and three turnovers in 21 minutes.

This comes after Reeves finished with just five points on 2-7 shooting and 0-4 from three against Missouri Western — his only cold shooting performance in seven exhibition games between the Bahamas, Blue-White and MWSU/KSU.

Calipari talked after the game about Reeves and his role on the team, saying he likes him as a microwave scorer off the bench, an interesting take considering he could be in the running for leading scorer this season.

Reeves gets a little trigger-happy at times, but when you’ve got that kind of talent as a three-level scorer, the reward is better than the risk.

Lance Ware and Ugonna Onyenso fill in for Oscar Tshiebwe

Kentucky’s got a situation on its hands in the frontcourt, and it’s certainly not a bad thing. For the first time since Ugonna Onyenso arrived in Lexington back in August, Calipari acknowledged Thursday evening that the 6-foot-11 freshman would play this season.

In fact, he added that there would be times Onyenso would play more than veteran big Lance Ware — a strong statement considering he joined the program less than three months ago.

Now, keep in mind Calipari made it clear Ware does things well that Onyenso struggles with, specifically with physicality and toughness. For that reason, there are going to be times the 6-foot-9 junior will play more than the rookie shot-blocker.

We saw their minutes staggered vs. Kentucky State, with Ware playing 22 minutes compared to Onyenso’s 18. In their time on the floor, they each showed what they do best, with the junior finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals and the freshman adding four points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and one steal.

If the team needs an enforcer willing to do the dirty work, you go with Ware. If you need defense and length, you go with Onyenso. It’s a good problem to have, especially as Tshiebwe works his way back from preseason knee surgery.

Injury updates

Speaking of Tshiebwe — and Ware/Onyenso for that matter — Calipari provided a not-so-great update regarding the senior superstar’s status to open the season. Tshiebwe said at Media Day he “absolutely” would not miss regular season games, but tonight, the UK head coach said the injury would likely keep him out of Kentucky’s first game vs. Howard, and potentially even game two vs. Duquesne.

As for Wheeler, Calipari said he was uncertain the senior point guard would play Monday, adding that it depended on his availability in practice leading up to the game. If he doesn’t practice, he won’t take the floor.

Kentucky entered the evening short-handed, and it doesn’t appear things will be better in the coming days, at minimum.

Another elite defensive showing

Kentucky State isn’t a great team, obviously. The Thorobreds were physical and played hard, but they were overwhelmed with the Wildcats’ length, athleticism and overall skill. That was reflected on both ends of the floor, specifically on defense, with UK allowing KSU to shoot just 28.2% from the field and 27.3% from three while forcing 20 turnovers and blocking 11 shots.

It’s Kentucky’s second consecutive elite defensive showing, with the Wildcats allowing just 38 points to Missouri Western on Sunday, the fewest points alowed in an exhibition game since allowing 28 vs. Transylvania in 2012.

The real tests will come in the next few weeks, but it’s hard not to like how advanced UK is in terms of rotations, timing and instincts.

A win in honor of Ben Collins

It was a difficult week for the Kentucky basketball program, as sophomore forward Daimion Collins lost his father, Ben Collins, unexpectedly on Tuesday. Calipari shared after the game that Collins had worked out with his dad at the Joe Craft Center the night before he passed, with his mom being the last person to hear from him.

Collins is back home in Texas mourning the loss with his family, but UK had a moment of silence at Rupp Arena and dedicated the game to Ben and the Collins family. It was a touching tribute, one that clearly meant a lot to the Wildcat forward.

Love Yall BBN💙 https://t.co/3RXeGfhJJQ

— Daimion Collins (@CollinsDaimion) November 4, 2022

Calipari acknowledged his players are still struggling with the loss of their teammate’s father, specifically Wallace and Fredrick. He added that he gave his team the choice to not play the exhibition game at all. Instead, the Wildcats decided to play and dedicate the game (and win) to Ben.

Certainly a strong performance on a difficult night — 111 points following his passing on 11-1.

The Wildcats begin regular season play vs. Howard at Rupp Arena on Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the game broadcast live on SEC Network.