KSR's takeaways from Kentucky's win over Missouri Western

Kentucky took care of business in exhibition game No. 1, with the Wildcats defeating Missouri Western by a final score of 56-38. It was our first look at the 2022-23 squad against a real opponent since the Bahamas tour in August, and that was clear, with early rust and sloppy play keeping things competitive until late.

Still, though, UK managed to pull off the 18-point victory to unofficially open the season at Rupp Arena.

How did the win unfold for the Wildcats? KSR has the takeaways live from Lexington.

Sahvir Wheeler goes down with a knee injury

Kentucky entered the game relatively healthy, with Oscar Tshiebwe being the lone player missing from the rotation due to injury. The clean report would last just 30 minutes of game action, as Sahvir Wheeler went down with a right knee injury with just 10 minutes to go.

The senior point guard landed awkwardly on a drive to the basket and was eventually helped to the bench, then back to the locker room without putting any weight on his leg.

John Calipari said after the game it was the same injury Wheeler suffered before the Blue-White scrimmage, a twisted knee that kept him out “a couple of days of practice.” He later added on his postgame radio that the expectation is he’ll be fine.

The 5-foot-9 playmaker ended the game with four points on 2-7 shooting to go with two rebounds, one assist, one steal and two turnovers in 22 minutes.

CJ Fredrick is a human flamethrower

The Iowa transfer led his squad in the Blue-White Game last week with 18 points on 7-11 shooting and 4-5 from three. Fredrick followed it up with yet another ridiculous shooting performance, knocking down 5-8 shots and 4-6 from three for 15 points. He also added three rebounds, one assist and one turnover with zero turnovers in 28 minutes for the Wildcats.

The Cincinnati native came to Kentucky as a career 46.6% 3-point shooter at Iowa, one of the best at his craft in all of college basketball. Seeing him knock down shots is no surprise — it’s what he was brought here to do. That doesn’t make it any less impressive seeing the way he can heat up and hit shots in limited space, contested or not.

Calipari raved about Fredrick’s performance after the win, calling the redshirt senior a “special player” — not just for his shooting, but because of the effort he brings defensively, the way he moves the ball and his veteran leadership.

Just from an availability perspective, it was also his second straight outing with significant playing time and no injury scares, a huge plus as he returns to full strength coming off leg surgery that kept him out all of last season. Kentucky needs the 3-point sniper on the floor, and again tonight, no news is great news.

Platoons…?

Kentucky started the game with Wheeler, Fredrick, Antonio Reeves, Jacob Toppin and Daimion Collins on the floor. Cason Wallace, Chris Livingston and Lance Ware all came in together five minutes into the game, with a few other individual substitutions over the next several minutes.

At the 9:13 mark, though, we got a full platoon swap of five out, five in. Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Collins and Ware came out the game, while Wheeler, Reeves, Toppin, Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso entered.

And then again in the second half with 14:55 to go, it was a four-man swap with Reeves, Livingston, Collins and Onyenso all entering the game together, replacing the second-half starters of Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, and Ware. Wheeler was the lone exception.

Only one official platoon rotation of the night, but still several bulk substitutions in both halves. And that’s not even considering the fact the Wildcats were also missing Oscar Tshiebwe due to injury. What happens when he returns in the regular season? And how does Wheeler’s injury impact things — assuming it’s a short-term issue?

Calipari said after the game he was looking to get creative with his rotations trying to find players who will get physical and play a “rough and tumble” brand of basketball. “You’re not going to win in our league” if not. Could that result in mass subs moving forward?

Ugonna Onyenso blocks a lot of shots

The 6-foot-11 freshman was one of the clear standouts of Kentucky’s Blue-White Game in Pikeville, finishing with 14 points (6-9 FG, 2-2 FT), five rebounds and four blocks in his unofficial debut. He followed it up with yet another impressive performance in the team’s first exhibition, specifically on the defensive end of the floor.

Eight days after his four-block effort, Onyenso racked up another five blocks in Kentucky’s win, all coming in the first half. He also added four points and three rebounds in 15 total minutes.

Onyenso is competing with Lance Ware for minutes at center behind Tshiebwe, with the latter penciled in as the early favorite for the backup role. Tonight, though, the freshman not only outplayed Ware (two points on 1-3 FG and 0-3 FT, two assists, two rebounds, two blocks, one steal in 16 minutes), he also outplayed Daimion Collins (zero points, 0-2 FG, one block in 13 minutes).

“Ugonna played like none of us — I knew, but… he had five blocks,” Calipari said.

The five-star rookie is impressing early.

Team defense was impressive

Kentucky’s length and athleticism on defense are certain to give opponents nightmares trying to score this season. We first saw that potential in the Bahamas, and then again tonight, the all-around production shined through. The Wildcats held the Griffons to just 30.8% shooting overall and 13.3% from three while also forcing 16 turnovers (seven steals) and blocking 11 shots.

Missouri Western was well coached and mucked things up for Kentucky offensively, but defensively, the Cats made life extremely difficult for the opposition to open the exhibition schedule.

To put that dominance in perspective, it was the team’s fewest points allowed in an exhibition game since UK allowed just 28 against Transylvania back in 2012.

Anyone remember how that year finished?

A historically poor offensive showing

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, it should also be pointed out that Kentucky also made history on the offensive end of the floor — but not in a good way.

The Wildcats’ 56-point effort was the third-fewest points scored ever in a full exhibition game and the fewest overall since July 9, 1948. That was a matchup against the Phillips Oilers, UK scored 50 points in an outdoor game played at Stoll Field.

Here’s a picture of that exhibition game played at Stoll Field, believed to be @KentuckyMBB’s only game played outdoors pic.twitter.com/u1kpgFCUeg

— Corey Price (@coreyp08) October 31, 2022

As a team, Kentucky shot 40.4% from the field, 31.8% from three and 50% from the line, with only two players scoring in double figures — Fredrick (15) and Jacob Toppin (10).

Chalk it up to first-game jitters. After all, Calipari did say at Media Day the team’s offense was further along than the defense at this point.

“Did I say that?” Calipari joked after the game. “I misspoke.”

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Kentucky will return to the floor on Thursday, Nov. 3 to take on Kentucky State in the team’s final exhibition game of the preseason.

From there, the real fun begins.