Kentucky spoiled pair of big scoring performances from Rob Dillingham

Kentucky freshman guard Rob Dillingham is a special offensive talent. The former top-20 recruit has a unique skill set on the offensive end. The sixth man for John Calipari can absolutely fill it up on the offensive end and become a one-man show on the basketball floor at any moment.

With D.J. Wagner out of the lineup, Dillingham responded with best back-to-back offensive performances of the season, but it wasn’t enough to get a home win against Florida on Wednesday or Tennessee on Saturday.

Dillingham scored 20 points against the Gators on 8 of 17 shooting with three treys and four assists. On Saturday, the young guard had the best performance of his career scoring 35 points in 28 minutes with a career-high six three-point field goals to go along with four assists and just one turnover. Dillingham nearly did enough to get Kentucky over the hump.

17 POINTS SO FAR FOR ROB DILLINGHAM pic.twitter.com/Ez6rvYEzpl

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 4, 2024

“Robert did well,” John Calipari said in his postgame press conference. “Robert kept us in the game. I mean, in the first half we were down four [points] because Robert made basket after basket.”

“He was single-handedly keeping us in the game offensively,” Orlando Antigua said while subbing in for Calipari on the postgame radio show. 

Instead, Kentucky took two conference losses with Florida and Tennessee each scoring over 1.15 points per possession and pouring in a combined 24 three-point field goals. The Wildcats have some massive defensive issues to figure out, but this is still a top-10 offense. Rob Dillingham might be the most dangerous scorer in the sport.

The rookie is now shooting 52.9 percent from two and 41.3 percent from three. The guard also owns a strong assist rate (29.3%). Dillingham is an electric scorer and showed just has special he can be this week.

Kentucky has flaws, but Rob Dillingham is a unique weapon that Kentucky will need down the stretch.