Seniors (and other likely departures) close out Rupp Arena careers with comfortable win

Things were a tad but uncomfortable when Kentucky trailed Vanderbilt by six with just seven minutes to go in the first half. Visions of last year’s Senior Day upset quickly flashed back and the nerves kicked in. Not that the deficit was too much to overcome — against the Commodores, no less — but we’d already seen this story unfold. It’s just not something any of us wanted to entertain.

And then the Wildcats shifted into high gear and not only won, but did so by 16 points while leading by as many as 19 in the final segment. From the end of the first half to the final buzzer, Kentucky controlled the game on both ends and crossed the finish line ahead with relative ease.

How did it all unfold in the home finale? KSR has the takeaways from Rupp Arena.

One last night at home for the seniors

It’s impossible to move past last year’s Senior Day without at least somewhat of a bad taste being left in your mouth. Vanderbilt came to Rupp Arena and beat the Wildcats at the final buzzer, sending Oscar Tshiebwe home with a loss in the final home game of his career. That could’ve been the case for Antonio Reeves had he decided to leave for whatever reason — he went through the paper hoop and sung My Old Kentucky Home with his teammates then, too.

By returning, the dynamic scorer got a do-over, one resulting in a convincing 93-77 win that really wasn’t close after intermission. And in that mulligan effort, he went for 20 points, six rebounds and four assists in yet another well-rounded performance keeping his #AllAmericanAntonio campaign firing on all cylinders. He continued to hit shots and make plays others in college basketball simply can’t, and he did it in yet another winning effort.

As for Tre Mitchell, he didn’t have the storybook finish he was probably looking for in terms of simple counting stats. The West Virginia transfer finished with just two points on 1-4 shooting to go with one rebound, one block, one turnover and four fouls in 12 minutes. He was clearly a step slow and playing at less than 100%.

But he was out there. And as John Calipari described it afterward, he’s dealing with the same hurdles DJ Wagner had to leap when coming back from his injury both physically and mentally. Time is the only thing that can fix those issues. That’s why Wednesday night was so important because it was simply one step closer to that point, the breakthrough we’re seeing now with Wagner. The things said about the veteran forward today are the same things we heard about the freshman guard in recent weeks. Now he’s making shots and impacting winning.

Mitchell isn’t there yet, but he’s getting closer. And that’s a scary predicament for the rest of the college basketball world with the Wildcats on their first four-game winning streak since pulling off six straight from Dec. 9 to Jan. 9.

Rob Dillingham gets a proper Rupp Arena sendoff

Do you remember what best-case-scenario Rob Dillingham was thought to be when he first signed with Kentucky? Ideally, he was a microwave scorer who found himself on heaters every so often, but it’d take volume and lackluster defense to get there. You just kind of had to live with the inefficiency and questionable shot selection while waiting for his next offensive explosion — the epitome of a high-risk, high-reward basketball player.

And then he showed up and grew into a medium-risk, highest-reward player, otherwise known as a top-five draft pick.

Jerry Stackhouse compared him to Kyrie Irving after the game while John Calipari said there isn’t a better play-creator in college basketball. Those things are both true, and not just on a here-or-there basis. It’s an every-night thing, this time in the form of a 23-point, five-assist night where he went 9-15 overall, 3-4 from three and 2-2 at the line. He hit the threes to create a slight cushion to close out the first half before getting really silly down the stretch in the best way possible.

Dillingham is now averaging 14.8 points, 3.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game while managing 48/43/77 shooting splits. Oh, and he’s turning the ball over just 1.89 times every time out.

This night may have been about Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell making their final contributions inside Rupp Arena, but make no mistake about it, this was Dillingham’s last ride, too. And he’s earned that, along with everything that comes next in his bright basketball future.

Fortunately for us, part of that includes a March run.

What about the rest?

Dillingham is the obvious one, a serious top-five candidate who may even flirt with No. 1 status by the time the draft process wraps up. But he’s hardly the outlier among players we may have to say goodbye to in the coming weeks.

Reed Sheppard joined Dillingham as a projected top-five pick this week and did his part to look it again, finishing with eight points, 11 assists, four rebounds and a steal in 28 minutes. His decision is more complicated, obviously, but it’s fair to question if we’ll ever see him on the Rupp Arena floor again. DJ Wagner saw his draft stock take a serious hit while he battled a lingering ankle injury, but now that he’s back to full strength, his shot is falling and he looks like the likely first-rounder we all expected him to be entering the season. He put up 11 points on 4-8 shooting and 3-5 from three while adding five assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes.

Justin Edwards was seen as a potential No. 1 pick coming out of high school before hitting a cold stretch where many draft experts removed him from their boards completely. Like Wagner, he’s quickly worked his way back into the conversation with strong play on both ends, this time in the form of a 10-point, five-rebound night in 16 minutes. He may not reach lottery status, but the versatile wing is clearly feeling himself again and could be moving back into first-round consideration, certainly with a strong postseason.

No, we’re not looking past March and focusing on the draft, but rather acknowledging that Senior Day isn’t necessarily limited to the players out of eligibility. This was almost certainly a Rupp Arena goodbye for several others, as well.

Maybe the rotation isn’t being shortened after all?

It’s no secret John Calipari likes his neat-and-tidy rotations in March, the Hall of Fame coach historically rolling with six to eight guys during tournament time. And it appeared things were trending in that direction again with this group, Aaron Bradshaw and Zvonimir Ivisic on the outside looking in with Ugonna Onyenso emerging as a trusted defensive anchor. It would be the shot-blocking threat and Tre Mitchell making up the core frontcourt rotation with the six other key guards and wings rounding out a firm eight.

And then Bradshaw and Ivisic stepped up in key moments with Mitchell out with a shoulder injury, forcing Calipari’s hand to reconsider.

Now here we are in the home finale with ten different guys playing at least seven minutes, nine with at least 12 and eight with 15-plus.

“I don’t think so,” Coach Cal said of potentially shortening the rotation. “I don’t think so because Z wasn’t at his best today and then Aaron got pushed around so we had to go with Ugo. We needed offense at the end to separate so you go back with Z. We can also play Justin at four. We have been good with Justin at four which we were again today.”

You know someone is going to step up every night with this group, you just never know which three or four will lead the charge. It changes frequently and consistently, especially in the frontcourt.

Now with a full roster at his disposal, Calipari is aborting mission on his go-to March plan and rolling with a game-by-game approach.

“Some of it is the feel of the game. We are diferent,” he said. “And I say it again, we got enough guys we have room for error. Somebody fouls, somebody is just not playing well, OK. Just be ready for the next game and we will finish this without you and don’t worry about it, we’re all good.”

When you’ve got a unique team you’ve got to make unique changes. This is no exception.