Ugonna Onyenso earned starting spot by being a sponge 'He picks this stuff up pretty quick.'

John Calipari has mentioned several times throughout the season how freshman DJ Wagner only needs to be told something once. He’s referred to the point guard as extremely “coachable” — Wagner doesn’t make the same mistake twice after being made aware of what went wrong. A pretty good trait to have, especially for someone running the show.

Turns out, Kentucky has another player on the roster with that exact same quality: sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso.

“I’ll be honest with you, our last year in the summertime, when I do a lot of the stuff with the team, that was one of the things I observed,” Associate to the head coach Bruiser Flint said on Monday. “I was like, you know he picks this stuff up pretty quick. Because he didn’t come when everybody else came. He came a little later… You hope for players like that. But he’s been good, he’s been great. He’s a great kid, he works his butt off. He plays to his strengths, that’s all you can ask for. Like Cal said, he’s like a sponge. You tell him something he knows how to do it.“

Onyenso’s ability to pick up on things quicker than most can be directly linked to him assuming a starting spot over the last couple of games. The 7-footer was in the starting five against Florida and Tennessee, and was even part of the closing lineup down the stretch against Arkansas. Despite missing the first nine games of the schedule while recovering from foot surgery, he’s gotten himself up to speed in a hurry.

It’s been a gradual increase in productivity for Onyenso since his return, too. He averaged just 10 minutes per game over his first five contests back. In the seven games since that number has more than doubled to 22 per game, including two with at least 30 minutes played. Onyenso has been setting career-highs left and right, capped off by a 13-point, 16-rebound, eight-block performance against Florida. While still not perfect, he’s shown clear improvement in just a few games when it comes to defending in the pick-and-roll.

It didn’t take long for Onyenso to surpass both Aaron Bradshaw and Zvonimir Ivisic — Kentucky’s two other seven-footers — in the pecking order, either. He saw the opportunity to steal some playing time from his fellow big men and took full advantage of it.

“I just think Ugo’s been playing really well and I think Cal does an unbelievable job of letting you know, ‘Hey listen, be ready, you’re gonna have your time’,” Flint added. “Ugo’s been playing great, so Ugo, he’s in there right now. If Aaron was the other way we’d be saying the other thing to Ugo. In that respect, I don’t think it’s a big deal. But Aaron, when he’s gotten in the game he’s been fine. But Cal I think does a really good job of explaining that to players about your opportunity and being ready and those things like that. Cal talks about that a lot.”

Even though Bradshaw and Ivisic spread the floor on offense more than Onyenso does, his shot-blocking and physicality around the rim have become important for a Kentucky team that continues to struggle on defense. The struggle would likely be even worse without Onyenso providing resistance in the paint.

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