Ugonna Onyenso stepped up when Kentucky needed him

On Friday, Ugonna Onyenso essentially dared opposing teams to attack the rim against Kentucky.

“If you think you can make a basket, if you think you can go get a layup on us,” The 7-foot sophomore said. “Good luck with that.”

On Saturday, he emphatically backed up that statement.

Onyenso was plugged into Kentucky’s rotation out of necessity on Saturday against Texas A&M. Although his effort came in a tough, 97-92 overtime loss to the Aggies on the road, he more than held his own. With Aaron Bradshaw limited to just six minutes due to non-stop foul trouble, Onyenso played a career-high 31 minutes against A&M. He came into the afternoon averaging just 10 minutes per outing.

And what did he do with all of that extra playing time? Oh, just drop a stat line of seven points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks. Seven points marked a season-high, 10 rebounds tied a career-best, and five blocks set a new personal college record. All five rejections came in the second half. These stats don’t even count all of the shots he altered at the rim, too. The Aggies went 14-29 on layup attempts.

Head coach John Calipari was encouraged by what he saw from Onyenso on Saturday, although he couldn’t help but point out a couple of (justifiable) flaws along the way.

“I thought he did good,” Calipari said postgame. “Had a couple of plays, there was one in regulation where he didn’t get over and a guy goes down, it’s an and-one. Come on man. We’re saying it every timeout. Couple of balls that he could have gotten. But I’ll tell you, he was blocking shots, he was rebounding in traffic, he’s seven-foot tall. Aaron (Bradshaw), it wasn’t his game. That’s what happens sometimes.”

He was still far from perfect, as Calipari mentioned, but Kentucky needed Onyenso in the worst way against Texas A&M. Who knows how the game plays out if he doesn’t come in and have the impact he did? Bradshaw was essentially unplayable due to his lack of discipline on defense. Even Tre Mitchell had an uncharacteristically poor showing. Onyenso made up for most of it.

He scored the baskets around the rim he needed to, attacked the glass (three offensive boards, seven defensive), and controlled the paint. The fact that he started the game by getting posterized and then bounced back to have this performance is no small note, either. Particularly in the second half, he was locked in. He just needs to clean up some of the finer parts of playing team defense.

Coming into the contest, Onyenso was already grading out as an elite shot blocker. Through 51 minutes across his first five games of the season after returning from a foot injury, Kentucky was holding opponents to just 39.3 percent at the rim, per Synergy, whenever the big man was on the court. With Onyenso off the floor? That number soared to 65.4 percent. Opponents can sense his presence.

Kentucky didn’t come away with the win, but a breakout showing from Onyenso should only help this team moving forward. It’s comforting to know that another seven-footer is waiting on the bench and can make a serious impact at a moment’s notice.