Kentucky’s first scrimmage of the 2022-23 season showed the Wildcats need work on offense while defensively, they held their own during Sunday’s 56-38 win over Missouri Western.
CJ Fredrick led all scorers with 15 points, including 4 of 6 from 3-point shooting while Jacob Toppin also landed in double figures with 10 points, and he added six rebounds.
Leading rebounder for Kentucky was freshman guard Cason Wallace, who came off the bench to score nine points, grab seven boards and add two assists, two steals and two blocks. Freshman Ugonna Onyenso made an impact on the defensive end with five blocked shots.
“We defended fairly well and scrambled pretty good, and I thought we were good enough,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “But you can’t play offensively like we are in that game.
We can say whatever we want. We had guys that when the game got physical were not making baskets.
“The other thing is a shot goes up, you can accept being blocked out or don’t accept it because what they said is if you don’t block out, you’re going to get dunked on,” he added. “So they went back and we just put two hands in the guy’s back or chest in his back, instead of going around, go get a ball and go at people.”
Fredrick opened the scoring with a jumper-and-one on Kentucky’s second possession.
With Missouri Western leading 8-7, the Wildcats took control with a 9-0 run to take a 16-8 lead.
The Wildcats stretched their lead to 24-10 with 4:28 remaining but Missouri Western closed the first half out with an 8-2 spurt to make the count 26-18 at halftime.
Toppin’s nine points and three rebounds led the UK offense while the Wildcats limited the Griffons to 31 percent from the field (9 of 29).
Both teams began the second half half cold.
Missouri Western scored the first basket to narrow the count to 26-20 and Kentucky’s drought continued until a Toppin steal and fastbreak assist to Fredrick for a 3-pointer with 16:57 remaining.
The Wildcats eased out to a 42-28 lead with 10 minutes remaining, but the pesky Griffons replied with five straight points to cut their deficit to 42-30.
Kentucky put the final touches on its win by outscoring Missouri Western, 14-8, the remainder of the game.
“The sprinting I thought was pretty good, but again, they’re graded,” Calipari said. “So when the grading comes out we’ll have a better idea. I just have to watch — they did a great job of packing it in. We were too wide to start drives. You can’t — you’ve got to be tighter.
“But it’s good to play a team and have done what they did to us,” he added. “But I thought we did a pretty good job of guarding. Then second half I think they had one offensive rebound, but at halftime they had a bunch.”
- Notes
Guard Sahvir Wheeler left the game after suffer an injury.
Calipari said he didn’t have an idea of how severe of an injury Wheeler suffered.
“No, I don’t. Not at this point,” he said. “But he had it — he had to be out a couple days of practice, probably a week ago, I think. He was not in at Pikeville, either. It was the same knee. Like a twisted.”
