Even from the bench, DJ Wagner is finding ways to make his voice heard

John Calipari has mentioned plenty of times throughout the season about how vocal freshman point guard DJ Wagner is. Calipari has referred to him as a leader, someone who possesses the will to win and knows how to take tough coaching.

It shows up on the floor. Wagner has already claimed three SEC Freshman of the Week awards. He’s averaging 12 points and 3.7 assists in 28.4 minutes per game this season. Kentucky is 1-3 in games in which the 6-foot-3 point guard doesn’t play.

Even when Wagner isn’t on the floor — he’s missed three straight games now with an ankle injury — his leadership and willingness to speak up still impact his teammates. Watch the Kentucky bench during any of the three previous games and you’ll notice Wagner is always standing, always cheering, and always coaching.

That attitude is beginning to rub off on his teammates. They’re following in the footsteps of their leader. During Friday’s pre-Gonzaga press conference, freshman Jordan Burks talked about Kentucky’s improved connectivity and how it’s progressing as of late. He immediately mentioned Wagner as the starting point.

“DJ. DJ really started it,” Burks said. “Because you always hear DJ’s voice on the court, on the bench, no matter where. If all of us can talk, it just makes the job easy. Why only one person talking? That’s how you stay connected, everybody has to talk. It’s a talking sport… You just gotta talk, you just have to talk to be at the top tier if you wanna be a high-level team like we can be, like we are.”

More communication was the focal point of Friday’s press conference. Every other answer came back to that central theme. If Kentucky wants to continue to improve, particularly on the defensive end, there has to be more talking from everyone on the floor.

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