Jacob Toppin may have broken his nose, but he still helped Kentucky win

With all respect to Lance, how about Jacob? Despite maybe getting his nose broken in the first half and playing in a mask in the second, Jacob Toppin turned in a game-changing performance, putting up 10 points (5-6 FG), 3 blocks, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist in 20 minutes. The numbers don’t really do him justice. As always, Toppin infused Kentucky with energy, swinging a one-point deficit to the ‘Dores in the second half to a three-point lead with back-to-back blocks. A few minutes later, he had back-to-back buckets to help offset Jordan Wright’s onslaught of ridiculous shots. When you look at analytics, Toppin was +10 in plus/minus efficiency, second only to Davion Mintz (+18). In the second half, he was a team-best +12.

After the 77-71 win, John Calipari said he believes Toppin’s nose is broken, which makes his performance that much more impressive.

“I thought Jacob and Davion played unbelievably well. It looks like Jacob may have a broken nose. I don’t know, but he played with it, and that showed us a lot. These two, the way they’re playing and TyTy finished the game, playing well, and Sahvir made big baskets. He made that jump shot, made that floater.”

Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington were more than happy to heap praise on their teammate — even if they couldn’t understand what he was saying with the mask on.

“Oh, his energy!” Wheeler said. “His energy, his presence. He was talking. Even with the face mask, you can barely understand him, but you know he was saying something, and that is big-time right there, and for him to have the ball and still kind of make those shots, the same thing Coach got on him early in the first half and was, like, why shoot an airball three when you can step in and make midrange, 75%, 80% of the time. He adjusted to that, took constructive criticism, took that with him on the offensive end. And defensively, he was the anchor in the second half. Being able to switch and being able to talk out the actions and contest and blocking shots, coming from the weak side and finishing possessions for us on the defensive end as well.”

In the first half, Toppin airballed a three. Washington joked that his mask made him shoot straight in the second half, when he was a perfect 3-3 from the floor.

“After he shot that three — Coach Cal always tells us to shoot the ball straight. So when he shot it to the right, I said that wasn’t straight, right? Then he got his face mask, like he started shooting the ball straight making a whole bunch of baskets. What he did for us on defense was phenomenal. He brings that for us every game. He is always rebounding, he is just an energy guy for us. For him to make those big baskets and big moments when we needed them, that was pretty good.”

In a time where bench players are absolutely essential, Calipari was most happy to see Mintz and Toppin seize their moment, even when it means playing through adversity.

“Davion and Jacob were the two that were the difference-makers, just their energy. I mean, it’s hard to explain to guys all the time that it’s your passion, your energy, your fight, and, well, what about my skill, and I can shoot and all — well, you know, this thing that they want to do, in most cases, it’s going to be the team that wants it the most, that plays with the most energy, that plays with the spirit about them.

“How about some of the blocks that Jacob had? It was ridiculous. So it’s a good first one.”

One of many, we hope.