Kentucky's Blue-White Scrimmage Final Postgame Notes

On3 imageby:Jack Pilgrim10/23/21

Kentucky’s run of intrasquad scrimmages has come to a close, with the program’s annual Blue-White Game taking place Friday evening at Rupp Arena.

The Blue team defeated the White team by a final score of 108-80, with Oscar Tshiebwe leading the way with 25 points and 21 rebounds. TyTy Washington also added 24 points and 10 assists, while Daimion Collins finished third on the roster with 22 points.

How did the rest of the team play? How many fans were in attendance? What’s next for the Wildcats? All of those questions and more can be answered by reading through the official postgame notes, courtesy of UK Athletics.


Final Score: Blue 108, White 80

Game Notes

  • This was the 13th season the Blue-White Game was played in Rupp Arena. There was no Blue-White Game last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Tonight’s attendance was 11,678.
  • The teams combined to shoot 53.3% from the floor (79 of 148). The Blue team shot 58.0% and 40.7% from 3-point range. The White team was 47.8% from the floor but 36.8% from long range.
  • Perhaps the key to the Blue victory: ball distribution and security. Blue dished out 25 assists with just seven turnovers while White mustered just eight assists with 14 turnovers.
  • Kentucky returns to the court Oct. 29 at Rupp Arena with the first of two exhibition games. UK’s first tune-up will be against Kentucky Wesleyan at 7 p.m. on SEC Network. The Wildcats’ second exhibition game will be Nov. 5 vs. Miles College. That game will also be a 7 p.m. tip on SEC Network in Rupp Arena.
  • The regular season begins Nov. 9 with a neutral-court date vs. Duke on ESPN as part of the State Champions Classic in New York.

In the First Half

  • The White team’s starting lineup consisted of graduate guard Davion Mintz, redshirt sophomore guard Dontaie Allen, graduate guard Kellan Grady, junior forward Keion Brooks Jr. and sophomore forward Lance Ware.
  • The Blue team opened with junior guard Sahvir Wheeler, freshman guard TyTy Washington Jr., freshman forward Bryce Hopkins, freshman forward Daimion Collins and junior forward Oscar Tshiebwe.
  • Tshiebwe opened the game with a layup on the first possession. Allen followed on the next possession with a 3 for the Blue squad’s first bucket.
  • The teams got off to a fast start offensively. At the first media timeout, Blue had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting and White had 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
  • Trailing 11-10, Blue went on a 9-0 run to take a 19-11. Tshiebwe scored six of the nine points.
  • Blue led by as many as 19 points on three different occasions in the first half and as early as the 3:50 mark when Wheeler put Blue up 46-27 with 3:50 left in the half.
  • White got back in the game with a trio of 3-pointers from Washington (one behind the line and one the old-fashioned way) and Mintz to cut the deficit to 52-42. Blue took a 55-44 lead into halftime.
  • Tshiebwe was a force in the first half. He led all scorers with 15 points and nine rebounds.
  • After switching from Blue to White midway through the first half, Washington settled in nicely. He scored 12 of his 14 first-half points for White.  
  • Collins was also in double-digit scoring with 11 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, including a 3-pointer. He added four rebounds and two blocks.
  • Ware was solid in the first half with 10 points and six rebounds.
  • Grady scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
  • Wheeler was solid with a first-half-high seven assists to go along with nine points.
  • Both teams shot it well. Blue was 24 of 41 from the floor (58.5%) and White was 19 of 36 (52.8%).  

In the Second Half

  • With limited depth in an intrasquad scrimmage, the second half was a running clock.
  • Blue snuffed out the late first-half momentum of the White team and pulled away early.
    • Brooks pushed the lead to 68-50 with a jumper with 15:25 left in the first half and then got it to 86-59 on an Allen jumper at the 9:43 mark.
  • Junior Brennan Canada (White) and redshirt junior Zan Payne (Blue) entered the game for the first time at the 6:03 mark. Sophomore Kareem Watkins (Blue) came in at the 4:00 mark.
  • Allen got the Blue team over the 100-point mark with a 3-pointer. 
  • The biggest lead of the game was 108-75 with 3:01 left in the game.
  • With only three subs between the two teams – redshirt junior guard CJ Fredrick and junior forward Jacob Toppin were medically unavailable to play – head coach John Calipari ended the game with 1:27 left on the clock.
  • Brooks played well in the second half with 14 points after intermission.

Player Notes  

  • Oscar Tshiebwe was dominant from start to finish. He totaled game highs in points (25) and rebounds (21).
    • Fourteen of his 21 rebounds were on the offensive end.
    • Tshiebwe was 12 of 15 from the floor.
  • Playing for both squads, TyTy Washington Jr. combined for 24 points and a game-high-tying 10 assists.
    • He was 3 for 5 from behind the 3-point line.
    • He had a game-high three steals.
  • Sahvir Wheeler also had a double-double with 11 points and a game-high-tying 10 assists.
  • Lance Ware went toe to toe with Tshiebwe for most of the night and held his own with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
  • Daimion Collins scored 22 points and made 3 of 4 from long range.
  • Bryce Hopkins recorded 18 points and nine boards.
  • Keion Brooks Jr. totaled 20 points.
  • Dontaie Allen had 16 points on 7 of 13 shooting.
  • Kellan Grady made half his shots (7 of 14) on the way to 16 points.  

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2024-03-28