Tonight's Wish List For Kentucky Basketball vs. Marshall
Your University of Kentucky Wildcats host Marshall tonight at Rupp Arena in a non-conference matchup set for 7 p.m. on SEC Network. A win is expected as Kentucky is a heavy double-digit favorite playing on its home court. But, if I may get picky about how it all plays out, these are some specific things I’d like to see in tonight’s game.
A Kentucky-Marshall wish list:
More Growth From DJ Wagner
After a sluggish start to his freshman season, DJ Wagner took a big step forward in the fourth game of his career, the win over Stonehill, and then another big step forward Monday night against St. Joseph’s. Against the Hawks, Wagner scored a team-high 22 points with six assists and three rebounds. He still struggled to finish at times, but he found the mark on seven of eight free throws in the overtime win. Wagner will have the ball in late-game situations, so his ability to knock down the free ones was one of my biggest takeaways from that game, although Kentucky did not shoot well as a team: 66.7%.
Tonight, I want to see Wagner continue to get better as the Wildcats’ primary point guard. John Calipari said last week that we’re “just starting to see who he is,” so let’s see what is next in his bag. Ideally, those layups will start going in. He still has to earn some trust on the attack. It’s like he’s had the yips.
More Threes!
The Basketball Bennies grew tired of long twos and players who can’t spread the floor the last three seasons, so Kentucky is really spoiling us right now with the way the Wildcats are playing so far in 2023-24. Against St. Joseph’s, Kentucky hit 12 of 25 three-pointers, marking a third straight game of hitting at least 10 three-pointers. Until this season, a Kentucky team hadn’t hit 10+ threes in three consecutive games since beating Mississippi State, No. 1 Arkansas, and No. 17 Florida in the 1994 SEC Tournament. That ’93-94 team had a freshman named Sheppard, too.
Through five games in ’23-24, UK averages 11.6 three-pointers per game, the best mark in the SEC and the sixth-most nationally.
Shoooooooooooooooot!
Justin Edwards’ Highlight Dunk
Like Wagner, five-star freshman Justin Edwards has had some early struggles, including getting the ball over the rim on dunk attempts. Edwards has been pinned, stripped, and swatted when trying to attack, so tonight I hope Edwards, who once told me he wants to dunk on everybody, dunks on somebody.
Hotter Start
Kentucky went down early in all five of its game so far: St. Joe’s (7-2), Stonehill (8-2), Kansas (9-0), Texas A&M Commerce (11-2), and New Mexico State (6-2). Whatever is keeping the Cats from being the early aggressor, especially at home, tonight it would be nice to see a hot start right away.
If Marshall comes out banging threes out of the locker room, Rupp Arena may be cursed, and we’ll just have to live with the other guys getting hot first. It happens way too often.
Aggressive Reed Sheppard
Much has been made about Reed Sheppard‘s early impact. At least twice this season he has completely flipped the script when he checked in for the first time, often making his presence known in ways other than scoring the basketball. He had the 25-point game we all remember well, but he also has games with three and zero points scored, the latter being Monday night against St. Joe’s.
Tonight, Reed should keep being Reed, but with more than one shot attempt.
More Assist-To-Turnover Ratio Fun
It’s unbelievable that Kentucky’s freshman-heavy backcourt averages only eight turnovers per game through the first five games. Even better, that number is 6.5 in the four games at home.
The Cats are not only protecting the ball but also sharing it. UK is dishing out 18.6 assists per game while leading the SEC with a 2.32 assist-to-turnover ratio. That’s the fourth-best mark in the country.
Rebounding
Rebounding will be on every wish list until the team gets some size off the bench. St. Joe’s thrived on the offensive glass in the first half last week, grabbing nine offensive rebounds on 22 missed shots, until Kentucky improved its effort on the glass in the second half.
Rebound, rebound, rebound.
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