Some Kentucky basketball notes before the Wildcats’ Southeastern Conference opener on Wednesday against Missouri:
▪ UK center Oscar Tshiebwe leads the nation in rebounding at 15.5 per game. Fardaws Aimaq of Utah Valley is second at 13.7 per game. Illinois center Kofi Cockburn is third at 12.1 per game.
▪ Aimaq leads the nation in double-doubles with 10. Tshiebwe is second with nine. Aimaq has played one more game (12) than has Tshiebwe (11).
▪ Kentucky leads the nation in rebound margin at plus-17. Purdue is second at plus-15.
▪ Kentucky has outrebounded 10 of its 11 opponents. Notre Dame was the only team to beat UK on the boards, 33-28 in South Bend.
▪ UK leads the nation in offensive rebound percentage at 45.4. Illinois is second at 41.5. TCU is third at 41.4.
▪ Tshiebwe ranks seventh nationally in field goal percentage at 64.91. He has made 74 of his 114 shots from the floor.
▪ After blocking seven shots in Western Kentucky’s 95-60 loss to Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Dec. 22, WKU 7-foot-5 center Jamarion Sharp leads the nation in blocked shots at 5.0 per game. Obinna Anochili-Killen of Marshall is second at 4.69 per game.
▪ UK guard Sahvir Wheeler is second in the nation in assists per game at 7.7. Saint Louis’ Yuri Collins leads the nation at 7.9. Over his last two games, Wheeler has 16 assists and six turnovers.
▪ Through 11 games, Wheeler has 85 assists. Through 11 games last season, Devin Askew had 34 assists; Davion Mintz had 30.
▪ Wheeler’s 26 points and eight assists against North Carolina was the best combined total (26-or-more points and eight-or-more assists) by a UK guard since Tyler Ulis scored 27 points and dished 12 assists at South Carolina on Feb. 13, 2016. Ulis had 26 points and eight assists at Kansas on Jan. 30, 2016.
▪ Kellan Grady has made 11 of 16 three-point shots in his last two games, wins over North Carolina on Dec. 18 and Western Kentucky on Dec. 22. He was 5-of-7 against UNC and 6-of-9 against Western. The transfer from Davidson scored in double figures twice in his first nine games as a Wildcat. He scored 18 against North Carolina and 23 against WKU.
▪ Freshman guard TyTy Washington scored 20 points against Western Kentucky, matching his career-high of 20 points against both Ohio and Albany. Washington was 9-of-13 from the floor against the Hilltoppers. He has reached double figures in eight of UK’s 11 games.
▪ Over his last four games, Washington has 20 assists as compared to seven turnovers.
▪ Kentucky is 16th nationally in assists per game at 17.6. Cornell leads the nation at 21.6 assists per game.
▪ Kentucky is 27th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.46. Northwestern leads the nation at 2.20.
▪ Jacob Toppin played a season-high 24 minutes and scored a season-high 12 points in the win over Western Kentucky. Toppin’s career-high in points as a Wildcat is 16 against Vanderbilt on Feb. 17, 2021. His career-high in minutes as a Wildcat is 30 at Ole Miss on March 2, 2021.
[Kentucky basketball individual game-by-game stats]
▪ Toppin did have a career-high six assists against the Hilltoppers. His previous high was three in UK’s previous game, against North Carolina. His season-high in assists last season was two — against LSU on Jan. 23 and Vanderbilt on Feb. 17.
▪ Davion Mintz is just 2-of-12 from three-point range over UK’s last three games. That includes his 0-for-5 effort in the loss at Notre Dame on Jan. 11. Mintz does have five assists, as compared to two turnovers, in his last two games.
▪ Foul trouble limited Keion Brooks to a season-low 13 minutes against Western Kentucky. The junior forward scored five points, had two assists and grabbed one rebound.
▪ Lance Ware played a season-high 14 minutes in the win over North Carolina, but sat out the Western Kentucky game because of injury. The sophomore center has played in just six of the Wildcats’ 11 games thus far.
▪ Bryce Hopkins has played 21 minutes in UK’s last three games. He scored five points against North Carolina and two against Western Kentucky.
▪ Freshman Daimion Collins has played 14 minutes in UK’s last three games. He has blocked four shots in those 14 minutes.
[Kentucky basketball season statistics]
▪ Dontaie Allen has played just three minutes in December. All three came against Southern on Dec. 7. He turned down a chance to enter the game with the walk-ons late in UK’s 98-69 win over North Carolina in Las Vegas on Dec. 18. (John Calipari said he was fine with that.) Allen did not play because of injury against Western Kentucky on Dec. 22.
▪ Kentucky shot 55.9 percent from the floor in the win over Western Kentucky. That was second only to the 57.1 percent against Robert Morris on Nov. 13.
▪ Kentucky is 15th nationally in field goal percentage at 49.45. Colorado State leads the nation at 52.97.
▪ Kentucky is 13th nationally in scoring offense at 83.3 points per game. Arizona leads the nation at 89.5.
▪ After going 2-for-19 from three-point range in the loss at Notre Dame, UK is 17-of-35 from three over its last two games. The Cats were 8-of-15 in Las Vegas against North Carolina and 9-of-20 at Rupp against Western Kentucky.
▪ Overall, UK is shooting 33.3 percent from three-point range. That ranks 170th nationally.
▪ UK is shooting 55.8 percent from two-point range, which ranks 25th nationally.
▪ Kentucky’s three best games in points per possession: 1.395 vs. Robert Morris; 1.360 vs. North Carolina; 1.281 vs. Western Kentucky.
▪ Kentucky is currently 11th in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings. UK is 29th in Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency rankings.
▪ UK is 11th in Pomeroy’s overall efficiency rankings. The Cats are 23rd in the NET rankings and 17th in Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings. Kentucky is eighth in ESPN’s BPI rankings.
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 11:21 AM.
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