The Kentucky Wildcats have wrapped up the annual Blue-White Game. This year’s intrasquad scrimmage saw the Blue Team knock off the White Team, 88-67.
Here are three things to know from what was overall a solid performance by the Cats.
Injury Updates
The Cats got good news right away with Tai Wynyard able to play after missing several weeks with a back injury. However, UK was still without Jemarl Baker, who has missed the last week with a knee injury that’s believed to be minor.
As for Jarred Vanderbilt, he continues to sit out as the team decides how to handle his knee injury. During the broadcast, Vanderbilt gave an update to the SEC Network crew.
"Right now we are just playing it by ear,” said Vanderbilt of his injury. “Playing it safe. Doing what's best for my career, not rushing anything. Staying optimistic. Hoping for the best."
If this basketball thing doesn’t work out, Vanderbilt is coming for Jimmy Dykes’ job:
Jarred Vanderbilt wants to be like Jimmy Dykes when he grows up. pic.twitter.com/oDE3f9ZEFJ
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) October 20, 2017
There were also several players leave this game early due to cramping, but none of them looked like anything to worry about.
Three-Point Shooting Looks Good
One of the biggest question marks with this team has been the three-point shooting. While the Blue-White Game can’t have too much stock put into it, the Cats did look good shooting from deep. We saw Quade Green, Hamidou Diallo, Wenyen Gabriel, Kevin Knox, Sacha Killeya-Jones and even Brad Calipari stroke it from deep.
Sacha Killeya-Jones drains the 3. pic.twitter.com/WzWX6DFkmP
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) October 20, 2017
Quade Green knocks down the 3 off the dribble handoff from PJ. pic.twitter.com/7AA8DbGx9b
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) October 20, 2017
This is still a question mark, but it’s one you can feel slightly more optimistic about going into the exhibition slate.
Gabriel Looks Confident
Wenyen Gabriel looks like he’s finally stopped thinking about making the play and is just playing now. He had all the talent in the world to be great last year, but his confidence level dropped too easily.
Now, he’s just going out and playing freely now, like he did against LSU last season, and we saw him have that kind of performance tonight. John Calipari has said Gabriel is one of this team’s three best players when he’s at his best, and we saw a nice glimpse of that tonight.
Here are some highlights from the game:
Here is the final box score:
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