Is it too early to panic about EJ Montgomery?

PJ Washington was not the first, but he is probably the best example of what a second year at Kentucky can do for a highly ranked high school recruit. Washington game back as a changed man with an expanded skill set, and he nearly led the Wildcats to a Final Four.

Many have expected, or at least hoped for, similar development from EJ Montgomery.

In early action this year, however, Montgomery does not seem to have improved much from the end of last season. In fact, at times he looks as though he has regressed.

In the two exhibition games so far, he has scored a total of 11 points, pulled down only 10 rebounds, has shot just 41.6% from the floor, and has 5 turnovers.

In this case, the stats really do not lie. Montgomery has received significant playing time in the two games. He would have played much more in Friday’s matchup with Kentucky State, but he could not stay out of foul trouble. Some of his fouls came from being in a poor defensive position, but others came from just making bad decisions.

With only three true big men on the roster, Kentucky will need a lot of production from all of the front court players. Especially with Nick Richards being day-to-day with an ankle injury, Montgomery’s play needs to be at a high level for this team to succeed.

So that leads to our big question here. After watching Montgomery struggle against sub-par opponents over the last week, is it too early to panic? Does he deserve more time to get going this season, or does Coach Cal need to prepare for minimal production from 2018’s highest-ranked recruit?