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The Kentucky Wildcats were able to pick up a huge win on Saturday in Fayetteville as they took down the Arkansas Razorbacks by a score of 73-66.
That win also included the seemingly inevitable awakening of Johnny Juzang.
The former five-star freshman has seen limited minutes this season, as well as dealing with an illness that kept him out of multiple games.
However, it appears Coach Cal’s message finally got across to him and Keion Brooks: shoot the ball and be confident.
This was the beginning of it, as Juzang makes a sweet fake before stepping in and drilling the midrange jumper.
Johnny Juzang with the fake pic.twitter.com/U7wbfNuACf
— Adizzle (@Adizzle35) January 18, 2020
Later, he also knocked down a pretty three-pointer off the extra pass from Nate Sestina.
Glad to see @JohnnyJuzang starting to heat up
— U of K Sherrif (@UofKSheriff) January 19, 2020
pic.twitter.com/iUYD2z9xxO
He only scored five points, but his presence was felt in more ways than one as he logged a career-high 17 minutes yesterday.
Standing at 6-7, Juzang is an excellent rebounder. He also hustles the entire time he’s on the court. Even when the shots don’t fall, you can tell Juzang is working to get better each and every play.
The problem is that Cal historically has a short leash for shooters. We saw it last year with Jemarl Baker and it’s been the same for Juzang.
But don’t forget Juzang is young. He reclassified to join this year’s team, so he should be a senior in high school right now.
The fast pace of college has made it difficult for him to adjust so far, but it looks like he may finally be adapting.
Juzang has the potential to be an elite scorer and Kentucky needs another guy to step up.
Now, let’s just hope he can find some more confidence and consistency as this season progresses.