Men's College Basketball

Monday Headlines: Davion Mintz Edition

Mintz is becoming more confident every time he steps on the court.

By John Morgan Francis@MonJorgan Jan 10, 2022, 6:40am EST

Oscar Tshiebwe and TyTy Washington, as they have for a better part of the season, stole the show on Saturday night in the Kentucky Wildcats’ convincing win over the Georgia Bulldogs. While they both filled the stat sheet, Big Blue Nation shouldn’t look past back to back performances by Davion Mintz.

Mintz returned to Kentucky knowing the backcourt would be rather crowded. The Wildcats had local kid Dontaie Allen, incoming transfers Kellan Grady and Sahvir Wheeler as well as top-15 recruit in Washington. While Allen hasn’t yet had much impact on the season, the trio of Grady/Washington/Wheeler has headlined Kentucky’s backcourt.

However, after Wheeler was injured early in Kentucky’s road outing against LSU last week, Mintz had his number called to step in for major minutes. The veteran guard knows Kentucky’s system much better than others and couldn’t have found a better time to find his shooting stroke, too.

While Kentucky did narrowly lose at LSU, it wouldn’t have been nearly as close without Mintz stepping in and scoring 16 points. He followed up his hot shooting with 19 in the team’s win over Georgia on Saturday.

Even when Wheeler returns from injury, Mintz should and will hold a consistent role in the team’s offense. Every championship contender needs players that can regularly make shots — especially from behind the three-point arc. Mintz fills that role perfectly while also being able to facilitate the basketball when Washington/Wheeler are out of the game.

Mintz may not be the star of the Wildcats, but he is part of the glue that has held this offense together over the last two games and will continue to do so as SEC play continues.

Tweets of the Day:

Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us. One last ride #BBN pic.twitter.com/c3sHrRIO1N
— Jordan Wright (@JayyDubb15) January 9, 2022