Could this be the game where Ugonna Onyenso becomes the backup big for Cats?

screenshot-2022-12-05-at-2-42-16-am

Ugonna Onyenso held his own against Michigan All-American Hunter Dickinson Sunday. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky certainly got a needed 73-69 win over Michigan Sunday in London, its first non-conference win this season against a Power-Five team.

It was not a must-win scenario when it comes to NCAA Tournament seedings, but it was pretty important because a loss to Michigan following losses to Michigan State and Gonzaga would have been something the NCAA selection committee would not have overlooked — especially with non-conference games against UCLA and Kansas still looming on the schedule.

But Sunday’s win might have been a turning point for the Wildcats for another reason. For the first time in a big game, coach John Calipari went with freshman Ugonna Onyenso as the primary backup to Oscar Tshiebwe instead of junior Lance Ware.

Ware normally gives a maximum effort. He plays physical. He accepts his role. But he just does not have the upside the much  more athletic Onyenso does.

After barely playing against Michigan State and Gonzaga, Onyenso got in for a productive 7 minutes, 25 seconds.

He made his only shot from the field, a layup that put UK ahead for good at 51-50 with 12:12 to play. He went 2-for-2 at the foul line. He also had two rebounds and once again blocked two shots.

With Tshiebwe in foul trouble, Onyenso had to guard Michigan All-American big man Hunter Dickinson. The Michigan star beat Onyenso a few times but he blocked two of Dickinson’s shot and did not seem to play in fear.

Ware played 1 1/2 minutes and did not have a rebound or shot. As much as Calipari has given him chances to solidify the backup spot, even the Kentucky coach — who is not easily prone to change — seems to have seen the light.

“You know now that I need to play Ugonna,” Calipari said after the game. “He’s gotta be that other big, and that’s what I’ll do.”

But will Calipari do it? Often he’s talked about “needing” to play a specific player more and has not done it. However, this seems to have been coming. Ware played 41 minutes combined in UK’s first two games with Tshiebwe injured. He played 15 minutes against Michigan State, 14 against South Carolina State, 10 against Gonzaga and eight against Bellarmine, and just two against Michigan.

Sunday’s game was another downward trend for Ware and upward trend for Onyenso and by March that could be the most significant thing that happened in London.

2 Responses

  1. Larry, you hit the key difference here…Onyenso has a much higher ceiling than Ware. Ware has pretty much plateaued out. If Onyenso gets 10 minutes of PT every game, he will be a beast come tourney time. Ware will likely transfer, maybe even after the Christmas break. Ugonna blocks/changes shots, rebounds, and hits free throws. I can see him getting a couple of garbage buckets and throwing down a couple of lobs. Add 3 to 4 free throws and he is a solid double digit scorer with a half dozen rebounds…not bad for 10 to 12 minutes of play. He can play the 5 and 4 if needed. The verdict is still out on whether Collins is going to catch on or not this year. Maybe seeing him get Ware’s minutes will motivate Collins to make the most of his PT or possibly lose them.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

All articles loaded
No more articles to load
Loading...