Kentucky Freshmen Always Want to Win in Any Drill

McDonald's All-American Games Photo

On this Kentucky team, sophomores Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso are veterans because they have seven freshmen teammates.

But the good news is that both sophomores said this week that they liked what they had seen from their younger teammates as UK prepares to play in the GLOBAL Jam starting Wednesday in Toronto.

“They compete,” said Thiero “They always want to win. We’re in practice playing 5-on-5 and the score is going on the board, everyone’s getting mad, someone gets scored on, someone’s getting mad. Like, ‘Guard your man.’ There’s a lot of competing in there.”

That’s a really good thing. John Calipari’s best teams have had that kind of win-at-all-time mentality that has not always seemed to be there recently.

“It’s been really amazing playing with the freshmen,” Onyenso said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of talent and it’s really showing. The team chemistry we’ve got, it’s really amazing. How hard we practice because everyone wants to be in the gym, so it’s really amazing to see everyone coming together.”

The team has been together less than a month since four new players were added in recent weeks but Onyenso revealed it has been like the players have been together for a year or more.

“I feel like with this group of guys and the way we’re playing and how hard they want to play, I think we can make a really good run this coming season.”