NCAA Basketball: Takeaways from 2020 Champions Classic participants

Kentucky Wildcats – Play the veteran guys more

The easy takeaway would be to talk about the massive problem of three-point shooting, with the Wildcats going 3-21 from distance in this game. But that’ll be a problem all season with little solution, so I’ll focus on the other key concern.

It’s been talked all offseason on how young and new Kentucky’s roster is, with just one returning scholarship player from a year ago. You expect to have ups and downs but at 1-2, it’s clear that the margin of error this season is much less than in the past, regardless of how much raw talent this team has.

With the exception of Isaiah Jackson (7 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 blocks), the rest of the freshmen completely struggled. That included guards Terrence Clarke, BJ Boston Jr. and Devin Askew, who on his own went for 1/5 from the field with seven points total. Add his two-point effort against Richmond and there needs to be serious questions about whether he can be the starting point guard of a Final Four contender.

The potential replacement would be grad transfer Davion Mintz, who has looked solid so far with the Wildcats. He tied for the team-lead with 12 points off the bench and made two of Kentcuky’s trio of three-pointers in the game.

Between his experience and career 35% shooting from three-point range, he would give Kentucky multiple things they don’t have. He’s a capable ball-handler and defender as well. Another player to consider for more minutes is Rhode Island transfer Jacob Toppin, who scored six points in 12 minutes but provided a major second-half spark for the Wildcats.

Kentucky Basketball will certainly get better as their underclassmen gets more experience. But the transfers were brought in for a reason and should get even more minutes than they are currently getting. At 1-2 and with a difficult non-conference schedule remaining, they should lean on the veteran players to guide them through this rough patch.