NCAA Basketball: Gonzaga’s comeback, Villanova’s upset and other takeaways

Kentucky’s newcomers have played well without the star big man

National Player of the Year center Oscar Tshiebwe missed the first week of games, still recovering from a minor keen surgery done last month. Turns out that it’s a little more “minor” than the team let on, with his status for the Champions Classic matchup with Michigan State questionable at best. Also out is fellow big man Daimion Collins, who recently lost his father, while point guard Sahvir Wheeler came back and played 26 minutes, producing 11 points and 11 assists in their 77-52 win over Duquesne on Friday.

The quality level of opponents this week (Howard and Duquesne) weren’t great but it still was a nice display from the transfer guards, Antonio Reeves and CJ Fredrick. They have been the two leading scorers in the first two games, combining to produce 42 points against Howard and 34 versus the Dukes, while shooting over 50% from deep.

Obviously, the usage rate of the guards will go down once Tshiebwe returns and dominates the paint but it also means that both Reeves and Fredrick will have plenty of space on the perimeter as well. And with one of the best passers in NCAA Basketball back and healthy, the roster looks to be in great shape this season; at least once the star big is back and 100%.

We’ll see how good these guards look against power conference competition soon.