Sitting at 9-4 on the year to wrap up the non-conference schedule with a 10-day break separating the Bellarmine win from the start of SEC play at Alabama, Kentucky has seen the highest highs and the lowest lows. The Wildcats steamrolled the lesser competition and looked like world-beaters in the second half against St. John’s to close out the 12-point win, but then you have performances like Michigan State and Gonzaga weighing this group down at the midway point.
Are they closer to the team that showed up against the Johnnies in Catlanta or against the Zags in Nashville? Fraud or serious contender?
When asked to give the Wildcats a season grade through 13 games, Kam Williams, fresh off his career-high 26-point, eight-3-pointer performance against the Knights, turned heads with his response.
“I’d give us an A-plus,” the UK sophomore said. “I feel like we’re one of the best teams in the country. We work hard every day in practice and I can see our potential in these games that we play.”
Quite the statement for a Kentucky team with one single Quad 1 victory and four such losses. And in that win, the Wildcats needed yet another second-half comeback to pull it off — as good as they looked in those 20 minutes.
What gives him that confidence? Well, how good they looked in those 20 minutes.
That’s the only half of basketball this group has been at full strength with Jaland Lowe and Mo Dioubate back on the floor and Jayden Quaintance making his debut. Funny what happens when you have all of the pieces to your puzzle, right?
“We’re at our 100% healthy team,” Williams continued. “I feel like we’re the most dangerous, so we just got to go out there and prove it.”
Quaintance had that same blunt confidence coming off his debut, using that as a hard reset point for the team that had been destroyed by injury up to that. Why hold those struggles against the Wildcats if you couldn’t see the full picture of Mark Pope’s vision when he built the roster this past offseason?
It was simply about getting by until they could all come together for the very first time. And once they got to that point, they wouldn’t look back.
“It was a great feeling, seeing everybody. You could just tell the energy was different,” Quaintance said of the St. John’s game and the clarity that came with it. “Like on the bench, everybody was super excited. Everybody was loud on the court. Everybody was moving. Everybody was talking more than we were before.
“I felt like everybody had that buy-in and confidence, knowing that everybody was here and that we really had a chance to be special. I felt like everybody felt it. On the team, in the arena, I felt like everybody felt it. So it was fun.”
In his first media appearance as a Wildcat back in the summer, Quaintance said, “I feel like we could be one of the best defensive teams in the country. … We have a really good chance to be special this year defensively.”
Fast forward to today, and he’s more confused than anything why that dominance has shown in flashes — particularly with the team at full strength in that win over the Johnnies. That’s what they were talking about, why Pope was saying this team had ‘smash-mouth basketball’ potential, even if the shots aren’t falling on any given night.
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“I mean, I’ve been saying this since the summer. I feel like we have a chance to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. I feel like we still have that chance,” the Arizona State transfer continued. “Again, we had a couple of rough games to begin and I feel like a couple people forgot about us. People push us to the side, they forget, but we still stand on everything we said before.
“We have the same team, we have the same guys, we have the same confidence. I feel like we’re going to be everything that we said we’re going to be and more.”
What does that look like, exactly? And more importantly, where does it lead these Wildcats?
Say, Indianapolis for the Final Four? Fans and media panicked after those four losses, but those inside that locker room never wavered in that pursuit of banner No. 9.
“We still think we’re a national championship team. We’re still going for number nine,” Quaintance said. “We’re still coming for everything. I feel like we can be one of the best defensive teams in the country. I said that last summer. I still stand on that. I feel like offensively, once we find rhythm, I feel like we’re great. … When we have momentum, when we have everybody going, everybody clicking, I feel like we can be a great team, so I’m super excited to see what we can do.
“I’m not shying away from the offensive excellence that we’re going to have at some point. We can win in the mud right now and win how we have to, but let’s not get it twisted — we’re still going to be a great shooting team. We’re still going to be a great offensive team.”
Immediately after those comments, the Wildcats went nuclear from the perimeter with 16 made 3-pointers on 30 attempts with Kam Williams hitting eight of them himself. Defense took a step back, but hey, it was two days before Christmas with the team getting three full days off and 10 total before the Alabama game.
It’s never acceptable to sleepwalk, but it all just kind of made sense. You take more from the hot shooting than the minimal pushback on the other end of the floor against a hungry Bellarmine team known for finding holes and catching defenses slipping.
“I mean, we’ve seen it all summer and I just feel like that’s kind of how the game goes. The work always shows what you’re doing. The dark always comes to light,” Quaintance said. “I feel like everybody here is a hard worker. Everybody here knows what to do. We have a great coach. We have a great system. I feel like just shots haven’t been falling. The confidence has been kind of back and forth.
“I feel like once we find that, I feel like we’re going to be special.”
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