LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The best thing about these exhibitions, in the end, isn’t so much what you learn about the team that is supposed to win them. There was never any real doubt that No. 2-ranked Kentucky would put away defending NAIA national champion Georgetown College Sunday night in Rupp Arena. It won the game 80-53 after sprinting to a 25-6 lead.
The fun part was seeing the guys from Georgetown get this moment. Do you think Georgetown guard Jake Ohmer, transfer from Western Kentucky and prep legend at Scott High School, wasn’t having fun? Ohmer, from Taylor Mill, Ky. scored 106 points in a magical three-game Sweet 16 run in Rupp Arena as a senior at Scott in 2017.
He had 25 in a losing effort at Rupp on Sunday. He lost the game, but gained a pretty good story to tell his kids one day.
“He picked up where he left off in the state tournament,” Georgetown coach Chris Briggs said. “We were practicing in here yesterday and I am running up and down and getting a little exercise in here before we start and I said, 'Jake, how many did you score in here? About 100?' and he looked at me and said, '106, Coach.'"
Ohmer was the only Georgetown player in double figures. The Tigers are good, but they couldn't handle Kentucky's length, turned the ball over 14 times and shot just 25 percent from the field.
But Briggs, who was a student manager from 2001 to 2004 and a graduate assistant coach under Tubby Smith for two years after that, understands what the game meant.
“What an amazing experience that is for our young men,” he said. “To get the chance to come into Rupp Arena and play the Kentucky Wildcats, it's something a lot of people dream of and most kids in Kentucky dream of playing for the Kentucky Wildcats, like this young man (Jake Ohmer) and I probably did.”
Dreams, however, don’t stop reality.
In its first exhibition against outside competition, Kentucky showed an ability to lock down an opponent, especially when point guard Ashton Hagans is on the court. The Wildcats never looked out of control in blasting to an early 25-6 lead. They moved the ball well, created open looks and buried three-pointers, 9 of 22 for the game.
Hagans was efficient on both ends, finishing with 14 points, 6 assists and 4 steals. Immanuel Quickley led the Wildcats with 16 points on 5 of 7 shooting, including 3-4 from three-point range. Nate Sestina contributed a double-double off the bench, 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The only real red flags were a turned ankle for big man Nick Richards, who had 6 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes before leaving for the rest of the game, and a lack of rebounding.
A smaller Georgetown team outrebounded Kentucky 45-39, and was able to grab 16 offensive rebounds – though when you miss 48 shots you’re bound to get some of them back.
UK coach John Calipari hasn’t settled on a starting lineup – Keion Brooks was the only freshman in the starting five on Sunday.
"I've said from day one is the physicalness, toughness, that we are going to have to play with (there)?" Calipari said after the game. "Georgetown was physical and outrebounded us, and most of it was just scrappiness. You had to go in and they were going to throw a body on you. They are not just letting you go get balls, and they played well."
"We started the game so good defensively, made some shots, but we held them to 15 points with two minutes to go, and then all of a sudden it's a 10-3 run by them," Calipari continued. "Then you have to go back to the tape and say, 'Who was in the game?' You can't be in the game at that time. So now, all of a sudden it's a closer game and they get it to 17, but we just got a long way to go. We're shorthanded up front without Nick, we're really shorthanded. Don't know how long he'll be out. You know, it's -- it's, everybody buying into defensively how we've got to play, and to do that, you can't be thinking just offense. You've got to focus on our team, but it takes -- for all that you've seen, I remember sitting here last year, we played IUP and I'm like, oh, my gosh, we're up nine at half, luckily and I'm like, wait a minute, how in the world are we going to win any games? So just about every year, I'm in the same mode. How are we going to do this; where are we going to get buckets? We posted the ball and couldn't make two footers. Come on, now. Where are we -- Immanuel has gotten so much better. He's showing it. But we've got guys that just got to develop better habits. That's the biggest thing.”
Kentucky has a few days to work on it before its second exhibition on Friday night against Kentucky State. The Wildcats open the season against No. 1 Michigan State on Nov. 5 in New York.
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