Three things we learned from Kentucky's win over Ole Miss
The Kentucky Wildcats were able to take down the Ole Miss Rebels in Rupp Arena to snap the three-game losing streak.
This was a must-win game for Kentucky as they have a tough stretch of the schedule ahead, and it will likely keep the Wildcats off of the bubble.
We learned a lot from this basketball game, including this Kentucky team is capable of playing defense. Luckily for the Wildcats, Ole Miss was missing contested shots, which hasn't been the case all season. Kentucky had a bunch of defensive possessions where they looked really good and had a handful of kills (three straight defensive stops). If the defense plays like this, Kentucky can beat good teams. We also learned that Ugonna Onyenso is one of the best shot blockers in college basketball. He blocked ten shots against Ole Miss and averages 3.2 blocks per game on the year. If Onyenso played all year, he would be the nation's top shot blocker. If Onyenso can continue to get more physical and develop his offensive game, he will be a star at the next level. The last thing we learned is that Reed Sheppard is just truly an incredible player. He had 13 points against Ole Miss on 5-10 shooting and 3-6 from deep. He also dished out five assists, grabbed four boards, and had five steals. Sheppard led Kentucky in +/- with a +19.
John Calipari had this to say about Onyenso after the win over Ole Miss, "How about he made free throws? If you think about it. Those are big. Now. I told him you can't go one for two and missed a dunk and then go one for two from the foul line. Dunk it, and then you will get one more, and if you miss that, it's okay, we've got two."
This game shows that if Kentucky can just play a little bit of defense, they can beat a quality basketball team.
