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After beating No. 8 Miami on Tuesday night, 12th-ranked Kentucky returns to action on Saturday, hosting UNC-Wilmington at Rupp Arena (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
Reed Sheppard was one of the biggest stories of Tuesday’s game. The Kentucky native came off the bench to score 21 points. In addition to leading the team in scoring, Sheppard grabbed five rebounds, had four assists, three steals and a blocked shot.
Sheppard’s backcourt running mate, Rob Dillingham, battled through foul trouble on Tuesday, but still managed to score 12 points and hand out a career-high nine assists.
The Cats now turn their attention to UNC-Wilmington. Dillingham, a North Carolina native, knows some of the Seahawks’ players and he knows that UK cannot overlook UNCW.
“UNC-Wilmington has a bunch of guys that’s from North Carolina so I grew up playing with a bunch of those guys,” Dillingham said. “They move the ball a lot. They’ve got a bunch of players that can score the ball. They’re a good team. We’re not going to take them for granted at all.”
While Kentucky is off to a 6-1 start, there are still a number of areas where the Cats can get even better. Dillingham pointed out a couple of those.
“Definitely just discipline and defense and knowing our assignments and sticking to the game plan,” he said. “Sometimes when we get tired, we don’t stick to the game plan.”
Asked whether he was surprised at how well the team has played so far this year, Dillingham had another word in mind.
“I feel like we’re more proud,” Dillingham said. “It’s not a surprise because we practice for this. We’re just happy and thankful. It’s going good so far.”
Kentucky hopes to continue that early season trend on Saturday against UNC-Wilmington.
Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.
