PREVIEW SERIES: Sacha Killeya-Jones
Cats Illustrated is previewing every scholarship player on Kentucky's 2017-2018 basketball roster.
Part three of the series is on sophomore Sacha Killeya-Jones. The 6-foot-10, 230-pound forward had a disappointing rookie season at UK. We saw plenty of talent and promise from the former five-star recruit in high school. Will it shine through this season?
2016-2017 Recap: It may come off as harsh but Sacha Killeya-Jones may have had the quietest season from a five-star recruit during the John Calipari era at UK. He averaged just 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
He finished his high school career as the No. 25th best player in the class of 2016 and had several triple-double games as a high school star. But that success didn't translate over to Kentucky. Well, if it did we didn't see it. He played just 6.4 minutes per game and didn't leave the bench the final two months of the season.
An illness during the middle of the season certainly didn't help Killeya-Jones' effort. The undisclosed illness was clearly a serious one because other members of the team also missed time.
But some were able to bounce back and find action on the court. That wasn't the case for Killeya-Jones.
His best performance came in November when he finished with 12 points and four rebounds in a blowout win against Tennessee-Martin. He tied a career-high in minutes that game, too (13).
Summer Rumblings: It's been an interesting summer for Killeya-Jones. He's currently on the Great Britain National Team as they prepare for the upcoming EuroBasket event. Killeya-Jones hasn't seen any action on the floor in two games, but he arrived to the training late but has been getting valuable experience playing against grown men that play professional basketball.
Killeya-Jones was also invited to play for the Great Britain U20 team where he would have likely started but the events overlapped with Kentucky's summer semester.
He was on UK's campus this summer and took summer classes while also working out and playing pickup with his teammates. Reports were positive for Killeya-Jones. It's worth noting that summer pickup tales can often be exaggerated.
Matt Pilgram was a beast. Ramon Harris was going to be a breakout star his sophomore, junior and senior season. The point is that it's worth taking summer reports with a grain of salt, but there haven't been lofty expectations for Killeya-Jones. Maybe that's not a good thing. Maybe people are more realistic. However, Cats Illustrated has heard positive things about Killeya-Jones' development, but no one is spewing that he will be UK's best player next season.
2017-2018 Prediction: This will be an important year for Killeya-Jones. UK's frontcourt is more loaded this season than it was last and in 2016-2017 the North Carolina native hardly left the bench.
If Killeya-Jones can't carve out more playing time this season then when will he get an opportunity on the floor? Many considered him the best shot-blocker on the team last year, but that didn't make a big enough difference to get on the floor. Five-star incoming center Nick Richards was considered one of the best shot blockers in high school basketball last season. Will that take away a chance at playing time for Killeya-Jones?
Killeya-Jones is unique for the Cats. Kentucky has several options that can play the three and the four, and a few players that can play the four or the five. But Killeya-Jones, as of now, is the only player with size, strength and a solid offensive skill set. P.J. Washington would be too short to play the five and Richards' offensive game would have to drastically improve to be a high-level scorer.
Killeya-Jones has the size to play the five for UK. We know he can spread the floor because we saw him do it in high school at a high level. We've also seen a solid post scorer, but not at the college level.
As a defender Killeya-Jones will be fine during his sophomore year. He will be able to block shots and he won't be pushed around. But those are the things that Nick Richards can do, too. Killeya-Jones will have to demonstrate that his high school offensive skill set has finally caught up to a college level.
Cats Illustrated prediction is a nice step up for Killeya-Jones. He will triple his averages and be a nice bench player for the Cats.