When Kentucky limped out of Tennessee's Thompson-Boling Arena on Jan. 6 with a disappointing loss and a coach questioning his players' toughness and resolve to win, the Wildcats were begging for a player to step forward and lead.
One small problem.
Kentucky has started five freshmen in every game this season and has brought another off the bench as its sixth man. How many realistic candidates could there be?
Enter Wenyen Gabriel, the closest thing this edition of UK basketball has to a "veteran" player. The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward was a big key in helping the Cats bounce back with hard-fought wins over Texas A&M and Vanderbilt last week.
Standing in for Kentucky head coach John Calipari during Monday's press conference previewing the No. 18 Wildcats' (14-3, 4-1 SEC) game at South Carolina(11-6, 2-3 SEC), UK assistant coach Kenny Payne said Gabriel is leading by example.
"We just had a staff meeting, and I said to Cal, ‘His energy, his effort, and what he’s giving us on the floor -- just the fight of it -- is an example of what we need every player to do,'" Payne said.
Told of Payne's comments, Gabriel was surprised.
"He was bragging on me?" Gabriel said with a wide grin. "He was just working us out really, really, really hard yesterday, so he better say something good.
"It just shows he's believing in us and he's proud of the progress we've made."
Gabriel, a former five-star prospect who flashed potential as a freshman before watching his minutes decline due to a lack of weight and strength, is coming into his own as a sophomore. He's averaging a modest 6.5 points and 5.6 rebounds off the bench, but it's not so much the numbers as the energy Gabriel has brought to the floor.
"This kid came here with a bunch of expectations, and it’s easy to get lost in what you are and who you are as a player," Payne said. "He’s finally getting back to being the player that he is: an energy guy, a tough guy, a rebounding guy. Obviously we’d like him to make better decisions handling the ball – he has some unforced turnovers at times – but his energy and his fight and his determination to play winning basketball is really good right now."
Gabriel says it's simply a matter of "letting the game come to you."
"I just go out there and play my heart out," he added. "It's been working out for me today. I think I've got the formula back."
That includes largely ignoring the box score, something for which some of UK's freshmen may be struggling at times.
"I think a lot of what I do is not on the box score," Gabriel said. "... I don't think about numbers when I'm playing. I just go out there and think about energy."
Would it have been that easy for him to do last season?
"Definitely freshman year you get a little bit more concerned with that," Gabriel conceded. "But you start playing the game at Kentucky, and I feel like it's not about numbers here. At Kentucky, we're on the biggest stage, and everyone's watching the games anyway, so you just go out and play the game. You don't have to worry about the numbers."
Sound familiar? Gabriel seems to be buying into Calipari's mantra that a player doesn't have to lead the team in scoring or shots taken -- i.e., Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on the 2012 national championship team -- to get noticed for your play.
It showed Saturday in the Cats' 74-67 win at Vanderbilt. Gabriel had seven points, nine rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal in 29 minutes of action. But perhaps the biggest play of the day was a hustle play, rejecting a Commodore transition basket and saving the ball off the leg of the shooter to help the Cats hang on down the stretch.
"Maybe my best one here," Gabriel said of the defensive gem.
The UK staff is looking for more of that at South Carolina on Tuesday night.
"One of the things that we’re trying to do, we’re trying to be a great road team – a team that can go on the road and fight and get a win," Payne said. "And that starts with guys like Wenyen – that kind of fight. That kind of determination to fight for a rebound. That kind of determination to block a shot at a pivotal time in the game. Take a charge. Dive on the loose ball.
"When you’re playing road games, every little situation on the court, every possession matters. We need that from more than Wenyen, but he’s an example of why we show film and show the players, the younger guys especially, ‘Look at what he’s done. Look at how he fought to get this offensive rebound and he was outside of the 3-point line.'"
