With long-awaited UK debut in the books, what's next for Jarred Vanderbilt?
Kentucky suffered arguably its most discouraging loss of the season on Tuesday night at South Carolina, blowing a 14-point lead over the game's final 11 minutes en route to a 76-68 defeat.
In something of a rare occurrence for Big Blue Nation, however, there could be more optimism surrounding the No. 18 Wildcats now than before they played the Gamecocks.
A big reason why is the long-awaited season debut of freshman wing Jarred Vanderbilt. The former McDonald's All-American played his first game in a UK uniform coming off a lengthy rest to allow a preseason foot injury to heal.
His performance -- six points, five rebounds and three assists in just 14 minutes of action off the bench -- exceeded what many had expected. And Kentucky was a plus-7 on the scoreboard when he was on the floor.
"He played hard. He competed. He went after rebounds in traffic, he went and got balls.," UK coach John Calipari said Friday prior to the Cats' practice in advance of this weekend's clash with Florida at Rupp Arena. "He was the only guy. We had guys play 32 minutes and get two rebounds."
The 6-foot-9 Vanderbilt, as advertised, was a jack-of-all-trades for UK in Columbia. His teammates say that was only a glimpse of what they've known and seen in practice for a long time.
"I’ve been knowing Jarred since third grade, like I said, so I know his game pretty much in and out," said fellow freshman and Texas native PJ Washington. "He’s a great player and I just can’t wait for him to be back fully."
And what will that look like?
"It’s going to be great," Washington said. "Jarred’s a beast. He can do everything on the court. He can guard one through five. He can play one through five. He can shoot. He can pass. He can dribble. You all pretty much saw it in just the short spurt he was in. Once he gets back fully healthy with no limits to his playing time, we’re going to be all right."
Added freshman center Nick Richards: "Jarred coming back helps everybody, to be honest. It helps us when I need a break. He can sub in for me and give me a minute. Or if guys like PJ (Washington) or Kevin (Knox) need a break, he can come in and give them a minute as well."
Calipari originally planned for Vanderbilt to play seven to eight minutes in his debut. Vanderbilt nearly doubled that. They'll target 16-18 against Florida (13-5, 5-1 SEC).
"I just told him if you think you can play more, fine. If not, that’s fine too. We’ll just keep going," the UK boss said.
Kentucky (14-4-4-2 SEC) still may not be at full strength. Freshman point guard Quade Green and Tai Wynyard are both questionable with aching backs.
Green's absence, in particular, was felt at South Carolina. The Cats' backcourt struggled royally, combining to score only 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting and failing to register an assist.
"One more perimeter shooter. One more guy that can make baskets," Calipari said of what Green brings to the table that the Cats are currently lacking. "He leads, he talks. He’s one of the most talkative guys, so it’s affected us, but it’s given us a chance to look at other things and other players.
"You know, if we would’ve slipped by that last game, it would’ve been: 'How'd we do this without the kid? But unfortunately we didn’t, and we saw some flaws."
Green is averaging 10.7 points and 3.9 assists per game. He is 40 percent (18 of 45) from the 3-point line, where the Cats went 1-for-11 against South Carolina.