Malachi Moreno's 'special night' against Mississippi State made history

The Kentucky Wildcats faced a massive amount of adversity on Saturday. No Jayden Quaintance down low, Jaland Lowe exiting just 2:37 into the game, Kentucky had every reason to fold like the other two times Lowe went down with injury. But, they didn't, and it was the freshmen that set the tone, with Jasper Johnson initiating the offense, and Malachi Moreno embracing physicality. Moreno's performance was terrific, as he was set up with a bad matchup, and came out with his best game of the season.

The Georgetown native had his best game of the season by far, finishing with 17 points on 8-10 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, including 4 steals on the defensive end. Moreno answered the bell, like what Mark Pope said his team needed to do earlier this week when talking about their mindset after a rough season to this point. Moreno specifically had every reason to not show up, going against a very physical frontcourt, but he embraced it, coming up with a number of huge offensive rebounds that gave a Kentucky offense that has been struggling this season second chances.

Pope talked about Moreno after the win over Mississippi State, who responded when he was needed. No Jayden Quaintance? No problem for the Kentucky big man. "I thought Malachi Moreno was had an unbelievable night, like, just a really incredible night against an incredible, really physical front line. I mean, you look at his (stat) line, he's six assists, one turnover, four steals. We milked him in the post more than we ever have this season, and he responded. He handled the double team. He was pretty good at one-on-one situations. He handled the short role. I thought he was elite."

The Kentucky head coach went on to have very high praise for Moreno as far as the outlook of the season, and Pope believes big things are ahead for the big man following his 'special night' growing as a player and leader. "I thought this was his best performance all season by far, and it was a time where we really needed him to be great, and he knew that the team needed him to be great. I think he's getting more and more comfortable. We put the ball in his hands deliberately, more than we have, and we'll find, you know, different ways to do that also, but the way we're playing, he also had more space to operate. I mean, frankly, just with the way we played tonight, he had a little more space to operate. So all those things work together. But Malachi is a leader. He was a leader in his high school, on the court and off the court. He'll grow into a great leader here, and he certainly was a great leader on the court tonight."

Moreno's 'special night' was also a historic one. The big man was the first Kentucky player since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2018) to have at least 17 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 4 steals in a single game. Moreno will need to keep this impressive play going, especially if Quaintance continues to be out with knee swelling.