Kentucky's Winding Road Leads to Familiar Spot

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky basketball under the guidance of head coach John Calipari has primarily been surrounded by one thing — freshmen.

Good ones, too.

This is nothing new. 5-stars turn into "Burger Boys," who then turn into "Diaper Dandies" and then — most of the time — NBA draft selections. Calipari's magnificent recruiting has stirred the drink in Lexington for quite some time.

That same feel hasn't exactly surrounded the 2022-23 team nearly as much as seasons prior. An easy reason to point to for that is the added mixture of veterans. Just take a second and think about how packed Senior Day will be on the court on March 1 against Vanderbilt. That's not normal inside Rupp Arena these days.

The return of the unanimous National Player of the Year, along with multiple mainstays coming back for another season, the roster appeared cluttered at the beginning of the campaign. The spotlight was still on both Wallace and Livingston, but it wasn't shining nearly as bright as it normally does on the newbies in the Bluegrass.

Until now.

They say "all roads lead to Lexington," but "Lexington" may be code for "relying on freshmen down the stretch of the season."

A little wordy, so I understand why they choose to go with the former for the pregame video at Rupp. Nonetheless, this season is much like others under Calipari, it just took a little longer to get there.

Assistant coach KT Turner said the phrase on Tuesday afternoon when talking about the pair of youngsters — "They're not freshmen anymore."

The reliance upon the freshmen has become so abundant that they've now made the early graduation to the sophomore class. It's a fair remark, as playing nearly 30 games at the University of Kentucky will certainly age someone quicker than most other programs in the country.

It was a rocky road at times, but Big Blue Nation has began to see that next level being taken by both Wallace and Livingston, with emphasis on the latter.

“Chris has really come along on both ends of the court," Turner said of the forward. He's not wrong, either.

The Akron, Ohio native was tabbed as the SEC Freshman of the Week after a 13-point second half on the road at Mississippi State, followed by his first double-double as the Cats toppled Tennessee at home.

It was a tough open to the season for Livingston, as he had to juggle not playing an abundance of minutes while simultaneously being moved from the small forward spot to power forward and then back again. There was a severe lack of consistency.

So much so, that he went on a nine-game stretch at the beginning of SEC play where he didn't score more than six points and played over 20 minutes just twice. Injuries to Sahvir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick forced the hand of Calipari to play Livingston more in a much bigger role, and it's paid off.

He's now played over 30 minutes in five of UK's last six games. During that span, Turner has seen him take an exponential leap.

"He really took it upon himself to pay attention to the details defensively," Turner said. "When you do that, your offensive game just automatically comes when you really focus on playing hard and doing things and paying attention to the details on the defensive end."

The growth of Livingston is welcomed, as it now accompanies Wallace hand-in-hand. The immediate expectations were always a tad bigger for the guard, but he's now also developing into an improved form with Selection Sunday on the horizon.

He's had some rough shooting nights, but an 11-assist effort against the Bulldogs in Starkville led to a 16-point, six-rebound and six-assist outing against the Volunteers over the weekend. Wallace now averages 11.8 PPG, 4.1 APG and 3.7 RPG.

Turner went on to say that Wallace is also "growing into that leadership role," often associated with the point general of the floor. There has been plenty of talk about how much time he should split with Wheeler at point guard, but with the veteran not healthy, he's had more time to flourish in a big way, even playing 77 minutes over the past two games.

"We’re gonna need them down the stretch," Turner said of both freshmen. "It’s really good that they’re getting a lot of minutes right now."

Time will tell how things change upon the return of Wheeler and Fredrick, but there's not much time left. Wednesday night's matchup at Florida is one of just four games left in the regular season.

Whether Kentucky gets to finish the season at full strength or not, it likely won't impact how Calipari, Turner and the rest of the UK staff utilize their pair of blossoming "sophomores" heading into March Madness.

More on Kentucky's win over Tennessee HERE.

More on what UK is expecting from Florida with no Colin Castleton HERE.

COLUMN: Calipari's "refuse to lose" mantra becoming Kentucky's golden gimmick

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