Future Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was on hand to see his future team on Wednesday night.
The 6-foot-5 Alexander visited Rupp Arena with his Hamilton Heights (TN) teammates as the No. 6 Wildcats handled Valparaiso, 87-63
On a night when 27 NBA scouts were in attendance, freshman big man Bam Adebayo went for 16 points and 7 rebounds, Malik Monk scored 15 points, Derek Willis tallied 12 and Isaiah Briscoe finished with 10. De’Aaron Fox had 9 points and 5 assists and now has 67 assists on the season. Tyler Ulis, who set the single-season assist record last year, had 37 at this point, per ESPN’s Chris Spatola.
Kentucky, which was coming off of Saturday’s home loss to UCLA, is now 35-7 (.833) under Coach John Calipari in “bounce back” games following a loss.
Asked how he keeps his kids focused with 27 NBA scouts there, Calipari said: “Probably they didn’t know, unless they read the paper, where I said there were going to be a lot of NBA scouts there. They probably don’t know.”
Alexander, part of a four-man recruiting class for 2017, played his first game in Kentucky since signing over the weekend at the Marshall County Hoop Fest. He scored 21 points in a 72-62 loss to Duke-bound Gary Trent Jr. and Prolific Prep (CA).
The Wildcats will likely lose freshmen guards Monk and Fox to the NBA Draft, and possibly Briscoe, too.
“Shai is a little bit like Jamal Murray and some other guys we’ve gotten late in the process before,” Calipari said. “He decommitted from a school and called us and asked us if we would be interested in recruiting him. I saw him play in the summer and I thought he was a pretty good player. Then he grew three inches and went and played for the [Canadian] national team. The national team brought out stuff that no one knew, and all of a sudden you’ve got a five-star guard that’s 6-5, 6-6, can make plays and can get in the lane. He can get in the lane like Isaiah Briscoe. He can guard and deflect balls.”
Alexander initially only had a scholarship offer from Binghamton before he blew up and committed to Florida. He then opted to decommit before ultimately signing with Kentucky.
“My confidence is in Coach Cal,” he told Ben Roberts of the Herald-Leader. “Last year, they go with (Jamal) Murray, (Isaiah) Briscoe and (Tyler) Ulis — those are all three ball-dominant point guards coming out of high school. They all played together.”
Kentucky is probably not done replenishing its backcourt, either.
The Wildcats have made Hamidou Diallo a huge priority for the spring. Diallo is eligible for the NBA Draft in 2017, but has said he wants to spend a year in college.
