No. 23 Kentucky faces its first potential challenge of the young season on Saturday as a veteran Bucknell squad comes to Lexington.
The Patriot League visitors feature four seniors and six juniors returning from last season. Needing to replace only three players, the Bison (2-0) brought back 71.4 percent of last year’s scoring and 78 percent of the rebounding.
Bucknell already has rallied to win two games on the road, starting the season with two away victories for the first time in 19 years. On Thursday at Southern Indiana, the Bison came back from a six-point deficit with less than five minutes left in regulation to force overtime in an eventual 75-69 victory in Evansville.
The Bison won the rebounding battle in both games, which assistant coach Matt Griffin said has helped them get off to the perfect road start.
“We talk about this in practice all the time. You fall back on your habits when things get chaotic,” Griffin said on the school’s postgame radio show Thursday. “And these games get chaotic, and for us to consistently rebound the ball on the road is a good sign. Because we know that we have to get better in other facets. However, if that is something that we can put our hat on … that will really, really help us.”
Noah Williamson led Bucknell with a career-high 32 points on 9-of-16 shooting and was 14 of 18 at the free-throw line. The 7-foot junior center, a preseason All-Patriot League pick, is averaging 25.5 points a game.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, first-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope said that Bucknell’s experience and continuity will present a challenge for a Wildcats team that’s still getting used to one another.
“You look at their rosters, it’s like four-year guy, four-year guy, four-year guy at Bucknell, which is super cool,” Pope said. “It’s a real credit to the program and to the staff and to the players. They have a veteran group that has played together for a long time that understands what they’re trying to do.”
The Wildcats also have a veteran roster, but it’s a newly assembled team by Pope, who returned to his alma mater last spring after John Calipari took the Arkansas coaching job.
Kentucky cruised in its season opener Monday, a 103-62 home victory over Wright State. Six players scored in double figures, led by Otega Oweh’s 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting and Koby Brea with 18 off the bench on 7-of-8 shooting.
However, Pope said he saw times when his players made some errors, which he said he expected.
“At various points, we had massive, massive slippage,” Pope said. “We had slippage in communication. We had slippage in decision-making. We had slippage in execution. We had slippage in our reads. We had slippage in our energy, which is pretty normal and natural. It’s going to be a determining factor of how successful we can be as we limit that, and that’s not unique to us. That’s universal.”
