Kentucky basketball: Game preview, 3 keys vs Alabama
By Drew Koch
2. It’s time for a major lineup change
I know I’ve been harping on this for what seems like weeks now, but it’s getting late in the season and Calipari seems to have finally figured it out himself. On Wednesday night against Auburn, the UK coach finally made a change in his starting rotation.
Wenyen Gabriel drew the start in place of PJ Washington. It was only Gabriel’s second start of the season and the second time all season that Washington came off the bench for the Wildcats. And while that’s not the lineup change I would’ve made, it seemed to work for Cal and the Cats.
The loss to Auburn was Gabriel’s best all-around game since the Cats’ loss to UCLA. He was aggressive on offensive, played solid defense and scored 8 points. The only downfall in Wednesday’s performance for Wenyen was his 4 misses from downtown.
Washington, more than any other player of late, needed a wake-up call. PJ averaged only 4.2 points over the Cats’ previous 5 games before Wednesday’s game against Auburn. Washington exploded for 13 points against the Tigers and was dominant on the low block
In the second half against Auburn, we saw Cal switch things up again and started Quade Green over Hamidou Diallo. Is this a sign of things to come? Calipari said he’s comfortable with a smaller lineup. Will Nick Richards be bumped in favor of Jarred Vanderbilt?
In the end, I don’t care who starts. I care about who is getting “starter’s minutes”. Diallo and Richards have both seen a decline in their playing time recently and I expect that to continue Saturday against an undersized Crimson Tide team.