4 Takeaways: Kentucky Basketball v. Mizzou

Takeaway #4: Kahlil Whitney – 2020’s Enigma

Coming into the season, Kahlil Whitney was the highest-rated Kentucky recruit. He was known for being a “mean dog”, a slasher that refused to quit until the ball met the rim in either a layup or freakish dunk. His athleticism is borderline supernatural and his upside is tremendous. Yet, Whitney has fallen in the trap of many highly touted UK freshmen – lost identity.

Whitney has emerged, not into the freak athlete or lockdown defender we thought he could (or should) be, rather a glorified bench ornament.

Unlike past cases of troubled freshmen (Sacha Killeya-Jones and Charles Matthews come to mind), Coach Calipari laid out what the young man must do to earn time on the hardwood:

"“Just defense and rebounding, and I keep coming back to the same thing. If you’re defending and rebounding, we can leave you in the game. He’s just got to get a better feel for it. It’s all new to him. Keion’s the same way. I mean, at one point, the shot went up. Kid muscled him, grabbed it, stuck it back in, and he said he pushed me. Wrong answer. Out. I can’t leave him in. He pushed you? Push him back. You’ve got to fight. Look, again, when you’re in high school, you’re going to get 25 shots. So you go and miss your first 12. Then you make five in a row, make a couple, and you go 7 for 25, and you’re fine. You go home. Everybody’s happy. That’s not how it is now. We don’t have anybody getting more than 14, 15 shots. So when you have opportunities, you’ve got to take advantage of them.”"

Despite all of the trouble, numerous reports emerge about his forthright work effort and overjoyed attitude at embracing the grind. In the pregame presser Coach Barbee even laid out his own thoughts on Whitney:

"“He’s been great,” Barbee said. “And he’s working his tail off. He’s a typical freshman. We’ve had so many atypical freshman that people think that’s the norm; that’s the standard. Those guys that we’ve had that have come in and produced like they have right away, that’s not normal. He’s as talented as those guys, he’s just struggling with some areas of the game and he’s working his tail off in the video room, on the practice floor before and after, so his breakthrough is coming. And his attitude has been great about it too because we need everybody on this team for us to achieve at a level we think we all can and he’s a big part of that.”"

Even when he’s not on the court, he is still supporting his team, being the Wildcats unofficial cheerleader:

"“Just stay focused,” teammate Tyrese Maxey said of Whitney. “Stay locked in, which he’s doing a really good job of. Staying motivated. Coach Cal said he was probably the happiest one during the Louisville game on the bench cheering for his teammates, which means a lot to us. We want him to succeed as well. Very proud of him.”"

Coach Cal says Whitney’s efforts have not gone unnoticed:

"“But they’re learning. This is a process. He had a great workout in the gym today, this morning. It was a voluntary workout today, so they could come in from 9:00 to 9:30 on their own. So Kahlil came in, and Nate came in. The other guys came at 9:30, and we walked through. The game was too early, 2:00 game. And he had a great workout. Let me just say this. You do that every day, it may not change things for a week or two weeks or three weeks or a month. It may take two months. It may take three months.”"

Kahlil Whitney is slowly but surely becoming a coach, and fan, favorite with his work ethic and discipline. If I were to guess, the freshman forward will soon hit the ceiling. When this happens, Kentucky will add a much needed and deadly option to both sides of the court.

Keep working, Kahlil Whitney, your time is coming and when it does it will be quite the spectacle.