Kentucky Basketball: Will it be Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde who steps on the court?
By Eric Thorne
Who can slow down John Petty Jr?
Alabama has a number of players that make them go but the catalyst is John Petty Jr. The 6-foot-5 senior is a deadly shooter and sank 23 points against Kentucky last outing including 4 of 7 threes.
The games in which Petty was limited in shots and points are the ones the Tide has lost including Stanford (7), Clemson (10), and Western Kentucky (9). Each of these had lock-down defenders something Kentucky doesn’t have. Oh if Ashton Hagens was still here.
He has taken more threes (102) and made more (43) than any other player leading the team in scoring at 14.1 points.
Who draws that assignment is questionable but Jacob Toppin could be that guy. The 6-9 freshman is long, lanky, and athletic and could disrupt Petty as he did against Scotty Pippen of Vanderbilt. The downside is he doesn’t always give the Cats much offense and Calipari is quick to yank him for the slightest miscue.
Against Alabama last time out he scored five points and grabbed six boards. Against LSU he played just nine minutes.