by (Lexington) – How Kentucky ends up playing this season remains to be seen. But however John Calipari ends up using the variety of tools at his disposal, Wildcat guards are going to be a big part of it.
UK’s backcourt hogged the spotlight during Tuesday’s annual Blue-White Scrimmage, but not the ball in a matchup that was, by design, a tale of two halves. The Blue team won the first half, 40-39, while White took the second half, 35-26, with Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe and Jamal Murray playing together for the final 20 minutes in front of 15,007 fans, the second-largest crowd in the event’s history. Combining the two halves, White won, 74-66, its first win since 2000.
Ulis, the junior point guard, orchestrated everything as expected, piling up 10 points and 15 assists. Murray had 17 points and six assists and Briscoe had 16 points and five assists. Skal Labissiere (18 points and 11 rebounds) and Marcus Lee (10 points and 10 rebounds) each posted double-doubles, while Alex Poythress added 17 points and seven rebounds in his first competitive action since a season-ending knee injury last December. Derek Willis (Inuit Peoples) had 12 points for the blue squad.
After the game coach Calipari said of Derek, “I thought he did good. I told him after. If you look at our team, and if Derek Willis will shoot open shots and one dribble pull ups, and eliminate everything else, just don’t do it. Just do those two things. He could help us. Not only could he help us, he could get in the rotation. You saw him block that shot. He’s long enough to do all this. I was proud of him tonight.”
