By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter
Big Blue Nation relocated to Northern Kentucky Saturday, moving the capital to Highland Heights for a night for the annual Blue-White Scrimmage at NKU’s Truist Arena, where 6,723 showed up.
Rob Dillingham on a steal and stuff on his way to a game-high 40 points. (Photos by Dale Dawn)
So here we go with our up-close view of the Cats for the first time in more than three decades of traveling the country from coast to coast and covering lots of other teams in other sports.
On arriving, we’re told that media info we received in the morning was no longer operative and there would be “no media parking in the media lot. UK is bringing up 50 cars and they’ll need the whole lot.”
Getting UK to Northern Kentucky happens every quarter-century or so, if that so no surprise this is a big deal. All those folks with the UK yard signs and the hoodies, sweatshirts, tees and gear of all possible combinations of blue and white that you see in Kroger’s and Walmart, well, they – and their kids and grandkids — will soon be here.
• By 4:10, there are four UK photographers and three videographers waiting at the arena loading docks to document the Wildcats’ arrival.
• Traveling in two perfectly UK-blue Bluegrass Tour buses, the Wildcats arrive just before the scheduled gate-opening time of 4:30 after stopping to do a clinic in Fort Mitchell. One thing you note when UK does these things, they must specify when the gates will open so as to not have their fans waiting around for hours, which they will.
• Cal – do we need to call him John Calipari now? – gets to the gate first. Then one or two at a time come the Cats. Reed Sheppard is the only one who’s been here before, when his North Laurel team played Covington Catholic a year ago.
• With their posters, photos, basketballs and memorabilia to be autographed, the early arrivals are working their way down to the court and above the tunnel to have the best shot, not realizing they’ll get plenty of shots after the scrimmage.
Reed Sheppard skies for a block attempt (Photo by Dale Dawn)
• Just after 4:45, 7-foot-2 freshman Zvonimir Ivisic, the Croation Sensation who just arrived in Lexington, is the first player out, looking all of his listed 7-2 but younger than his 20 years of age. He will not be playing, as previously advertised, but will get individual stretching and loosening work from a UK trainer who will then pass him off to a UK assistant for lots of work on the low blocks. Left, right, left, right, again and again, little baby hooks. After a few minutes, they allow Zvonimir to head out to the corner for some three-pointers. The Z Man clearly likes it better out here. Cal later says that he “had every intention of playing Z but he’s just not ready.” European basketball isn’t as physically challenging and there’s no need to push him, Cal says. “He wanted to play.”
• UK fans wanted to see the debut of the “Big Z” along with the other two of USC’s big man trio – 7-1 freshman Aaron Bradshaw and 7-0 sophomore Ugonna Onyenso – both recovering from offseason surgery. “Twenty-one feet of big men,” Cal told the crowd that they weren’t going to see before the game (actually 21 feet, 3 inches).
• As the rest of UK’s 16-man squad (13 dressed) make their way out to the court in pregame, it’s clear the days of the Hagan-and-Ramsey Adolph Rupp Wildcats, or even those Issel, Casey and Pratt days are long gone and never coming back in this NIL Era with transfer portal immediate eligibility. UK has nine freshmen and a transfer by way of West Virginia, Texas and UMass who were not here last year and only one player who started a single game a year ago, but even Antonio Reeves started only 14. The other returnees are walk-on bench-sitters. Can’t tell this team even with a program, and maybe that’s the good news. Cal, more than anyone, seems to be having fun with this bunch. Which tells you one thing. They’ve got talent. “If you give me talent or experience,” Cal says, “I’ll take talent every time.”
Antonio Reeves drives past Jordan Burks (Photo by Dale Dawn)
• As his players filter out, Cal is doing his pregame radio gig with UK Networks play-by-play guy Tom Leach. And then he hangs out for a sit-down with Bobby Griffin, one of the original NKU men’s basketball players whose family has been a great contributor to sports in Northern Kentucky in so many ways. “I thanked him for bringing UK here,” Bobby said. “I told him how much it means to Northern Kentucky. There are a lot of UK fans here.” Also here to thank Cal and UK was a contingent of kids from the Children’s Advocacy Center in Fort Mitchell, where the UK team stopped to do a clinic. They were here to cheer UK on.
• Before tipoff, Cal greets the crowd with “Hello, BBN,” drawing a big cheer. “We’re not where we want to be and not where we’re going to be but enjoy where we are right now . . . and let’s all have some fun.” You have to like this not-so-up-tight Cal. He likes this team. Likes much of what they did with the Blue upsetting the White, 100-89, thanks to the sensational play of relatively unheralded 6-2 freshman guard Rob Dillingham, out of Hickory, N.C., who did everything you could ask, scoring 40 points while hitting on 14 of 23 field goal attempts, including three of seven three-pointers, with seven assists, five rebounds, four steals and nine of 12 from the free throw line. He’s really good in a freshman guard group that’s really good. And with freshman mate Sheppard, he gives UK a pair of guys who can run the court with terrific footspeed.
• But as we said, this was about much more than basketball. Cal thanked NKU Coach Darrin Horn for “letting us play here” and acknowledging how all the proceeds will help “the flood victims in Eastern Kentucky and the tornado victims in Western Kentucky” for the second year in a row after last year’s event at Pikeville. No one or no thing in the state of Kentucky is even close to UK basketball for the ability to do this kind of thing. More please, Cal. And thank you.
D.J. Wagner drives past fellow freshman Rob Dillingham (Photo by Dale Dawn)
• NKU’s Horn followed with a reminder to the crowd that “you can cheer for both UK and NKU . . . I do,” Horn said, noting how his son, sophomore Walker Horn, a two-year player at CovCath, is a member of the UK basketball squad. He said “I’m not even my wife’s favorite college coach, Coach Cal is.” But for those in the crowd, Horn pointed out there will be 16 NKU games here this year for a Norse team coming off its fourth NCAA appearance in the last seven seasons and picked to win the Horizon League again.
• As far as the Blue-White Game, the Blues shot it better (37 of 66 from the field and 10 of 22 from three to the White team’s 34 of 72 from the field and six of 24 from three. There were 18 assists for the Blue, just 10 for the White. Sophomore Adou Thiero, bigger, stronger, tougher at 6-8, scored 26 points for the Blue on 10-of-13 shooting with nine rebounds. He can play now. Jordan Burks, a 6-9 freshman guard out of Decatur, Ala., added 20. In-stater Sheppard added eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals while running the offense with Dillingham. None of the 10 starters played fewer than 37 minutes in the fast-paced game, five played 40, a fact Cal noted in his postgame remarks.
• As for the White team, 6-8 freshman guard Justin Edwards out of Philadelphia led the way with 26 points on 11-of-18 shooting with 10 rebounds. Highly touted D.J. Wagner, a 6-3 guard from Camden, N.J., was right behind with 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists. He likes to drive it inside and might have to adjust a bit in college, but he plays hard and physically does not look like a freshman. Holdover Antonio Reeves, the SEC’s Sixth Man of the Year last season, added 17 but on nine-of-20 shooting.
• How this running, gunning UK team will look when the seven-footers start filtering back – expect Ivisic by Friday’s exhibition against Georgetown, we’re told — is a bit of a guess. “This was good for these guys,” Cal said. “They wanted to win. We’ve got some dawgs.” Of Dillingham, “Rob wants to be so good.” Saturday night, he was. “We’ve got a good group . . . they’re warriors,” Cal said. But until then, 6-9 grad student Tre Mitchell, after a strong season at West Virginia, is the man in the middle. “Tre’s good at the five,” Cal said of his playing in the post after his 14-point, 14-rebound performance. “But it’s going to be nice to have that one big guy” to go with him.”
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.
NKY’s Bob Griffin chatting with Coach John Calipari before the game. (Photo by Dale Dawn)
