Aaron Bradshaw’s star turn comes in game two. ‘It takes their program to another level.’

It didn’t take long for Aaron Bradshaw to enjoy his first star performance in a Kentucky uniform.

The 7-foot-1 freshman from Roselle, New Jersey, made his college basketball debut just last weekend. He didn’t go through a full-contact practice with the Wildcats until five days before that.

On Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center — just across the Delaware River from where Bradshaw made his name — the 20-year-old showed what he can do on the court.

He scored 17 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots — all team highs in Kentucky’s 81-66 victory over Penn — and Quakers coach Steve Donahue summed it up afterward.

“I’ve seen Aaron play in high school, and I always admired his skill level,” Donahue said. “And you look at his size — to me, that’s a difference-maker for them. You watch them on film — they’re shooting 3s, and they’re playing, but to have someone out there that protects the rim and then is that skilled — I think it takes their program to another level.

“I thought Wilmington was able to get to the rim and do some things. And today I just thought his presence was the big difference.”

In that debut against UNC Wilmington last weekend — a shocking 80-73 UK loss to the heavy underdogs — Bradshaw had three points, two rebounds and one blocked shot in 13 minutes. To be expected, under the circumstances. It was his first competition in nearly nine months since suffering a foot injury that led to surgery and caused him to miss the entire offseason and preseason with his new team, as well as the Wildcats’ first seven games.

Donahue joked that he’d hoped Bradshaw would have a little more rust coming into Saturday’s game. Instead, he showcased the potential that makes him a possible NBA lottery pick.

John Calipari said after the game that Bradshaw has looked just as comfortable in the few practices he’s gone through with the Cats. The UK coach also said someone on the bench told him to sub Bradshaw out during this game.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Calipari shot back. “Are you watching this?”

And then, a little while after the game had ended, with Bradshaw sitting next to him and talking about his big day, Calipari grabbed a paper box score and squinted at the numbers.

“I played him 29 minutes?” the UK coach muttered.

Later, he acknowledged that was perhaps too much in game two.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” Calipari said, perhaps jokingly.

Bradshaw made an impact as soon as he stepped onto the court.

Within a minute of getting in, he battled for an offensive rebound, the ball eventually bouncing out of bounds off a Penn player. UK kept the possession, and Bradshaw hit a layup. On Penn’s next possession, he blocked a shot.

Bradshaw played seven minutes in that first shift, checking out with five points, four rebounds, one block and one steal. He was right back in a couple minutes later.

“I was just having fun out there,” he said.

Did he have a particularly favorite moment on this memorable day?

“All of them,” he said.

Bradshaw and D.J. Wagner were teammates at Camden High School — a 15-minute drive from Wells Fargo Center — before coming to Kentucky together in the star-studded 2023 recruiting class. Wagner was sidelined with an ankle injury last weekend, so he wasn’t out there for Bradshaw’s debut. Before Bradshaw checked into his first college game, however, Wagner sat next to him on the UK bench, doing his best to help his teammate in whatever way he could.

“He was just saying, ‘Calm down.’ Because he knows when I’m nervous. I start shaking my leg or I start doing some anxiety things,” Bradshaw said of that moment last Saturday. “And he was like, ‘Bro, you good. Just calm down. You straight. Just play your game, be who you are. Just go out there and be a dog.’ So he was just giving me a little pep talk.”

They got to play together as Kentucky Wildcats for the first time a week later. Right across the river from where they blossomed into basketball stars, no less.

“It was great,” Wagner said. “As y’all can see how he played, he plays a big factor in our team. So it was just fun to be out there with him. We were all happy to be out there with him again, just the way he plays and how hard he plays — he made the game a lot easier for all of us.”

Bradshaw’s presence completely changes the dynamic of these Wildcats, who struggled with rebounding and had no real rim-protecting threat until he debuted. On Saturday, the Cats outrebounded Penn 41-31. De facto center Tre Mitchell — a 6-9 forward — matched his season high with nine boards. And the Quakers thought twice about taking it to the hoop.

Bradshaw can face the basket offensively and has shooting range that extends beyond the 3-point line — he made one from deep Saturday, his first long-range attempt as a college player — but he said when meeting with reporters back in Lexington two days earlier that he was looking to make more of an immediate impact elsewhere.

“I’m not really worried about offense, personally,” Bradshaw said. “Because that’s gonna come. I’m more worried about the defensive side. Blocking shots, guarding people — that’s more my type of thing I gotta worry about.”

Bradshaw arguably has more upside than any player in college basketball. His NBA draft projections have been all over the place — from top five to second round — partly due to the uncertainty around his injury. He sure looked the part of a future star Saturday afternoon.

And, finally able to play after all those months of watching from the sidelines, he showed as much hustle as anyone on the court.

“This guy, I know he wants to play and he’s trying to prove himself,” said Calipari, pointing at his 7-1 freshman. “I want to have a whole team of guys trying to prove themselves. That’s when you’re good.”

Next game

No. 16 Kentucky vs. No. 9 North Carolina

What: CBS Sports Classic

When: About 5:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: State Farm Arena in Atlanta

TV: CBS-27

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 7-2, North Carolina 7-2

Series: North Carolina leads 25-17

Last meeting: Kentucky won 98-69 on Dec. 17, 2021, at the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas

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