Cason Wallace has that look: 3 things we learned at Kentucky men's basketball pro day
LEXINGTON — The message to the media Sunday at Kentucky men’s basketball pro day was that the vertical leap measurements on a sheet being distributed were “not a typo.”
You’d be forgiven for skepticism.
Home-school pro days tend to be more forgiving than the NBA draft combine. Measurements in the fall don’t always measure up in the springtime pre-draft process.
But a few Wildcats have the kind of data that will turn heads if it holds.
Take the vertical jump, where sophomore forward Daimion Collins registered a 46.5-inch leap Sunday. Forward Jacob Toppin wasn’t far behind at 45 inches. Point guard Cason Wallace recorded a 42-inch leap.
The numbers — and the practice more than 50 NBA scouts watched Sunday at the Joe Craft Center — validate what we saw in August, when the Wildcats breezed through the Bahamas on a four-win exhibition trip.
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John Calipari’s team is long, athletic and fast, loaded for what it hopes will be a revenge-tour season after a first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Saint Peter’s in March.
A dozen or so reporters were invited to Sunday’s event — which unlike in some previous years was not broadcast on TV or streamed online — to get a glimpse at Kentucky’s promising mix of faces fresh and familiar.
Here are three observations from the two-hour pro day, which included athletic testing, practice drills and two lengthy, full-court five-on-five scrimmage sessions:
Cason Wallace has the UK point guard look
At one point in Sunday’s practice, Calipari pulled Wallace aside to explain an offensive opportunity he’d missed. It was a reminder that Calipari’s best Kentucky point guards — starting with John Wall — have long said he’s harder on that position than any other.
Wallace looks worth pushing.
The 6-foot-3 guard was among the most eye-catching players in the scrimmages Sunday. In the first scrimmage session, Wallace helped stake his team to a 9-0 lead with two assists to center Oscar Tshiebwe and a dunk after he shot a passing lane for a steal and a full-court sprint to finish.
Wallace has built his reputation largely as a defender, and it’s easy to see why. He has the combination of physical tools and willingness to be a pest. On one play in the scrimmage, he dusted the defense for a layup then hustled to deflect the ensuing inbounds pass out of bounds.
And he was the only Kentucky player Sunday who got the honor of putting a football helmet on a teammate. It’s a UK tradition for a player to don the helmet when he’s dunked on, and Wallace hit Toppin with a one-handed slam late in the scrimmage.
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Daimion Collins’ offense is progressing
As the vertical leap number indicates — and his highlight dunks in the Bahamas attest — Collins is a high flyer. He showed that ability to scouts Sunday, including on one drive with a cat-quick second jump for a putback dunk of his own miss.
But Collins also flashed some potential offensive growth. His jump shot was a legitimate weapon in the pro day scrimmage, from 3-point distance and in the midrange. And he made an impressive one-handed outlet pass off a defensive rebound, hitting a streaking Chris Livingston for a dunk at the other end.
Collins played on the same team as Tshiebwe on Sunday, and he was the recipient of at least two assists from the UK center, including one for a 3-pointer. Tshiebwe — who seemed focused on his passing in addition to scoring and rebounding — felt a double team coming and whipped a pass from the paint to Collins on the left wing for a triple.
It was a scrimmage setting, and Collins has to prove he can make more than athletic plays against legitimate competition before scouts will have cause to be excited about his offense. But it’s clear he’s made strides in the year since he arrived at UK, and his development could be a key for UK.
If the jumper is real, he fits the mold of a modern NBA power forward, a shot blocker on defense who poses a lob threat offensively and can make a defense pay for playing off him on the perimeter.
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Ugonna Onyenso is a work in progress
The newest Cat, forward Ugonna Onyenso, is the only one of Sunday’s participants who didn’t play in the Bahamas. The 6-foot-11 Nigerian, who reclassified from the high school class of 2023, signed with UK in August.
Though he was a four-star prospect at Putnam (Connecticut) Science Academy, Onyenso is a work in progress, as was evident Sunday.
But he has some tools to work with.
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As you’d expect for a newcomer, Onyenso was powerless to slow Tshiebwe at the other end. The reigning consensus national player of the year backed his teammate into the paint with power and slipped by him with quicker feet. Tshiebwe held Onyenso at bay on the boards.
Onyenso got up and down the floor and showed good speed for his size. And twice he went at Tshiebwe offensively, scoring over him with a turnaround jumper, then drawing a foul backing down his veteran teammate.
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brett Dawson at mdawson@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky men's basketball pro day: 3 things we learned
