Finally, the Kentucky Wildcats are set to play a basketball game. Tonight marks the beginning of Kentucky’s four-game Bahamas slate. Appropriately, the first opponent is the Bahamas National Team. This will be the first time we see newcomers Reid Travis, EJ Montgomery, Ashton Hagans, Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro in game action while rocking that Kentucky blue. This won’t be a game in which we see the Bahamas at its best, though, as two of the team’s best players will be out. Former Kansas Jayhawk/Ole Miss Rebel/Western Kentucky Hilltopper Dwight Coleby and former Texas Longhorn/Maryland Terrapin Shaquille Cleare have both been ruled out for this game. Also, John Calipari will not be the head coach of Kentucky tonight. Instead, associate head coach Kenny Payne will lead the Wildcats, while Calipari sits back and goes with more of a player-evaluation role: This is Coach Cal's view for tonight's game. pic.twitter.com/ye1QxGr0KQ — CoachCal.com (@CoachCalDotCom) August 8, 2018 But more importantly, Kentucky Basketball is back in our lives. Pregame Reading Come join the fun in tonight’s open thread!<doc-sep>How to watch Kentucky Wildcats vs the Bahamas National Team Date: Wednesday, August 8 at 7 pm EST TV: SEC Network Announcers: Tom Hart, Seth Greenberg and Dan Dakich will be on the call. Live Online Stream: WatchESPN Replay: WatchESPN and SEC Network at 1 am EST on Thursday, August 9 Radio: Voice of the Wildcats Tom Leach and Mike Pratt will have the UK radio network call on 630 AM and 98.1 FM in Lexington or online at UKAthletics.com. Kentucky Roster | No Bahamas Roster What are you watching for tonight? The message at the team meeting last night was simple: Go out, have fun and let's see where we are. We've worked our tails off; now let's see where we've got to go. #BigBlueBahamas #All40 #DreamBig pic.twitter.com/F38T8LjGda — Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) August 8, 2018 The 2018-2019 Kentucky Wildcats will get a jump-start on the season this week, heading to the Bahamas for a series of exhibition games. The last time Kentucky took a preseason trip was for the 2014-2015 season, and that turned out pretty well. Looking ahead to Atlantis, it may be interesting to know what the young Wildcats are up against. What kind of competition will they see there? Have no fear, we have you covered on Kentucky’s first opponent of the trip. In case you are not familiar with basketball in the Bahamas, you should know that you are not missing a ton. The Bahamas National Team was recently in action in the FIBA Americas Qualifiers just last month, but found limited success in pool play. They finished with a record of 1-5, finishing last in Group D (Canada, The Virgin Islands, and the Dominican Republic were also in the group) and failing to qualify for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. The Bahamas’ leader in points, rebounds, and overall efficiency was former Oklahoma Sooners and current Sacramento Kings guard Buddy Hield. After Hield, there was a huge dropoff in every statistical category. He truly carried them throughout pool play as they were only able to bring home a single victory. He will not be playing in the upcoming exhibition games. The leading scorer on the current roster is former Maryland Terrapins and Texas Longhorns center Shaquille Cleare, who averaged 12 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in the FIBA games. In his final season at Texas (2016-17), Cleare averaged 8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game. Cleare is joined in the frontcourt by former Daytona State star Kadeem Coleby, who pulls down 3.5 rebounds to go with his 8 points per game. His brother Dwight Coleby played college basketball for Ole Miss, Kansas and Western Kentucky. Dwight averaged 11.1 points, 8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game this past season in Bowling Green. According to the Herald-Leader, Dwight will not play in the Bahamas. Former Wagner standout Michael Carey is the big backcourt threat. He averaged 11.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in FIBA play. In his final college season (2016-17), Carey averaged 13.8 points, 9.1 rebounds per game (wowza) and 1.7 assists per game. All in all, this will likely be Kentucky’s ‘easiest’ game of the trip, though it will still be a major challenge. But ask John Calipari, and he’ll tell you wins don’t matter here. Growth does. “There’s a bigger picture. Do we want to win every game we play? Yeah, but this is going to be a hard deal,” said Calipari in a recent meeting with the medis. “We lose a couple, we lose three, whatever it is. “Did we learn about this team? And that’s what I want to do. I don’t know if I’ll coach or not. I’m probably going to let the assistants coach the games and I’ll sit up in the seats so it gives me a better chance to watch and learn from them.” PJ Washington also knows that growth is the real goal, though he is also just excited to face an actual opponent. “It will help us a lot because right now we haven’t really played anybody else but us, so going out there and seeing how we compare to other teams is going to be great at this point in the stage before the season especially in August,” said Washington. “I feel like we’re going to be really good some way into the season, and I just can’t wait to get out there and play somebody else.” It’s time to ball. 2018 Bahamas Trip Game Schedule<doc-sep>The Kentucky Wildcats are 1-0 in their Bahamas trip after defeating the Bahamas National Team. A fast start saw the Cats jump out to a 13-0 lead, but the Bahamas team battled back and kept it within 1-2 possessions much of the first half before the Cats took a 42-35 lead into halftime. But the Cats came out flat and allowed the Bahamas to go on a 7-0 run out of the break and eventually take the lead. From there, both teams battled back and forth until the Cats took command in the final 10 minutes and came away with a comfortable 85-61 win. Here is what you need to know from Kentucky’s first exhibition game of 2018: Travis left out of starting five There was a lot of intrigue about what starting lineup we’d see tonight. Would Washington and Travis be on the floor together? Would we see a small-ball lineup with Washington at the five? Nope and nope. Instead we got a lineup without Travis in it at all. That was a shock. But the starting lineup looked good. Keldon Johnson showed his athleticism and knocked down the opening jumper, and Quade Green and Immanuel Quickley were both able to do something we didn’t see much of from Kentucky last year: make 3-pointers. Immanuel Quickley hits the first 3 pointer of the game. pic.twitter.com/9pf8Fw6Wig — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 Travis actually ended up having a woeful game offensively, going scoreless in the first half and finishing in single digits. He even missed a wide-open dunk in the second half, so perhaps he’s still a work in progress as far as getting him settled into his new team. Sophomore excellence The sophomores in the starting lineup were excellent, especially Nick Richards and Washington in the opening minutes. Both look to be in better shape, and played like it. Richards showed some unexpected versatility, finishing with a jam on the break and hitting a pull-up baseline jumper. PJ Washington leads the break and finds Nick Richards for the slam. pic.twitter.com/dtr8Ml2D8C — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 No look from PJ Washington leads to the nice baseline jumper by Nick Richards. pic.twitter.com/itjsET9R7V — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 Both times, the assist came from Washington, who was running the floor well and even drew a Draymond Green comparison. Richards led the team with 14 points at halftime. Tyler Herro’s jumper is beautiful Herro was second on the team in points at the half with 12, and it was easy to see why. He has supreme confidence in his jumper, and can pull up in transition and knock down contested shots without hesitation. He came in as a highly-touted 3-point shooter, but his shot looked best from mid range. Tyler Herro stepback midrange jumper. pic.twitter.com/UyXbRAoSo3 — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 That’s a great example of how smooth his shot is, as he spins, steps back and releases the ball without missing a beat. He came off the give-and-go screen again on the inbound and hit another smooth jumper. Tyler Herro hits another out of bounds handoff midrange jumper. pic.twitter.com/tr87UyiY4D — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 Herro also threw down a dunk in transition. He has a bouncability that not a lot of people recognize. Ashton Hagans steal leads to the Tyler Herro slam. pic.twitter.com/7OQKfUNXk9 — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 He showed his hops again toward the end of the game with another transition jam. Tyler Herro with the punch! pic.twitter.com/q4sYKK3h6R — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 9, 2018 Ashton Hagans is relentless Hagans had no quit this evening. He was ready to defend as soon as his man crossed half court, and he was able to get some steals because of that. He also showed off an impressive spin move in transition. Ashton Hagans with the pilfer and spin move finish. pic.twitter.com/7o5j10NqOv — Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) August 8, 2018 He also jumps out of the gym when he’s trying to grab a rebound. He’s 6-3, but he can out-jump bigs down low. He’s a major pest for opponents and could end up being Kentucky’s best defender. Hagans still has some work to do with his offense and actually running the offense, but at worst, he’s going to be a bulldog defender off the bench that can stifle any guard. Now, let’s discuss the Cats’ first exhibition game!<doc-sep>
The Kentucky Wildcats are now in the second day at the Bahamas. The first day was more of a relaxation day while also getting to help serve with Samaritan’s Feet. On Tuesday, it was back to work for the Wildcats as they get set for a challenging four-game slate of exhibition games against quality pro teams. But even as the Cats are hard at work, they find a way to make it a fun experience for fans. as they hosted an open practice today for fans and media to enjoy. The Wildcats greeted fans and welcomed them to watch, even signing a few autographs beforehand. Despite it being an open practice, it doesn’t appear as though it was any different than the usual gym session with head coach John Calipari. Calipari really teaching, working on Defense mainly. It’s a real practice, not a shoot around, or walk-through. Players working hard @KySportsRadio pic.twitter.com/7jAGTfSv5t — Michael Huang (@DrMikeUK) August 7, 2018 More from UK Basketball’s Open Practice https://t.co/GCr6J6Ss5T — Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) August 7, 2018 This practice was also a chance for some Kentucky players to show off kicks they don’t wear in-game. Keldon Johnson took advantage of the opportunity. Keldon Johnson’s shoes for practice got a lot of attention pic.twitter.com/Au0NvGvAkU — Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) August 7, 2018 The inside of the shoes featured the name of his hometown. Keldon Johnson representing his hometown of South Hill, Virginia. pic.twitter.com/8pS77LVLlb — CoachCal.com (@CoachCalDotCom) August 7, 2018 And we should get some really good sound bytes from this open practice with PJ Washington wearing a mic. Big Blue Express also posted footage of the practice to their Youtube page, putting the practice session on display. You can see more videos on their page here. Kentucky starts off its Bahamas slate against the Bahamas National Team at 7 p.m. tomorrow. The #BigBlueBahamas has been a lot of fun so far, but now it’s time to get down to business. Our first game is tomorrow so we went hard on the practice court this afternoon. #All40 #DreamBig pic.twitter.com/b0Zq22niKI — Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) August 7, 2018 Sea of Blue comes loaded with the best Kentucky Wildcats links, news, analysis, and some other stuff, so be sure to go ‘like’ our Facebook page and then go follow our Twitter page.