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Looking Ahead: How Did Kentucky Do Against Kentucky Wesleyan Friday?

Duke’s first regular season opponent had no major problems with KWU, but coach John Calipari does have concerns.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: OCT 29 Kentucky Wesleyan at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, KY - OCTOBER 29: Kentucky Wildcats forward Lance Ware (55) battles for position in a game between the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers and the Kentucky Wildcats on October 29, 2021, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY.
Photo by Jeff Moreland/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Duke plays Winston-Salem State on Saturday in this season’s sole exhibition game. Then 11 days after that is the season-opener with Kentucky and, as always, that should be intense.

So how’s Kentucky looking?

It’s hard to judge a lot from an exhibition, and the purpose of an exhibition is to expose flaws and tweak that which needs to be tweaked.

For Kentucky, for now, that appears to be defense.

To be clear, Kentucky won 95-72 and were never really in trouble, but the Wildcats allowed Kentucky Wesleyan to shoot 56.3 percent in the second half.

Our friends over at ASeaOfBlue.com tell us the offense was solid though injuries are a concern: CJ Frederick, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe all have injury issues. Frederick and Toppin sat out the game Friday night.

Coach John Calipari was fairly blunt with his team asking who is “dogs” are and saying whoever stepped up on defense most would start.

It’s not a lot to go on yet and of course Duke is up Saturday night and most of us don’t have a big grasp on how far along either team is. That will come on November 9th.

We will stand by what we’ve said before though: generally speaking, Duke does as good a job preparing early as any program in the nation.