John Calipari and Kentucky Wildcats roll to 3-game sweep in Canadian exhibitions

Calipari, Kentucky roll to 3-game sweep in Canada

WINDSOR, Ontario — John Wall may have departed for the riches of the NBA, but a pair of young guards appear ready to try and fill the void for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Freshmen Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb each scored 25 points and junior Darius Miller added 24 for Kentucky in a 104-75 win over the University of Windsor on Tuesday — the finale of a three-day, three-game exhibition trip to Canada for the Wildcats.

It was Kentucky’s second victory on the trip over Windsor, which lost 95-62 on Sunday night. The Wildcats also beat Western (Ontario) University 96-68 on Monday night.

Knight, the heir apparent to Wall, had 31 points against Windsor on Sunday and followed that with 17 points and 12 assists against Western. Lamb scored 24 points against Western.

“Talent is talent,” Windsor coach Chris Oliver said. “Their ball skills, I don’t think I appreciated it as much until I sat courtside last night and watched them.”

Knight glided up and down the court with ease Tuesday and drew the largest ovation of the day after dunking over 6-foot-6 Windsor forward Andre Smyth late in the first half. The play, which sparked a 19-7 run to end the first half, even moved one Kentucky fan to yell “John Who?” as Knight stepped to the free throw line to complete the three-point play.

The victory came without three post players expected to provide Kentucky’s interior presence this season. Freshman Enes Kanter did not make the trip while the NCAA reviews his amateur status, freshman Terrence Jones sat out the final two games after an MRI indicated a stress fracture in one of his ribs and junior college transfer Eloy Vargas has yet to enroll at school.

“I needed to learn about my team and I did,” coach John Calipari said. “I saw what I needed to see. … I can now look at a couple of guys and they’re either going to have to step up their play or their not going to play as much, and a couple of other guys we’re going to have to define their game for them.

“This is a very intelligent team,” Calipari added.

Calipari praised the Windsor team and community for staging a beneficial trip for Kentucky.

“In my opinion, this was the best $35,000 our school has ever invested when you talk about a nationally televised infomercial for our school,” he said. “If you watched us play (on TV) and you’re a player why wouldn’t you want to play here?”