Kentucky fans were able to get their first real glimpse of this year’s team in action during Friday night’s Blue-White game. After all of the talk during the preseason, fans got a little bit of a taste of what the season will be like. This offseason, the staff worked to address areas to improve like defense and athleticism, and one of the additions that will help do just that is Mo Dioubate.
Dioubate is known for his versatility on defense and a tenacious, physical rebounder, and after Kentucky’s scrimmage on Friday, Jasper Johnson talked about how the 6-7 forward sets the tone for the team’s knack to be competitive and physical, and that has rubbed off on the team in practice as the ‘facilitator’ of Kentucky’s competitiveness.
“it’s a couple guys, obviously. Mo, you know, being the physical person who will always be the first to initiate that, you know, maybe a shot goes up in practice. First play, he might hit somebody. And then, you know, we all snap into that mode and get into it.”
Kentucky’s Jasper Johnson (2) will be a freshman on the 2025-26 Wildcats squad as he poses at the Joe Craft Center practice facility in Lexington, Ky. on Sept. 16, 2025. / Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Who are some other tone-setter’s for the Wildcats in getting that juice flowing in practice? Garrison has been making an impact in that department as he looks to take on more of a leadership role, but Denzel Aberdeen’s high-level college basketball experience as a National Champion has been showing as he tries to inject the same competitiveness into his teammates that it takes to get it done.
“I say Brandon Garrison as well, one of our returners. He knows how things go. He’s always trying to pick on me as a freshman, but he’s definitely one of those guys who competes at a high level. But Denzel as well. He’s a crazy one out there. He’s fouls, he grabs, he smacks, but he does whatever he can to win. And he definitely gets, gets me, Jaland, Otega, Collin and all the guards better, because coming from a national championship (team), he knows what it is to win, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get that done.”
Kentucky’s desire to get No. 9 while starting the year ranked No. 9 (coincidence?) is very, very high, and the team knows that their competitive fire has to be really high as well to get the job done. They have the players to do it, and the experience to understand what it takes, and at a place like Kentucky, the goal is always the expectation.