Fresh off of Tuesday’s beatdown to Michigan State, the Kentucky Wildcats have made a pair of changes to the starting lineup.
Prior to Friday’s tipoff vs. Loyola Maryland, head coach Mark Pope announced that Malachi Moreno was replacing Brandon Garrison in the starting lineup. A change that’s been clamored for all season long has finally happened, as the freshman center from Georgetown is now likely the team’s starting 5 moving forward, while the enigmatic Garrison could have his role reduced.
Meanwhile,
Mo Dioubate was declared out for this game due to an ankle injury suffered in Tuesday’s blowout at Madison Square Garden. The injury isn’t thought to be serious, and there’s a good chance the junior forward returns next week vs. Tennessee Tech.
In the meantime, Kam Williams replaced Dioubate in the starting lineup. That gives Kentucky essentially four guard-type players in the lineup to go with one true big, though Williams is 6-8, so he’s got some size to him. You just don’t want the 205-pound sophomore pounding the paint against legitimate big men.
Williams’ 3-point shooting could certainly open things up for Kentucky, whereas Dioubate is virtually no threat from deep currently.
Those changes certainly appear to be going well, as Kentucky quickly raced out to a 20-8 lead just five minutes into Friday night’s game and eventually got the lead to over 20 points.
