WILDCATS

UK's Adebayo counted on to solve post issue

Jon Hale
@JonHale_CJ

LEXINGTON, Ky. – UK coach John Calipari had no trouble pointing to the deficiency of his 2015-16 roster.

Now freshman forward Edrice "Bam" Adebayo could be key in addressing the problem.

“Last year’s team, we knew if we faced a physical team around that basket or they had a guy that could score and our guys didn’t do it we were in trouble,” Calipari said. “We knew it.”

That shortcoming proved fatal to Kentucky’s NCAA tournament hopes as Indiana and forward Thomas Bryant took down the Wildcats in the second round.

Bryant totaled 19 points and five rebounds while no UK post player scored more than six points. The Wildcat frontcourt combined for just 14 points in the game.

In Adebayo, a 6-foot-10, 260-pound bruiser, Calipari appears to have ensured the Wildcats’ 2015-16 flaw will not carry over to this season.

“You have a beast,” Calipari said. “We’ve missed a beast for a year. Like an absolute beast – you know if he gets it he’s either trying to dunk it or dunk your arm.”

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Adebayo missed part of summer conditioning and pickup games at UK due to an ankle injury, but in an August interview with the Courier-Journal he said he had returned to practice.

“It was agonizing because I really wanted to be out there, but everything happens for a reason,” Adebayo said. “It was probably more so to get my body back healthy, back in shape, get a little rest.”

While he was held from full practice activity, Adebayo was able to work on his upper body and free-throw shooting.

He thinks some of that work should lead to a more balanced game as a freshman.

“I really had to focus on my skill rather than my athleticism,” Adebayo said. “It puts me on the next level. It really helped me more so than just being one of those dudes that just flies around and dunks. I've got soft touch, jump hooks. I can make free throws, make mid-range. I can do pick-and-rolls.”

But if Adebayo plays how Calipari and recruiting pundits have predicted there should still be plenty of opportunities for him to be a guy that “flies around and dunks.”

Adebayo was ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the class of 2016 and the No. 2 prospect at his position by the 247Sports Composite, which averages the ratings of the four major recruiting services. As a senior at High Point Christian Academy (North Carolina), he averaged 18.9 points and 13 rebounds per game.

During the recruiting process, Calipari pitched Adebayo as a future candidate for the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. NBADraft.net current projects him as the No. 13 pick in the 2017 draft.

“Anything can happen, so I don’t take it as getting big-headed,” Adebayo said. “I take it as motivation to be a better player and also a better person.”

As for that nickname, Adebayo's future as a physical post presence may have been ordained as a young child. While watching an episode of “The Flintstones” as a toddler, he flipped over a coffee table. His mom started calling him Bam after the show’s unnaturally strong child with a trademark club.

Now Adebayo brings that attitude to the court.

“We’re going to have people literally coming to games with the stick: 'Bam-Bam,'" Calipari said. “We’re going to have the whole student section looking like that. Remember how he used to pick things up, the car and stuff, Bam-Bam? Yeah, that’s him.”

Whether it’s “Bam” or Calipari’s moniker “beast,” Adebayo’s reputation is clear.

Now living up to that reputation could be key in addressing a weakness for last season's Wildcats.

“I know my teammates have got my back,” Adebayo said. “So it’s not an ‘I can fix’ thing. It’s like, ‘We can all fix it.’ Because it’s not only me. We have Isaac (Humphries). We have Wenyen (Gabriel). We have Sacha (Killeya-Jones). We have Tai (Wynyard). We have a lot of big guys that take up room, so it’s not so much me but so much our whole front-line roster.”

Getting to know Edrice “Bam” Adebayo

Height: 6-10
Weight: 260
Class: Freshman
Hometown: Little Washington, N.C.
Fun fact: Adebayo may be a “beast” on the court, but off it he insists, “I’m the nicest guy you could ever meet. There’s no attitude or cockiness with me at all.” One of Adebayo’s favorite musicians is pop singer Katy Perry. “She’s always in a happy mood,” he said. “I’m a happy person, so why not.”
What Olympic sport he’d play other than basketball: “Definitely not track. It would probably be swimming.”

Email Jon Hale atjahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter@JonHale_CJ.

2016-17 UK freshman basketball player Edrice "Bam" Adebayo. Sept. 15, 2016