U.S. advances to GLOBL JAM men's final with win over BAL Select

Fresh off a day of rest and relaxation at Drake's mansion, the Kentucky squad representing the United States secured a ticket to the GLOBL JAM men's final with a 104-92 win over BAL Select on Saturday.

Antonio Reeves led the Wildcats (3-0) in scoring for the third straight game despite coming off the bench, finishing with a game-high 27 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 8-for-11 from long range.

"He comes off the bench, shoots an airball hard-right, then makes the next shot,' Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "That doesn't happen a year ago."

Freshman Justin Edwards was a force on both ends, scoring 15 points while notching three steals, Reed Sheppard came off the bench to score 18 while leading the team in assists with eight and D.J. Wagner scored 18 points and grabbed seven boards.

"Told the staff today I’d be stunned if we had great energy and fight because of what we did yesterday," Calipari said. "They were in the pool and hour and a half.” 

Calipari chose to switch up his starting five, giving three-star freshman Jordan Burks his first start of the tournament. Alongside him in the frontcourt was the small but athletic pairing of 19-year-old sophomore Adou Thiero and five-star freshman Edwards. The backcourt featured the top recruit tandem of Wagner and Rob Dillingham.

"I needed to see was who can make shots in the moment," Calipari said. "When the game is close you’ve gotta make a shot, well, you saw Antonio [Reeves], you saw Tre [Mitchell], you saw D.J. [Wagner] you saw Reed [Sheppard], you saw Justin [Edwards].” 

Emmanuel Okorafor led BAL Select with 16 points and five rebounds. Nelly Joseph had 18 points and nine rebounds and Amr Zahran had 18 points and six assists.

Dhieu Deng and Jean Jacques Boissy had a hard time finding the bottom of the net early on as they combined to go 3-for-21 on field goals through the first three quarters.

Edwards scored the first bucket of the game for Kentucky, hitting a catch-and-shoot three-point look off a clean pass from Dillingham, showcasing what might be a common theme for the Wildcats this season.

The six-foot-nine wing also showed off some serious lift and an affinity for pushing the ball up in transition.

"Go dunk the basketball," Edwards said when asked about his tendency for running the break. "I feel like when I'm pushing the break, it helps us get easy baskets."

BAL Select struggled with ball-security early on against a pressing Kentucky team, turning it over eight times while only dishing out two assists in the first frame. They would finish the quarter down 28-17, a deficit they wouldn't recover from.

Thiero got some attention in the offseason for adding some bulk to his frame and the hyper-athletic wing showcased every bit of it in the early going on Saturday, looking to finish at the rim as much as he could, punctuated by a lob finish through contact in the first quarter.

Reeves began to take the reins in the second quarter, scoring 15 of his 27 points in the frame. Reed Sheppard chipped in with four of his own in the frame while dishing out five assists to cement Kentucky's lead at 59-41 going into halftime.

BAL Select started to attack inside during the second half, going on a 14-6 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter to bring it within 10 points. Zahran didn't let Kentucky's lead eat away at his confidence, finishing a nice lay-up after going behind-the-back, then earning a technical foul for his "too small" celebration.

Though fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell scored eight points in the final three minutes to make sure BAL Select couldn't come closer, Zahran nailed a buzzer-beating three to close the quarter with a manageable 13-point deficit at 78-65.

A lob-layup in transition for Joseph brought it within nine for the BAL Select, the first time they had seen a single-digit deficit since midway through the second quarter.

Deng and Boissy, who struggled mightily from the field earlier in the game, found their form in the fourth, scoring 11 of their team's points in the first five minutes of the frame to bring it within six, the closest they would get to pulling off the upset.

Kentucky would then go on a 15-2 run punctuated by a catch-and-shoot dagger three-pointer from Reeves and a Wagner layup through contact to draw the and-one with two minutes left, putting the game on ice with a 19-point lead.

“They [BAL Select] came out and played. That’s the best they’ve shot," Calipari said. "They fought and they wanted it. And I said, ‘It’s because it’s you guys, and they know who you are and they know what Kentucky is. That’s every time you play. Wait until tomorrow night, it’s gonna be crazy.'"

Next up for the Kentucky squad is a meeting in the Finals (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, Sportsnet) with the winner of the Canada-Germany game taking place later Saturday at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Sportsnet. BAL Select will take on the loser of that game in the bronze-medal game (Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT).

“As we walked off the game against Germany and Canada, both teams were saying, ‘we want to see you again on Sunday.’ They both said that," Calipari emphasized. "Maybe we’ll have some fun.”