Kentucky Basketball: How a Healthy Trey Lyles Makes UK Even More Dangerous

It can be easy to get lost in the shuffle when there are future NBA players coming off the bench for the Kentucky Wildcats, but Trey Lyles stood out for the team during its dominant 74-56 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Wednesday.

The best news for the Wildcats wasn't the team-high 18 points and six rebounds that Lyles put on the scoreboard in this individual game. It was the fact that this performance could be a sign of things to come as the calendar turns to March and Lyles picks up more experience.

After all, Lyles missed three important games in the middle of the SEC season with an illness (including the contest at Florida that came down to the final minutes) and has never really gotten comfortable in his role in the offense. Now that he has scored 37 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the last three games, that appears to be changing.

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If Lyles reaches his full potential with his NBA skill set, this Kentucky team will be even more dangerous than it already has been this season.

At 6’10” and 235 pounds, Lyles is tall enough to bang around down low for rebounds and score on the block, but his athleticism and ability to stretch the floor really make him potent. The Wildcats already start two big men down low in Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein, both of whom take care of the paint and rebounding.

Lyles is an absolute matchup nightmare at the small forward spot.

He demonstrated just how formidable he can be when attacking the rim during Wednesday’s game against Mississippi State, adding an extra dimension to the Wildcats offense as nobody on the Bulldogs was both strong and quick enough to keep him out of the lane.

Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio was particularly impressed with that aspect of Lyles’ game:

When the opponent (including Mississippi State on Wednesday) does utilize a small forward athletic enough to prevent Lyles from attacking the rim off the bounce, Lyles can simply post him up down low. Remember, Lyles is still the size of most collegiate centers and has soft touch in the paint.

That versatility is key, especially if Towns or Cauley-Stein were to get into foul trouble, because Lyles can simply slide into their spot for extended stretches and rescue the Wildcats in the pressure-packed environment of March.

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Lyles complements the big men because of that versatility and his ability to take advantage of the space created in the lane by the presence of Towns and Cauley-Stein.

He also fits in well with the guards.

Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison and Tyler Ulis do a little bit of everything in the backcourt and will also be critical to Kentucky’s title run. Aaron Harrison drills threes in crunch time, Andrew Harrison sets his teammates up with crisp passes when the defense collapses and Ulis is a ball-hawking defender who can also spark the offense with his energy off the bench.

Lyles is more than comfortable running the floor with any of these guards and can get out in transition and finish at the rim. He converted on a number of looks that way during Wednesday’s victory and even added some impressive cuts to the basket on a handful of possessions.

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Lyles also allows the guards to take more chances on the defensive end because he is yet another lengthy defender who can slide in and keep ball-handlers out of the paint.

Plus, he allows the entire defense to match up better against any opponent. Lyles can guard anyone—from a smaller athletic forward on the wing to a taller power forward down low. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports pointed out this positional versatility during Kentucky's victory over the Bulldogs:

As mentioned, the most enticing thing about Lyles is that the best could very well be on the horizon, when the pressure heats up in March. It takes some time for any freshman to settle into the college game, regardless of how talented he is, and Lyles is finally hitting his stride.

He is the athletic forward who fits in perfectly next to the likes of Cauley-Stein, Towns, the Harrisons and Ulis, and he is admirably filling the role that many envisioned for Alex Poythress before the season began. Kentucky needed someone to do that type of work on both ends when Poythress went down, and Lyles has answered the bell.

Coach John Calipari suggested as much in his postgame quotes Wednesday, via Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv and NBA.com:

"

"I thought Trey Lyles was outstanding. Trey Lyles is the X-factor. Trey's as good as any player in the country." Calipari on ESPN

— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) February 26, 2015"

Calling Lyles the X-factor is the perfect description for how he fits in with this team. He is never going to be the main option for whom opposing teams game-plan, but Lyles complements the skill sets of the other players so perfectly that he makes the Wildcats all the more dangerous when he is on the floor. 

That notion alone should be terrifying for the rest of the country.

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