'No one's going to be who they are in October.' That's important for Zoom Diallo

A couple of minutes into Kentucky’s final exhibition game of the preseason Wednesday night, Zoom Diallo had the ball in his hands and was pushing it up the court.

The opportunity for a transition bucket had already passed. There were five UCF defenders and only two Wildcats between Diallo and the basket. The prudent move would’ve been to keep dribbling across halfcourt and look for an opening there. 

Instead, Diallo attempted a pass straight ahead to Alex Wilkins, who had been sprinting down the same sideline but didn’t have any scoring angle from where he was situated on the court. Diallo threw the pass anyway. It ended up behind Wilkins, who had to break stride and turn back in what was ultimately an unsuccessful attempt to corral it. The ball bounced out of bounds.

Diallo, who was only a few steps from Mark Pope when he let that pass go, turned toward his head coach after committing the turnover. He caught Pope’s eyes, and the grimace on the player’s face said it all.

“I know that was bad,” his expression said.