Jacob Toppin brings something new to the court. What does it mean for Kentucky’s future?

Amid the epic performance that Oscar Tshiebwe put forth on the basketball court Tuesday night, it would have been easy to overlook the contributions of one of his Kentucky teammates.

The effort wasn’t lost on John Calipari.

UK’s coach was rolling through his opening statement after the Wildcats defeated Georgia 85-71 in Rupp Arena and eventually mentioned the “most impactful player” award that the coaches hand out to one Kentucky player after each victory. The award is a championship belt, and it goes not to the highest scorer or the biggest stat-stuffer, but the Wildcat who coaches deem had the biggest impact on the game.

From the way Calipari started talking, it sounded as if the belt that night would belong to Jacob Toppin.

“Do you know Jacob had a double-double?” Calipari asked after mentioning the award. Then he stated the obvious: “But Oscar was playing a video game … so he was the most impactful player.”

Tshiebwe had just turned in a career-high 37 points and a season-high 24 rebounds. That’s about as impactful as it gets.

But Toppin’s showing was special, too. And it could have an ongoing impact on UK’s season.

Toppin tallied 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Those aren’t mind-blowing stats, but they are eye-catching for anyone who’s followed Toppin’s circumstances. That second number, specifically.

“Jacob is playing better and better — being more aggressive and more confident,” Calipari said. “Think about where he was before we played Missouri. Think about that.”

Toppin’s battles on and off the court this season have been well-documented, and the 22-year-old senior forward has been open and candid about dealing with “mental struggles” that extended onto the basketball court and negatively affected his game. The Missouri matchup that Calipari referenced was a low point for Toppin, and that night in Columbia also marked arguably his worst game — relative to expectations — as a Kentucky Wildcat.

He followed that with the two best offensive performances of his college career — 24 points in a win over Louisville; 21 points in a victory over Louisiana State — going 19-for-28 from the floor over those two contests.

He’s cooled considerably in the three games since. After making just three of 10 shots against Georgia on Tuesday night, he’s 5-for-25 from the field over his last three games. The first of those games — a 26-point loss at Alabama — was a throwaway from the entire team. The last two — wins over Tennessee and Georgia — have been a revelation of sorts for Toppin, who grabbed eight rebounds against the Vols and 11 against the Dogs.

“Oh man, he’s active out there — defensively, and he got a whole bunch of rebounds today,” said senior guard Antonio Reeves. “And that impacts the game a lot, just by him doing that. Everybody can do stuff on the offensive end, but we need guys to focus on defense and rebounding. We need those type of guys out there, and Jacob definitely did that today.”

Toppin’s 19 rebounds against Tennessee and Georgia are the most for him over any two-game stretch since the first two games of the season. The difference between these games and those games? Oscar Tshiebwe was also on the floor against the Vols and the Dogs, and he pulled down a total of 37 rebounds in those two games.

When Toppin went for 11 boards against Howard and eight against Duquesne, the Wildcats’ rebounding king was still sidelined with a knee injury. Ever since Tshiebwe returned to the lineup, it’s often looked as if other UK players were deferring to his mere presence, especially when it came to attacking the glass. After Kentucky suffered a loss to UCLA last month, Calipari went player by player, position group by position group and told his team what he wanted.

“For the ‘4s,’ basically he just wants us to crash the boards,” Toppin said of those discussions. “... Just be that fighting player that he wants to see at the ‘4’ position.”

Toppin’s shot might not have been falling Tuesday night, but he was the epitome of the “fighting 4” that Calipari had been hoping to see. He was one rebound away from setting a career high, and — if not for Tshiebwe — it sounds like he would have gotten there.

“He was a little bit pissed off tonight, because there was one rebound he wanted to get,” Tshiebwe said with a smile. “We went up like this — with two hands, his hands and my hands — and he was like, ‘I got it! I got it!’

“I said, ‘No, Jacob. I got my rebound, man.’ He was like, ‘You got 23!’”

In all seriousness, Tshiebwe said when Toppin crashes the boards like he did Tuesday night, it takes pressure off of him. It also leads to more attention toward Toppin, and that means fewer opponents trying to keep Tshiebwe off the glass.

The ripple effects of a rebound-focused Toppin extend even further.

Kentucky fans have been clamoring for Calipari to use more three-guard lineups, with a point guard playing alongside CJ Fredrick and Reeves. (The most-requested such backcourt is Cason Wallace, Fredrick and Reeves, all three-point threats capable of pulling the defense out to the perimeter, resulting in even more pressure off Tshiebwe in the paint).

Calipari played that UK fan “dream lineup” for long stretches in the past two games. He says he’s open to doing it more in the future. But Toppin is the key.

“That means you’re putting a lot of weight on Jacob to rebound,” Calipari said. “He did it (tonight), so you can play with three guards.”

If Toppin doesn’t rebound, Calipari continued, he would need to play Chris Livingston in place of one of those shooting guards to help on the boards.

One positive sign that this trend could continue is that Toppin managed these numbers against two of the better rebounding teams in the country. Tennessee sits at No. 9 nationally in rebounding margin. Georgia came into Rupp Arena at No. 30 in that stat. The Bulldogs managed only four offensive rebounds off 28 misses, scoring just two second-half points. Toppin had nine defensive rebounds himself.

And he’ll get another chance to build on his momentum Saturday, when Texas A&M — a team that entered the week ranked 23rd in the country in rebounding margin — comes to Lexington.

And if Toppin keeps attacking the glass?

“It means you can put a bunch of guards out there,” Calipari said.

Next game

Texas A&M at Kentucky

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Texas A&M 13-5 (5-0 SEC), Kentucky 12-6 (3-3 SEC)

Series: Kentucky leads 12-4

Last meeting: Kentucky won 64-58 on Jan. 19, 2022, in College Station, Texas

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