Photo via SEC
When he originally decided to move from Rhode Island to Kentucky last April, Jacob Toppin came with the intention to shorten the 2020-21 season, regardless of the NCAA’s single immediate transfer rule. At the time, the 6-foot-9, 194-pound striker from Brooklyn, NY, wanted to stay out of the year to develop his body and his game, leading to a strong debut season in 2021-22.
When the NCAA announced an additional year of eligibility for student-athletes competing in winter sports due to COVID-19, however, Kentucky and Toppin decided to request an immediate eligibility exemption for what amounts to a free college basketball season. With four years of eligibility remaining, the long-term development goals of the second year at school could remain and help the program in practice immediately. It was a victory for both parties.
Now with 19 games in his young Kentucky career, Toppin has become a major contributor off the bench, averaging 5.3 points and 3.6 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game. And his biggest performance of the year came in the UK’s 82-78 victory at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night, with the 6-foot-9 striker finishing with 16 points from 5-9 and 5-5 shots from the line to go with four rebounds, two assists and a block in 22 minutes.
“I was so happy. What I said to the team afterwards, a real team doesn’t know who is going to have that big game, and whoever it is, from everybody will be ecstatic for. They were ecstatic for him in that locker room, ”said UK coach John Calipari after the victory. “We are becoming a team. “Instead of doing what I want, what does this team need me to do?” Jacob came in, looked fine. We managed to place him as a guard, which means that we could transfer him to the big guy.
“… Jacob, I wouldn’t have replaced him if he could have lasted in the game. He was playing very well. He came with the last rebound that won the game, correct? “
In a year in which any and all production is the icing on the cake for Toppin, he has now finished double digits three times and added six or more rebounds six times.
As Calipari would say, he found a “good change” in a season of “found money”.
“For Jacob, this is money found. This is the money he found on the couch, ”he said. “Nice change that he took.”
Despite his original redshirt plans, Toppin feels that the year-free experience on the court is allowing him to improve as a player every day and prepare him for greater long-term success.
“This season has helped me a lot,” he said. “I am learning from everything that is happening, from the experience that I am getting, just improving every day.”
With just one more point 30 seconds to go, Toppin dropped two free throws and was three points ahead. After the Commodores responded with two free throws of their own, Toppin followed with two more marks on the line to extend the lead back to three with 19 seconds remaining.
There were four consecutive brands that helped solidify the victory, Kentucky’s second consecutive.
“It’s just a mindset. If you have that mentality that you are going to hit, you are going to hit. You can’t doubt yourself, ”said Toppin of his clutch free throws to end the game. “I had every confidence in the world that I would do those free throws when it mattered.”
Toppin’s long-term plans in Kentucky remain, but the Brooklyn native is offering plenty of immediate help in a year that Wildcats certainly need it.