Quaintance made the most of his first game as a Cat. He played 18 minutes, scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and blocked two shots. His presence was felt inside as Kentucky turned up the defense against the Red Storm. Quaintance was happy with his first game back.
“I actually felt really good during the game,” Quaintance said. “I didn’t feel crazy out of shape. Obviously, I didn’t play too many minutes, but I felt like my knee recovered well. I felt like everything went well.”
Quaintance brings a defensive presence and a rim protector on the inside. He believes that this Kentucky team can still be one of the best defensive units in the country.
“I’ve been saying this since the summer, I feel like we have a chance to be one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Quaintance said. “I feel like we still have a chance. We had a couple of rough games to begin, and I feel like a couple of people forgot about us. People push us to the side. We still stand on everything we said before. We have the same team, we have the same guys, we have the same confidence. I feel like we’re going to be everything that we said we’re going to be and more.”
With Quaintance back on the floor, Kentucky finally had its full roster available to play on Saturday. And in the second half, it really showed. UK rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to score 53 points in the second half to top St. John’s.
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Bellarmine at Rupp Arena (1 p.m. ET, SEC Network Plus). It will be Kentucky’s final game of 2025, as the Cats will be off until a Jan. 3 matchup at Alabama to open Southeastern Conference play.