Kentucky Basketball Gets Lucky After Players' Shoes Were Stolen During International Tournament In Toronto

Kentucky men's basketball almost had to play barefoot during Wednesday's game against Germany. Fortunately, the Wildcats had a backup plan in place.

Why is John Calipari's program playing a game in the middle of July? Technically, it isn't. But it is.

Kentucky is not Kentucky right now, it's Team USA.

The world has descended upon Toronto, Ontario this week for GLOBL JAM, a five-on-five, Under-23 basketball tournament that features both men's and women's brackets. Louisville is representing the U.S. for the women, while Big Blue is representing the U.S. for the men.

Kentucky's tournament got underway on Wednesday with an eight-point win over Team Germany.

The final score may not have fully represented the Wildcats' performance. It was a lot closer than it should have been on account of a four-point loss in the fourth quarter.

Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 24 points, Tre Mitchell dropped 20 and D.J. Wagner scored 16. Germany hung around and kept things close, but everybody in white got a chance to eat.

Team USA, a.k.a. Kentucky, is 1-0 in the 2023 GLOBL JAM tournament— even though it almost didn't get a chance to lace 'em up. Literally!

The Wildcats had to wear their backup shoes against the Germans because, according to multiple reports, the team's shoe bag was stolen off of their bus overnight. Fortunately, the backup bag was not on the bus alongside the main bag.

Kentucky's backup shoe bag was in one of the equipment manager's hotel room, which kept that collection of kicks from getting stolen alongside the others. Thank goodness.

Had that not been the case, the Wildcats would have had just a few hours to find a whole new set of sneakers that fit every player on the roster. That would have been a nightmare.

Team USA will play next on Thursday against Canada. The equipment manager will surely be keeping a close eye on the backup shoe bag overnight!