Wall has already been the Southeastern Conference Player of the Week and hit a game-winning shot. He is averaging 18.5 points, 6.7 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 steals for No. 6 Kentucky (7-0). However, he knows North Carolina is his first big test, even if Stanford did take UK to overtime in the Cancun Challenge.
A lot of work to do
"You can't say yet how good we will be because we have a lot of work to do and a lot of big games starting with North Carolina, but I think we can be a pretty good team. This can be the best team I have played on. We just can't think we are the greatest team already, but we have a lot of great players from one through 13," Wall said.
However, the spotlight is going to be on Wall, a North Carolina native, more than anyone Saturday. It's his first nationally-televised game and he'll be going against the home-state school that barely recruited him despite his remarkable ability.
"A lot of eyes are going to be on me because that is my hometown team and this is really my first time playing against on the national stage," Wall said. "This is a big stage and that's something I have pretty much had my whole life.
"I can't go out there and try to put on a show and try to do too much and get outside our offense. I am going to stay in the flow of the offense and do what my coach wants me to do. This not about me. It is about my team playing North Carolina."
Wall was only briefly recruited by North Carolina coach Roy Williams during the Tar Heels' national championship season last year.
"They talked to me twice. One time is when they were getting ready to go play for a championship and he (Williams) said he would call me when it was over and he never called me. He never offered me (a scholarship). That is a decision he made and I am happy here," Wall said.
Contemplated staying close to home
Still, Wall's ailing mother in Raleigh had him contemplating staying closer to home to play college basketball even though he had liked Calipari even before the coach came to Kentucky.
"I was thinking if my mom got really sick I would stay home because a person that put you on the earth and the person you love the most, you don't want to be away from her as much as I am," Wall said.
"But he made a decision not to offer me. I didn't get a chance to be recruited by them and that's a choice he made. He is doing a great job with his team and I made by decision to come play with coach Cal. I know I'm happy with what I did."
Did Williams ever give a reason for not recruiting him?
"They never did. That is something I just put behind me and looked forward to this college season," Wall said. "Now that the game is here, none of that really matters any way. All that matters is us getting a win."
