Neuqua Valley star Luke Kinkade hit a 3-pointer to give his team a two-point lead in the third quarter Tuesday night.
That prompted a rousing response from the Wildcats’ student section.
“They can’t guard you, Luke!” a fan yelled out.
The kid wasn’t lying, although he was stating the obvious.
Kinkade, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, has been shredding defenses for three seasons, most often with his smooth left-handed delivery from the perimeter. He was at it again Tuesday, scoring a team-high 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting against Glenbrook South.
It wasn’t Kinkade’s best performance of the season and wasn’t enough to prevent the Titans from beating the Wildcats 62-52, but it did reinforce the common narrative about him.
“It’s tough guarding him,” Neuqua Valley senior forward Joe Balgro said. “At practice, he’s cooking everybody. He plays really well. He’s perfected his game and worked hard, and it pays off.”
Kinkade is averaging 19.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the Wildcats (20-5), who had won seven straight and 18 of their past 20 games until the loss to Glenbrook South (19-5). He has 1,312 career points, second on the program’s scoring list behind Yale standout John Poulakidas.
But Balgro, who had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists against the Titans, said Kinkade’s game goes far beyond shooting and scoring.
“He’s a good rebounder too,” Balgro said. “He’s very underrated as a rebounder. Everything he does helps our team.”
Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton has been impressed with Kinkade’s defense, especially this season.
“He is an underrated defender,” Sutton said. “He is one tough dude. I’ve seen him down in his stance guarding some really good players for three years. We usually have to hide sophomores. He was guarding Division I guys as a sophomore, so he is a very good on-the-ball defender.”
Kinkade said he learned how to defend from his older brother Nick, who left a big impression on him. They played one varsity season together.
“As I saw him play, I just kind of got into it,” Luke Kinkade said. “He just had that mentality that nobody is scoring on him and that never-lose mentality.
“I’m still trying to do everything I can to be like him and what he did.”
To that end, Kinkade added muscle so he can guard bigger players and deal with the extra attention he receives from opponents.
“I definitely got stronger over the offseason,” he said. “That was a goal of mine so I could take contact. I know people are going to be holding me and grabbing all game, so I made sure I hit the weight room.”
Kinkade demonstrated his grit Tuesday by guarding Glenbrook South senior forward Nick Taylor. The 6-7 Taylor is committed to Winona State, which has offered Kinkade too.
Taylor tallied a team-high 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting, but Kinkade made him work for it. After the Titans took leads of 7-0 and 20-11 in the first quarter, Kinkade scored five straight points to start the second quarter as the Wildcats rallied to grab a 29-27 halftime edge. Taylor attempted only two shots in the second quarter.
“I’ve seen things on tape that you wouldn’t believe,” Sutton said of Taylor. “I’ve seen him just wreck people. We really kept him in check, and he had a good game. Luke was guarding him in the post.”
Which is unusual for a guard, especially one as prolific as Kinkade.
“Shooters don’t get credit for that,” Sutton said. “He plays both ends, and a lot of times our shooters, Poulakidas and these guys, they never played a lick of defense.”
Kinkade sets a sterling example by taking defense seriously.
“He’s obviously the leader of our team,” Balgro said. “With the experience he has and the leadership he has, he’s obviously the person everyone relies on because he’s been the biggest impact for us for as long as we know.”
Kinkade said he won’t focus on his recruiting until after the season and that the only statistic he’s focused on is wins, which is why he was disappointed following the loss.
“It was a game we should have won,” he said. “We know that. We made so many little mistakes, and we need to clean those up. We just can’t let it linger, so we’ve just got to focus on Metea for Friday. It’s a big conference game.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
