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#CanBall Weekly: Jamal Murray is ready for showtime at Kentucky

Jamal Murray, Kentucky Wildcats (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Jamal Murray, Kentucky Wildcats (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

(A weekly look at the Canadian basketball landscape, from the NBA to the grassroots.)

The NCAA college baskebtall season is not even a week old and the praise for Jamal Murray’s play is already pouring in. Albany head coach Will Brown called the 18-year-old Kitchener, Ont., native "the best player in the country,” after watching Murray go for 19 points, 3 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals in a 78-65 Kentucky Wildcats win over Brown’s Great Danes squad on Friday. ESPN’s college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla chimed in and compared Murray’s game to Brandon Roy, the former Portland Trail Blazers guard who was a multi-time NBA All-Star.

Murray sure looked the part Tuesday night, scoring 16 points. grabbing five rebounds, dishing out five assists, and racking up four steals as Kentucky beat No. 5 Duke 74-63 at the annual Champions Classic in Chicago. He stuffed the stat in style, too, throwing up an alley-oop to teammate Alex Poythress after splitting a screen with a behind-the-back dribble. Later in the game, he drove to the hoop and finished with a gravity-defying reverse layup.

For the Canadians that watched Murray wear the red-and-white at the Pan Am Games this past summer in Toronto, it's no surprise that the 6-foot-4 combo guard is ready for showtime. Murray didn't look at all out of place playing with and against experienced pros at the Pan Ams as Canada took silver. In fact, Murray made such a strong impression that he would have been selected to the senior men's team that represented Canada at the FIBA Americas if he hadn't had to report to Kentucky days before the tournament tipped off.

Murray is going to be big part of the Wildcats' pursuit of a national championship this season, but he's not expeced to stay in Lexington for long, as he's projected to be a top-10 pick in next summer's NBA draft. Until then, though, he has games to play and people to impress. This show is just getting started.

Wiggins, T-Wolves are road warriors

Andrew Wiggins and the Minnesota Timberwolves improved to 5-1 away from home this season with a 103-91 win in Miami on Tuesday. Wiggins scored 24 points against the Heat and is averaging 20.9 points per game for the 5-6 T-Wolves.

For a young team that's in the early stages of a rebuild, grinding out wins on the road, especially when facing quality opponents, is going to be an integral part of that process.

"I think the road is a blessing to us," Wiggins said, according to the AP. "That's one of the joys of playing on the road - everyone's against you, except the guys on your team."

Canada up to No. 7 in combined world rankings

After a couple gold medals for the senior women’s national team and a third-place finish for the men at the FIBA Americas this summer, Canada climbed two spots to seventh in the combined FIBA world ranking released Tuesday. Individually the men’s team is ranked 26th while the women come in at No. 9.

The women have already qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics by virtue of their first-place finish at the FIBA Americas while the men must go through a last-chance qualifying tournament to earn their spot.

6-PACK OF COLD SHOTS:

1. Kia Nurse and the reigning national champion Connecticut Huskies opened their regular season schedule with a 100-56 win over No. 7 Ohio State. Nurse scored 16 points in 32 minutes of action.

2. The Saskatchewan Huskies (4-0) take over the top spot in the CIS women’s top 10 after former No. 1 McMaster (3-1) lost to Ryerson 74-64 last week, dropping the Marauders to fourth in the coach’s poll.

3. The top five in the men’s rankings remains unchanged after two weeks of play: No. 1 Ottawa (4-0), No. Carleton (4-0), No. 3 McGill (1-0), No. 4 Brock (2-0), and No. 5 Ryerson (3-0)

4. The Toronto Raptors’ D-League affiliate, Raptors 905, acquired rights to swingman Nick Wiggins, older brother of Andrew Wiggins. The elder Wiggins, 24, split last season between the D-League’s Idaho Stampede and Tigers Tubingen in Germany.

5. In other 905 news, the team announced that Canadian centre Sim Bhullar will only play in home games as he works on his conditioning.

6. Kyle Wiltjer and Gonzaga's season got off to a bit of a slippery start. The Bulldogs were in Okinawa, Japan for an exhibition game against Pittsburgh at a U.S. military base, but the game was called at halftime because the court was too slick due to heat and humidity inside the arena. And while the conditions weren't ideal, Wiltjer did score 15 points in the first half.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr