UK-Monmouth game in New York might test each team’s resilience

To borrow a phrase from John Calipari, the Kentucky-Monmouth game Saturday might be a test to see if either team can avoid letting go of the rope.

Because it’s the youngest, least experienced team in Division I, Kentucky is susceptible to letting up, Calipari said as recently as this week. Fatigue can bring on this unwanted impulse. So might adversity.

“When we get in a game and it’s really hard and the other team is giving it, that’s when they let go of the rope,” Calipari said Thursday.

Calipari reminded reporters that teams from so-called Power Five conferences are losing to so-called mid-major schools this season. For instance, Loyola of Chicago won at Florida and Central Florida at Alabama in the last seven days.

A noon game will further test the teams’ ability to concentrate and persevere, Calipari said.

Monmouth has had its holding-onto-the-rope endurance tested. The Hawks’ 85-84 loss to Hofstra on Wednesday was especially gut-wrenching. Monmouth led by 13 points at halftime, and held a 55-41 lead five minutes into the second half.

On the strength of 9-for-16 shooting from three-point range in the second half, Hofstra rallied and won when Jalen Ray made a three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left.

After making a free throw with 5 seconds left, Hofstra intentionally missed the second, tipping the ball out to Ray for the winning shot.

“I can’t believe how they lost,” Calipari said.

Monmouth Coach King Rice could believe it. He said his playing days for North Carolina included practicing that exact maneuver “hundreds of times.”

Monmouth uses the same play, he said, although not to a shooter on the right wing.

“I talked about that at our last shoot-around before Hofstra, trying to say this is what we’re going to do …,” Rice said. “I never had it happen to me. But at Carolina, we won games tipping out. … As soon as they tipped it out, I said, ‘Game time.’”

That game-winning shot was merely the latest challenge in a challenging season for Monmouth. The Hawks are 3-6, and could easily be 6-3. Two other losses came in overtime: 84-81 in one OT at Connecticut and 101-96 in four OTs against Penn.

When asked how his players are holding up emotionally, Rice said, “We are definitely a strong-minded group.”

Hofstra is in something of a rebuilding phase (two-time Metro Atlantic Athletic conference Player of the Year Justin Robinson was among six seniors that led the Hawks to a 27-7 record last season). The Hawks have started eight different lineups in their nine games.

One constant is guard Micah Seaborn. He is Hofstra’s only player with a double-figure scoring average (16.7 points). His 23 points against Hofstra enabled him to become the fourth-fastest Monmouth player to score 1,000 points in his career.

Seaborn, who was the MAAC Freshman of the Year two years ago and then an all-league selection last season, scored 27 points against UConn. He has made 51.4 percent of his shots, including half his 34 three-point attempts.

Homecoming

The game is something of a homecoming for several UK players.

“It’s going to be great …,” said Hamidou Diallo, who is from Queens, N.Y. “I’ve got a lot of family coming that haven’t seen me play in person in a long time.”

Nick Richards, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, attended The Patrick School, which is in Hillside, N.J. New York City is about 16 miles to the east.

“It’s going to be a great experience just to play in MSG (Madison Square Garden) in front of friends and family who have supported me throughout the years of playing basketball,” Richards said. He added that the game served as “one way of me giving back to that community.”

One of Richards’ high school teammates, Marcus McClary, is a freshman guard for Monmouth.

Although he is from Queens, Diallo has not played in Madison Square Garden.

“It’s every kid’s dream who’s from New York to play there,” he said. “I’m just going to go out there and treat it like it’s another game.”

Two other UK players will be playing close to home. Wenyen Gabriel grew up in Manchester, N.H., which is about 245 miles north of New York City.

UK lists Brad Calipari’s hometown as Franklin Lakes, N.J., which is 30 miles from New York City.

Etc.

Rice enjoys a friendship with Calipari. He was one of the “court coaches” during training camp for the USA U19 team that Calipari coached last summer. … Monmouth has a two-game deal with Kentucky, Rice said. The Hawks will play UK in Rupp Arena next season. … Doug Sherman, LaPhonso Ellis and sideline reporter Jill Montgomery will call the game for ESPNU.

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 6:04 PM with the headline "UK-Monmouth game in New York might test each team’s resilience."