‘He anticipates.’ Kentucky’s Herro continues to show he’s not merely a shooter.

With freshman Tyler Herro hitting three shots within 69 seconds, Kentucky broke away from Monmouth early in Wednesday night’s game. Then something interesting happened.

Twenty seconds later, Herro found himself open in the right corner. But instead of flexing what UK Coach John Calipari might call beer muscles and fire up another shot, he passed to an open Quade Green on the wing. Green hit the three-point shot.

“I just try to make the right play every time down the court,” Herro said. “Quade’s just as good or a better shooter than me. . . . When he’s got it going, I think we’re a lot better team.”

Herro’s pass did not surprise Green. “He’s a willing passer at all times,” Green said.

Herro, who led UK with 16 points in the 90-44 victory over Monmouth, has made no secret of his wish not be considered merely as a shooter.

“I try to kind of have that label of being a spot-up shooter off of me,” he said. “I try to make the right plays and get my teammates involved and try to get better at the defensive end.”

Herro looked the part of an all-around player against Monmouth. He equaled a career-high of five steals while tying PJ Washington with a team-high eight rebounds.

“He anticipates,” UK Coach John Calipari said of Herro, whose 12 steals leads the team.

Herro found it difficult to explain why he seems to have a knack for anticipating passes or an opponent’s course of action.

“I guess I was born with it,” he said. “I don’t know.”

Mixed review

Calipari’s emphasis on defensive improvement led to a request to analyze Ashton Hagans as a defender. Hagans gained a reputation as a solid defender during UK’s August exhibition games in the Bahamas.

Calipari gave Hagans a mixed review.

When asked Tuesday if Hagans was defending well, Calipari said, “Off the ball, no. On the ball, yeah. He can do the same stuff Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) did. Off the ball, he’s like the rest of the guys. He’ll stop. … On the ball defense, he’s as good as we have. He really is. They’ll be games I’ll put him in just to say shut that guy out.”

After UK beat Monmouth, Hagans acknowledged the difference in his on- and off-ball defense.

“On the ball, I’m focused on not letting my man score,” he said. “But off the ball, I’m, like, more focused on my man rather than helping my teammates off the ball. It’s just something I’ve got to keep working on.”

Not playing hard

Calipari said he becomes frustrated when watching other teams play on television.

“We’re not playing as hard as some of these other teams,” he said.

This did not come as a surprise to Herro. “The main thing right now is he believes we have better players,” he said. “But everybody is just playing harder than us. He’s trying to find a group of guys who can go out there and play hard for however long it can be.”

Baker update

Jemarl Baker, who came to UK in the fall semester of 2017, has yet to play. Knee problems have been cited. He participated in pregame warm-ups Wednesday.

When asked for an update on Baker, Calipari said, “Every day I look at the sheet and it says, he’s out. So he’s telling me his knee’s feeling better, and so at some point when I look at that sheet, it’s going to say (he can play). Right now, it says out. So he’s out.”

Towns in town

The parents of former UK star Karl-Anthony Towns attended the game. The elder Karl Towns played for Monmouth (1983-85) and ranks high in various rebound categories.

He holds the program record for most rebounds in a game (23 against Morgan State on Jan. 12, 1985) and in a season (319 in 1984-85). He also is eighth on Monmouth’s career rebounding list (515).

Losing: Monmouth

Monmouth’s all-time record against current members of the SEC fell to 1-7. The victory came against Vanderbilt on Nov. 24, 2001.

Monmouth also saw its record against ranked opponents slip to 1-16. That included an 0-8 record against opponents ranked in the top 10. The margin of defeat in those eight games rose to 33.6 points.

Losing: SEC

With league play looming, Calipari trumpeted the competition SEC opponents will provide. He said the SEC was either the best or second-best league “when you talk top to bottom.”

The supposedly upwardly mobile SEC had a 1-8 record against ranked teams going into this week. That included losing all four games against top-10 opponents.

In addition to that .125 winning percentage against ranked opponents, the SEC had lost 12 games against teams from non-Power Five conferences going into Wednesday’s play. That did not count Texas A&M losing to Gonzaga, which was No. 3 at the time.

Game change

The start time for UK’s game against UNC Greensboro on Saturday has been moved up to 1 p.m.

There’s also a change in the television coverage. The game will be on ESPN2.

This story was originally published November 29, 2018 at 1:23 AM.