‘This is a basketball player’s school.’ Payne shrugs when Herro misses shots.

Through Kentucky’s first nine games, freshman Tyler Herro made only 25 percent of his three-point shots (11 of 44) and a pedestrian 41.8 percent of all his shots (38 of 91).

Cover your eyes obsessive UK fans. Associate coach Kenny Payne all but dismissed Herro’s misses with a shrug and a so-what?

“We want basketball players,” Payne said Thursday. “If you want to be a shooter, and just be a shooter, (you) should have probably gone to another school. This is a basketball player’s school.”

There was an irony amidst the fretting about Herro’s shooting. Herro himself recoiled from the label of a shooter. He spoke with pride of being an all-around player, not a mere shooter.

UK coaches took solace in Herro’s all-around play in those first nine games. He finished drives to the basket. “With both hands, either way,” Payne said approvingly. He cut into passing lanes for steals that began opportunities for scores in transition. Although teased by UK Coach John Calipari about a lack of passing skill, Herro remains among the team leaders in assists.

But Herro’s shooting stubbornly remained a topic of conversation.

Herro worked tirelessly on his shooting. “He works hard,” Keldon Johnson said. “No doubt. You can ask anybody on the team.”

Payne talked about Herro practicing two to three times a day. The problem, Payne said, was he did not duplicate his form from practices and workouts in games.

Payne suggested that anxiety about the need to make shots in games was the reason.

“Everybody’s talking about jump shots,” Payne said. “His dad. Shooting coaches. Coaches here. High school coach. AAU. . . .

“This is a basketball player’s school. And he’s proven he can do all of it. So the great lesson for him is ‘I was shooting 25, 26 percent from three. But I was averaging 14, 15 points and I was getting layups, mid-range (shots), steals, offensive rebounds, floaters. That’s the lesson.”

Actually, Herro averaged 10.6 points in those first nine games.

In the last three games, he’s made 23 of 42 shots (nine of 20 from three-point range) and averaged 18.7 points.

During the first nine games, Herro’s confidence did not wane, Johnson said.

“I know what Tyler can do, and he knows what I can do,” Johnson said. “We both believe in ourselves. We’re confident players.”

Self-centered

Kentucky’s preparation for games is self-centered, Calipari said. UK concentrates on UK.

“I learned from Larry Brown,” Calipari said of his beginnings as a coach on Brown’s staff at Kansas more than 30 years ago. “Worry more about your team than the other (team).”

John Wooden had the same philosophy about preparation during the UCLA dynasty days of the 1960s and 1970s (10 NCAA Tournament championships in a 12-year period).

UK players do not watch video of the opponent until the pregame meal, Calipari said. There is no written scouting report.

His preparation includes watching the opponent’s five most recent games. “I really don’t care about November,” he said. “And we go from there.”

Nick of time

Nick Richards played seven minutes at Louisville. That was his second-briefest amount of playing time this season (one minute against UNC Greensboro).

Payne explained.

“He had positive minutes,” Payne said. “Something happened where somebody beat him to a ball for a rebound.”

Calipari took out Richards as a way to stress how such a 50/50 ball must be retrieved, especially in a competitive game.

“These are the pivotal moments you’ve got to perform, you’ve got to produce,” Payne said of Calipari’s message to Richards. “Nobody’s going to outwork you to get the ball.”

This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 5:48 PM.