An exception for Hagans and a rehearsal for March among Monday’s UK takeaways

Five takeaways from Kentucky’s interview session with reporters on Monday:

▪ Ashton Hagans’ freedom to go for steals (22 of them in the last five games) shows how UK Coach John Calipari makes coaching adjustments based on his players’ strengths and weaknesses. Calipari usually doesn’t put great value in steals, preferring his defenders not gamble, but instead steer drivers toward UK’s rim protectors. But Hagans is so good at disruptive defense, he gets the freedom to go for steals.

▪ Calipari said Vanderbilt on Saturday and Georgia on Tuesday represent good preparation for the NCAA Tournament. Vandy played zone almost exclusively and did not try for offensive rebounds. Georgia will play zone sparingly and send four players to the offensive glass. Contrasts in style occur in March.

▪ Hagans made only one shot other than a layup against Vanderbilt, yet the SEC named him its Freshman of the Week. He had five turnovers in that game. The previous time he was SEC Freshman of the Week saw Hagans have five turnovers against North Carolina. Calipari liked this because it showed that numbers can be overvalued when determining how well a player performed.

▪ Calipari, Reid Travis and Nick Richards offered the consensus view that “bigs” will play a key role in how well Kentucky fares the rest of the season.

▪ Richards thought a flagrant 1 foul should have been called when Vanderbilt’s Matthew Moyer elbowed him in the face. A non-call did not surprise Richards, who said that Kentucky does not get the benefit of the doubt on calls.