Travis ‘a beast,’ albeit an exhausted beast who needed an IV after UK’s win

How physically taxing was Kentucky’s 76-48 victory over South Carolina on Tuesday night? Afterward, Reid Travis needed an IV to replenish his body.

“The kid’s in there exhausted,” UK Coach John Calipari said of Travis during his postgame news conference.

Travis battled South Carolina’s Chris Silva around the basket.

“Him and Silva just went at each other,” Calipari said. “He was able to withstand it, which tells you it’s good for us to have a guy (like Travis). If they have a guy like that, we got one, too.”

Foul trouble limited Silva, the Southeastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year last season, to four points, four rebounds and 15 minutes. Travis scored 11 points, grabbed nine rebounds and played 22 minutes.

“He and Chris Silva were definitely going back and forth,” EJ Montgomery said. “And, you know, they’re both strong guys. He just took a beating.”

Of the times he’s battled Travis in practice, Montgomery said, “Not fun. He’s a strong guy.”

PJ Washington noted the importance of having a physical player like Travis, who came to UK with a reputation as a strong man and all-conference player for Stanford.

“Reid can bang with the best of them,” Washington said. “He’s hard to guard down low. … He’s just a strong guy. Not a lot of teams have a guy like that.”

Calipari concurred.

“Thank goodness we have Travis on this team,” he said. “Reid, he’s a beast. He is a beast.”

Defense

Kentucky held a third straight opponent to 54 or fewer points. That had not happened since UK held six straight opponents to 51 or fewer points from Nov. 23 to Dec. 10, 2014.

When asked if playing defense was fun, Washington smiled and said, “Yeah. It’s almost as fun as offense.”

Happy feet

Silva wasn’t the only big man who had foul trouble. Fouls also plagued Nick Richards.

Richards entered the game at the second television timeout (the 11:45 mark). Twenty-five seconds later, he picked up his first foul.

A second foul with 8:46 left sent Richards to the bench. He returned at the 6:02 mark. Fifty-seven seconds later, he picked up his third foul trying to defend a drive.

After Richards took a seat on the bench, Calipari danced a jig in an attempt to make a point.

“Every single day, we work on moving our feet and retreating and blocking at the rim,” Calipari explained. “He chose to push up. Now, the reason you push up is because you’re exhausted, tired, mentally not into it. You do what your old habits were, which were the eighth grade, you used to stick your knee out when the guy tried to dribble around you. You can’t, not here, can’t do it.”

No Hagans

Ashton Hagans of UK was not among 10 players named Monday as finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, which goes to the nation’s top point guard.

The 10 finalists include two players from the SEC: Tremont Waters of LSU and Jordan Bone of Tennessee. Plus Ja Morant of Murray State made the list.

Other finalists are Ky Bowman (Boston College), Josh Perkins (Gonzaga), Markus Howard (Marquette), Cassius Winston (Michigan State), Cody Martin (Nevada), Carsen Edwards (Purdue) and Ty Jerome (Virginia).

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame sponsors the Cousy Award.

Among the past winners are former UK star Tyler Ulis in 2016.

Six turnovers

Hagans had a career-high six turnovers, all in the first half. Calipari cited South Carolina’s style of play.

“What we were telling him is, you’ve got to get to the lane and then make decisions …,” the UK coach said. “It’s like we weren’t running plays. Just get into the lane and make decisions. His decisions weren’t good. But in the second half, he got a better feel for it … and he made better decisions.”

No Cats

On Monday, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced its Late Season Top 20 Watch List for considering for the John R. Wooden Award and All-American Team. No UK player made the list.

Among those on the list were three former UK opponents: Dedric Lawson of Kansas and the Duke duo of RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson.

Two future UK opponents made the list: Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams.