Reid Travis’ UK experience has been ‘all you can ask for,’ his father says

The numbers suggest that this could be Reid Travis’ least-satisfying season. But that’s not what his father said on Kentucky’s Senior Day. His message: Numbers aren’t everything.

“He’s putting up — not great numbers — but decent numbers given the makeup of the team,” Nate Travis said.

Going into Saturday’s game against Florida, Travis was averaging his fewest points (11.3 per game), rebounds (6.9) and minutes (27.7) since his freshman season at Stanford.

Yet Travis and his family came to Rupp Arena feeling good about his experience at Kentucky.

“To walk right in and he’s a starter and contributor” makes a key difference, Nate Travis said. “The nice thing about it is he’s more than needed for the success of the team. He’s just not out there. They need him. And that’s all you can ask for.”

Travis has been sidelined since spraining his right knee at Missouri on Feb. 19. More than once, UK Coach John Calipari has stressed how the importance of the NCAA Tournament overshadows other considerations in Travis’ return. Even the sentimental send-off that is Senior Day is less important.

“That is the priority,” the elder Travis said of the NCAA Tournament. “And he understands that as well. The goal is much bigger than playing on Senior Day.”

When asked why his son transferred to Kentucky, Nate Travis mentioned the program’s history off success and the coaches’ ability to prepare players for the NBA.

“After he weighed all the options and what other universities had coming back, he felt that he was probably that missing piece that Kentucky needed to get to the championship.”

Calipari echoed that sentiment on his radio show Monday. “We’re not the same team without him,” he said. “Right now, we don’t set good screens.”

Jonny on the spot

Walk-on Jonny David joined Travis in bidding farewell to Rupp Arena. A 1,000-point scorer in high school, David had not taken a shot in the last two seasons and played only 14 minutes in that time.

This prompted a question from his father, Joe David.

“At multiple times, I’ve asked him during the course of all this: ‘Are you happy? Would you do it all over again?’” the elder David said Friday. “He has consistently said, ‘Dad, I’m happy. I love it. I love the people. I love the Big Blue Nation. I love my teammates. And if I had to do it all over again, I’d probably make the same decision.’”

David has become a fan favorite. When he rises from the bench and heads to the scorer’s table, fans react.

“I remember the first couple of years, they chanted his name,” Joe David said. “Hopefully, he can give them something to cheer about on Saturday.”

David started per Senior Day custom. He was replaced 81 seconds into the game. When David returned with 29.2 seconds left, Immanuel Quickley motioned an intention to pass to the walk-on, but Calipari said to hold the ball as the final seconds elapsed.

“We thought he would take it,” PJ Washington said of David. “Unfortunately, he did not.”

Family affair

Accompanying Travis to center court at Senior Day were his parents, Nate and Jackie, older brother Jonah, younger sister Olivia and his girlfriend whom he met when they were students at Stanford, Jordan Parker.

Accompanying David were his parents, Joe and Sondra, brothers Jeremy and Justin, and sister Samantha.

Washington on list

Washington was one of 15 players selected to the John R. Wooden Award’s 2018-19 National Ballot. He will be in contention for the Wooden Award Trophy (National Player of Year) and the Wooden All-American Team.

Voting for the award be March 18-25. Voters consist of nearly 1,000 members of the media as well as fans. Fans can vote at woodenawardvote.com.

Headband

Because he said he needed a haircut, Washington wore a headband during the game at Ole Miss on Tuesday. He again wore a headband on a whim. As for future games, “It depends on how I’m feeling,” he said.

NCAA team?

Florida sought to bolster its chances for a NCAA Tournament bid by beating No. 6 Kentucky. The Gators have beaten two teams with a top-50 NET rating going into this weekend: No. 13 LSU and No. 36 Ole Miss.

After the game, Calipari said Florida deserved an NCAA Tournament bid.

When asked his reaction to Calipari’s assessment, Florida Coach Mike White said, “I’ll say, the committee needs to really respect John Calipari’s decision. That’s what I would say.”

As reporters chuckled, White added, “I mean, he’s a really, really smart guy. I’m not going any further than that.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2019 at 8:23 PM.