Kentucky’s romp in Rupp ‘was good,’ but Cal says ‘we’ve got work to do’
John Calipari and Fairleigh Dickinson Coach Greg Herenda viewed Kentucky’s 83-52 victory Saturday night differently.
Calipari, the coach with a freshman-dependent team that might overreact to praise and then pay the price against stiffer competition in the near future, raised the standard he wants to see.
Never mind EJ Montgomery’s career 25 points and coming up one rebound shy of his second double-double. Montgomery settled for merely trading baskets with FDU too many times, Calipari said.
Yes, Nick Richards had his fourth double-double in the last seven games, this time with 12 points and 10 rebounds. But … he “could have had 25 and 15” if he had messed around, said Calipari, who suggested that Richards “got arrogant today.”
Keion Brooks scored a career-high 15 points and was “terrific,” Calipari said before adding that the freshman shied away from contact three times.
Meanwhile, Herenda said that UK’s 600th victory in Rupp Arena was a “Kentucky festival.”
Whose interpretation was more correct?
UK players, not exactly voting in a secret ballot, did not hesitate.
“I’ll go with my coach,” Montgomery said.
Kentucky players said they met half the alliterative goals of showing more fight and finishing games with more gusto.
“I feel like it was an OK game,” said Ashton Hagans, who had 11 assists and only two turnovers in nearly 31 minutes of play. “We played real good. … We just have got to tighten up on the finishing. It’s almost there.”
Kentucky flirted with a double-double in dunks (eight) and layups (nine).
The end result looked like you’d expect how an eighth-ranked team would beat an opponent stats savant Ken Pomeroy ranked 266th in the nation.
Kentucky defended, which was another of Calipari’s points of emphasis. Fairleigh Dickinson made only 32.3 percent of its shots (a season low for a UK opponent) and 20.8 percent of its three-point shots (tied for second worst by a UK opponent).
Herenda said his did not respond well to the setting and competition. The Knights did not give Herenda the kind of competitive game he saw as possible.
“Hopefully, you’ll get a hard-playing athletic team that competes,” he said earlier in the week. “That’s going to fight hard and has the ability to get the ball to the basket pretty quickly. It’s going to have to be a little under-sized against the Wildcats. … It’ll be a competitive game. But, obviously, we have a tall task in front of us.”
On Thursday, and not for the first time, Calipari declared that Kentucky was far from a finished product.
“We have a long way to go,” he said. “Like, a long way to go. And individual players have a long way to go.”
Montgomery led Kentucky to a 43-23 halftime lead. His 14 points in the opening 20 minutes were just two shy of the career-high 16 he scored against UAB last weekend.
The combined length of the seven shots (in 10 attempts) that Montgomery would not have extended far beyond the three-point line. He had three dunks, two layups, a post-up and a turnaround jumper from the foul line.
Montgomery’s work around the basket helped UK outscore Fairleigh Dickinson 28-12 in the paint in the first half. FDU was even with UK 18-18 in that category in the second half.
UK also enjoyed a 12-3 advantage in second-chance points which was fueled by seven offensive rebounds. The margin in the second half was 8-6.
Kentucky did not need much time to establish its superiority. The Cats took the lead for good with 17:44 left in the first half when Richards scored on a post-up while being fouled.
UK’s only three-point basket (in eight attempts) built the first double-digit lead. Immanuel Quickley hit with 9:03 left to put Kentucky ahead 23-13.
The margin reached its zenith at 35-13 when Tyrese Maxey drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup that drew an appreciative ooh from the crowd.
Montgomery equaled his previous career high with a dunk set up by a Hagans pass with 17:08 left.
On UK’s next possession, his putback made the lead 52-29 and gave him 18 points.
Brooks took a turn in the spotlight in the next six minutes. He scored nine of UK’s next 13 points. He capped this spree with a three-pointer that put Kentucky ahead 65-35. It also gave him 13 points, which eclipsed his previous career high of 11 scored against Eastern Kentucky.
The only question remaining was whether Kentucky would answer Calipari’s call to finish games with merciless dominance.
It didn’t happen to Calipari’s complete satisfaction. But…
“But this was good for this team,” the UK coach said of the victory. “This was good. Obviously, we’ve got work to do. But we’re making the strides we need to make.”
Next game
Georgia Tech at No. 8 Kentucky
5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 8:19 PM.
