‘He’s an animal.’ UK’s Nick Richards makes big impression on Louisville.
Fortune hasn’t always smiled on Nick Richards in his roller-coaster ride of a three-season career for Kentucky. Referees calling what he has called ticky-tack fouls contributed to a plunge in confidence more than once.
So, two calls that went Richards’ way surely contributed to how he loomed large in Kentucky’s 78-70 overtime victory over Louisville on Saturday. Twice inside the final eight minutes of the second half, Richards took charges.
“The charges were 50-50,” he said with a smile. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I was hoping he was going to call a charge. I just took the hit, and let whatever happens happens after that.”
Richards scored seven of his 13 points in overtime. He also grabbed 10 rebounds, thus posting his fifth double-double of the season’s 12 games. He had only one double-double in his first two seasons.
“He’s good,” Louisville Coach Chris Mack said of Richards. “And he’s big as hell. You don’t see that size very often.”
U of L center Steven Enoch, who led his team with 18 points, saluted Richards. “He’s an animal on the glass,” he said, “and we didn’t do as good of a job as we could have of boxing him out.”
John Calipari said Richards’ performance breathed life in his belief that players’ confidence depends on how they play, not on a coach’s praise.
“Demonstrated performance in how you build your own confidence,” the UK coach said for the umpteenth time. “If you build your own confidence, no one can take it away except you by being arrogant.”
Richards said he would use the Louisville game as a foundation. “Just build on it,” he said. “Try to get better.”
Well-executed
Learning to finish games through execution has been a concern for Kentucky this season. Against Louisville, UK got points on 12 of its final 18 trips downcourt. That included seven of 11 in overtime.
“I think that’s about as good as it gets,” Immanuel Quickley said.
Needed victory
After two losses in Las Vegas last week, Kentucky players said there was a greater need to beat Louisville.
“It was really important for us to get this win,” Quickley said. “We lost a couple tough ones. … For us to get this win, psychologically, is really good going into SEC play.”
Hearing impaired
The atmosphere today was amazing,” Tyrese Maxey said. “It was crazy. It was so loud I couldn’t hear Coach Cal.”
Richards agreed.
“We were arguing with each other because we couldn’t hear each other on the defensive end,” he said.
Youth prevails
In terms of experience, stats savant Ken Pomeroy ranked UK No. 341 among Division I teams and Louisville No. 30. U of L started three fifth-year seniors and two juniors. One player — Dwayne Sutton — was a 1,000-point scorer on the college level. A second 1,000-point scorer, Lamarr “Fresh” Kimble, came off the Cards’ bench. And Jordan Nwora needed 10 points to reach 1,000. He scored eight.
UK’s starters — Ashton Hagans, Tyrese Maxey, Keion Brooks, Nick Richards and EJ Montgomery — had combined for 1,185 points as college players going into the game.
Coaching box
Calipari received a warning and then a technical foul for being out of the coaches’ box. The technical came with 4:23 left and UK ahead 52-48. Nwora made the foul shot and Louisville scored on the subsequent possession.
“My wife said she was going to take pictures of the other bench because he was out,” Calipari joked about Mack. “… I don’t care what an official calls as long as you make the same call down that (other) end. … This crew did a good job today.”
Free throws
Mack cited U of L’s 9-for-20 free-throw shooting as the difference.
“The demise of our team was simply our free-throw shooting,” he said.
Ryan McMahon, a 94.4-percent free-throw shooter, made one of two in overtime. Malik Williams (66.7 percent) made one of four. Kimble (81.8 percent) missed his only two. Nwora (80.4 percent) made three of six.
Mack said he has his players shoot 100 free throws on each game day.
“As I go down the list, today is as good as it’s been all year,” he said of the practice free throws. “(Players shot) 92 percent, 94, 96, 91, 91. … Sometimes it bounces like that.”
Numbers
Louisville game into the game ranked 15th nationally in three-point defense. Opponents had made only 26.7 percent of their shots from beyond the arc.
UK made seven of 15 for a season-high 46.7-percent accuracy.
This story was originally published December 28, 2019 at 9:31 PM.
