Too little? Maxey and UK sized up well against Edwards and Georgia.
Georgia freshman Anthony Edwards drove on Kentucky freshman Tyrese Maxey. Edwards spun and finished near the rim.
Then, Edwards held out his arms, turned his palms to the court and motioned downward. This bit of body language was interpreted as saying Maxey was “too little” to prevent the score.
“Yeah, we’re going to have to really have a conversation about that,” Maxey said after UK defeated Georgia 78-69 Tuesday night. “I will call him as soon as I get off the plane.”
Maxey smiled as he recalled the incident. He did not seem angered. He said he and Edwards became acquainted as players in the youth basketball circuit.
Immanuel Quickley said the gesture did irk Maxey.
“Definitely,” Quickley said. “He was a little heated in the locker room. He said he was going to call him after the game. That’s one of his boys. McDonald’s All-Americans, things like that.”
Maxey and Quickley saluted Edwards as an ultra-talented player. Edwards led all scorers with 23 points.
“He’s really tough to guard,” Maxey said. “Especially when he has the green light like that. He has to make plays for that team to win. So, it’s hard to guard him.”
Quickley echoed that comment. “He was really tough to guard,” he said of Edwards. “I’ve guarded a lot of tough players. He’s one of the toughest players I’ve guarded.”
Maxey might have gotten the last word by saying he and his UK teammates were big enough in the place that counts most.
“At the end of the day, I think we had more points than him,” Maxey said.
Nick the significant
Nick Richards scored 13 of his 17 points and grabbed five of his seven rebounds in the second half.
When asked about Richards showing increasingly sure hands in catching passes, UK Coach John Calipari said, “He’s getting better. So, it’s taken him more time. Who cares how long it takes? It’s the point of, ‘Can I get to that point I’m a significant player?’ And he is now.”
Georgia Coach Tom Crean credited Richards with changing the game.
“They outrebounded us by 11 in the second half,” he said. “Points off turnovers got us. And it had a lot to do with Nick Richards. And we don’t have a matchup for Nick Richards. And we didn’t do a great job on a lot of their guys. But Nick Richards changed the game. We know when he plays well, they play well. And that’s exactly what happened tonight.”
‘That guy’
EJ Montgomery contributed two points, two assists and seven rebounds. Calipari wants more.
“EJ played pretty good, not great,” the UK coach said. “He’s that guy for us. He’s that, ‘Let’s go!’”
Quickley misses?!
Normally, a player missing a free throw generates a shrug. But Quickley’s miss on the front end of a one-and-one with 1:57 left in the first half was news.
Quickley had not missed a free throw since the game against Lamar on Nov. 24. He had made 23 of 23 in the seven games since then.
What happened?
“The ball and the rim weren’t how they should have been,” Quickley said with a smile. “I can’t blame it on myself. I don’t know what happened.”
Free throw oddities
Calipari was also puzzled by free-throw shooting. Not necessarily Quickley’s miss, but how UK made only 10 of 20 free throws. UK came into the game ranked third nationally in free-throw accuracy (80.1 percent).
“We weren’t today,” Calipari said. “We won without making free throws today. It’s good to know we can do that.”
The 10-for-20 shooting from the line was UK’s worst since making eight of 17 at Texas A&M on Feb. 10, 2018.
Georgia became the third opponent in the last five games to shoot more free throws than UK. The Bulldogs made 16 of 23. Utah and Ohio State also shot more free throws than UK.
One-and-done
With Edwards expected to be a one-and-done player, Calipari was asked about the impact such players can make on a college program in a single season.
Calipari acknowledged the many one-and-done players his Kentucky program has produced.
“We have some guys (on this season’s team) that are in that mold of leaving,” he said.
With that, Calipari suggested that classwork is not abandoned. The team grade-point average was 2.88 in the fall semester, he said. “Not internet classes,” he said. “Not correspondence.” Ashton Hagans led the way with a 3.5 GPA, Calipari said.
Quickley on Nate
Quickley saluted Nate Sestina’s hustle in the game.
“He’s huge,” Quickley said. “The things he does, the little things he does, diving on the floor, taking charges. He does all that stuff. And almost like PJ Tucker, those are winning plays that you need.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 3:59 AM.
