Calipari found five who clicked for Kentucky. What will that mean for everyone else?
As inspiring as it might have played, the lineup Kentucky fans saw win in come-from-behind fashion at Georgia on Tuesday may not be the lineup that starts against Alabama on Saturday.
UK Coach John Calipari cited too many variables that can arise to say he’s settled into reliance on the lineup featuring three guards (Ashton Hagans, Tyrese Maxey and Immanuel Quickley), forward Nate Sestina and big man Nick Richards.
Calipari leaned on a basketball truism to explain his thinking.
“It doesn’t matter who you start,” he said Friday. “It’s who finishes the game.”
Game plans and matchups may dictate changes, he said. Maybe players getting “nicked up” will require adjustments.
“We’ll see,” Calipari said. “I’m not as worried about who starts as maybe clutter out there. I’m more worried about, OK, who am I finishing with.”
The UK coach acknowledged that he liked how the second-half lineup at Georgia performed.
“But, EJ (Montgomery) may step up and be the monster we want him to be,” Calipari said.
But, maybe freshmen Keion Brooks Jr. or Kahlil Whitney may start at forward to match Alabama’s smaller, quicker lineup.
Veterans lead way
Sestina attributed Kentucky’s second-half play at Georgia (58.6-percent shooting while outscoring the Bulldogs 47-32) to experience.
“With three veterans (or) four veterans on the court, it helps,” he said.
Sophomores Hagans and Quickley played all 20 minutes of the second half.
So did Maxey, who was the exception as a freshman in the lineup because he’s, uh, an exceptional freshman.
“A kid like Tyrese, who’s playing really, really well kind of thrives in that spotlight and playing in a big game like that,” Sestina said. “A group like that does play well together and meshes together.”
Calipari noted Maxey’s busy stat line at Georgia: 17 points (which tied Richards for team high), seven rebounds (also equaling a team high), eight assists (team high) and four blocks (team high).
“The (NBA) people who evaluate, … they said that’s a winner,” Calipari said. “That’s how you win basketball games. And that’s who everyone wants on their team.”
Hagans credited Sestina’s threat as a three-point shooter helps spread the opposing defense.
“(UK) guards can get in the lane,” Hagans said. “When we don’t have anything, we just kick it out and create. ... That just gives us room to drive in the lane.”
As he did in the postgame news conference at Georgia, Calipari suggested that Hagans might have had an itchy trigger finger in the return to his home state.
“Got a little excited,” the UK coach said. “Took a few too many jump shots. But, at the end of the day, the kid has a will to win that drags the rest of us.”
Calipari likened Hagans to UK quarterback Lynn Bowden.
“He’s Lynn Bowden for us,” Calipari said before quipping, “(Hagans) may be able to throw the ball better. I don’t know.”
Whitney? Brooks?
Meanwhile, Whitney did not score in 11 minutes of play at Georgia. That marked his third straight scoreless game.
And Brooks’ six points gave him 19 in the last five games. He’s grabbed seven rebounds in that span.
Not to worry, said Sestina, who suggested the two freshman forwards will be featured in this season’s lineups.
“They’re consistently getting better and consistently showing progress,” Sestina said of Whitney and Brooks. “Their fight in practice the past couple weeks has been incredible. Things are starting to click for them. And they’re going to be moving forward.
“Nobody in our gym or locker room is really worrying about them moving forward.”
Whitney and Brooks have won Calipari’s trust, Sestina said.
“They’re two of the hardest workers on our team … ,” said Sestina, a wise graybeard as a graduate transfer. “When they get an opportunity to play and they start to see things moving forward for them, (they will make more of an impact).
“On defense, Kahlil gets a big-time block and I think his momentum starts to carry on both ends, he’ll be great. Same thing with Keion.”
Saturday
Alabama at No. 14 Kentucky
When: Noon
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Alabama 8-6 (1-1 SEC), Kentucky 11-3 (2-0)
Series: Kentucky leads 113-38
Last meeting: Kentucky won 73-55 on March 15, 2019, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Nashville, Tenn.
