Quick-draw Hagans says he’ll holster his gun against home-state team this time
When Kentucky played at Georgia two weeks ago, Ashton Hagans played like Quick Draw McGraw. He took UK’s first two shots and four of the team’s first six.
On the eve of a second Kentucky-Georgia game, Hagans acknowledged that his itchy trigger finger was caused by being excited to play his home-state school.
“I had a lot of people there,” said Hagans, a native of Cartersville, Ga. “So, it was, ‘Dang, let me try to do something for the fam(ily).’”
Hagans ended up taking 10 shots in the first half. He came into that night averaging 8.4 shots a game.
In three previous games against home-state schools, Hagans has had a busy stat line. Against Georgia Tech in December, he had 21 points (his second-highest total of the season), equaled a career high of seven rebounds, had seven assists and equaled a season high of six turnovers.
In last season’s game against Georgia, he scored a season-high 23 points.
For Tuesday night’s game against Georgia in Rupp Arena, Hagans said he did not intend to try to do something for the “fam.”
“I’m going to stick to the game plan,” he said. “Getting my teammates involved (and) things like that.”
That Ashton Hagans has drawn rave reviews.
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said of Hagans: “He runs he show, and he’s the heartbeat of their team.”
At Monday’s news conference, Georgia Coach Tom Crean called Hagans a difference maker.
“They’d be a much different team without him on the court,” Crean said. “He makes so many things happen for everybody else, and that’s what makes him so valuable.”
Assistant coach Tony Barbee suggested that Hagans is first among equals on Kentucky’s team.
“We’ve got interchangeable parts,” Barbee said. “But if there’s one guy who is indispensable, it would be him just because of how disruptive he is on the defensive end of the floor … and how much he means to our offense in his ability to make shots for himself. And probably more importantly, how easy he makes the game at times for other guys.”
Barbee dismissed any concerns about Hagans being overly excited to play Georgia.
“He’s got a competitive spirit like no other regardless of who we play,” Barbee said. “I mean, he’s always going to come out on the floor with that same edge.”
‘Team effort’
At 19.1 points per game, Anthony Edwards of Georgia is the nation’s top-scoring freshman. He needs five points to surpass Eric Marbury for the 10th spot on Georgia’s list of top freshman scorers. He needs 29 points to pass No. 9 Trey Thompkins, who by the way is Hagans’ cousin.
To contain Edwards, UK is not looking for a defensive stopper. UK is looking for stoppers (plural).
“It’s a team effort to stop him,” said Keion Brooks, an acquaintance of Edwards since childhood.
Barbee reminded that Immanuel Quickley, Tyrese Maxey, Kahlil Whitney and Hagans all guarded Edwards at times in the first game.
“You don’t want to give him a steady diet of one guy because he can figure that out pretty easy,” Barbee said. “And that’s what a special player does.”
Player-driven
The Georgia game may test how much UK players can sustain a competitive spirit. It comes three days after a pulsating victory at Arkansas and four days before Kentucky plays at No. 18 Texas Tech.
Brooks saw how the players responded to Calipari being ejected at Arkansas as significant.
“He always talks about his teams being player-driven, not coach-driven,” Brooks said. “I feel that last game we shifted to being a player-driven team. So, I feel that’s something we can carry throughout the rest of the season.”
Don’t forget defense
EJ Montgomery scored one point in 16-plus minutes at Arkansas. But he had a bigger impact on UK’s victory than that suggests, Barbee said.
Attention to offense can overshadow how a player contributes defensively, said Barbee, who credited Montgomery with leading the effort that led Jimmy Whitt to 3-for-9 shooting and 14 points. Whitt scored a career-high 30 points in an Arkansas victory over Vanderbilt earlier in the week.
Georgia needs test
After Georgia lost 91-59 at Mississippi State on Saturday, Coach Tom Crean said, “This comes down to a competitive thing. I’ve said this before: players play to play. Tough people compete to win and win championships.”
Crean welcomed the next game being a challenge.
“I’m glad we’re going on the road again,” he said. “I really am. We have to test ourselves.”
Etc.
Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and sideline reporter Marty Smith will call the game for ESPN.
