Kahlil Whitney’s Kentucky farewell included tears and well-wishes
As John Calipari told it, Kahlil Whitney made a tearful exit from Kentucky basketball.
The player and the UK coach met Friday. Calipari acknowledged being surprised when the freshman told him that he would seek his basketball fortune elsewhere.
“He had tears,” Calipari said after Kentucky defeated Texas Tech in overtime Saturday. “I had tears. I hugged him.”
Then, Calipari said, he encouraged Whitney to succeed.
“I just said, ‘You make it,’” Calipari said with a tone that suggested Whitney should not accept any other destiny. “‘Make it. If you’re going to do this, you make it.’
“And I said, ‘I’ll do anything I can to help you.’”
Calipari said he blames himself when a player does not feel Kentucky can make his basketball dream come true. Of course, that dream is to play in the NBA. And UK’s program has become known as a launching pad for those who hear their name called at a NBA Draft after playing one college season.
“I stay up nights,” Calipari said. “I want every kid to make it. But there are times kids think it’s not here.”
Such players as Quade Green and Ryan Harrow fit that description.
“I get disappointed as much in myself that I wasn’t able to help him break through,” Calipari said of Whitney. “But I told him, ‘I’m here. Call me if you need (to). How can I help you? What do you need me to do?’”
Calipari suggested he understood how Whitney could have grown doubtful about Kentucky helping make his basketball dream come true. Whitney played more than 20 minutes in each of the first four games, and he started the first seven.
But Whitney played only one and two minutes in the games against Arkansas and Georgia in the seven days before deciding to leave.
And as Whitney receded, fellow freshman Keion Brooks played a larger role.
“Not once — on the bench, in the locker room, in meetings with me — did he have any kind of attitude,” Calipari said. “He’s a great kid. … He cheered louder than anybody else. If he didn’t play in this game, he would have been in that locker room cheering louder than anybody else.”
Immanuel Quickley said that not all players follow an identical path.
“God has individual plans for each and every one of us,” Quickley said. “He thought (leaving) was a better way for him.
“He’s still my brother. I still keep in contact with him. For Kahlil Whitney, I love him. That’s my bro.”
Atmospheric pressure
After games at Arkansas, South Carolina and now Texas Tech, Kentucky players have gained an expertise on hostile road environments.
Calipari said he ordered the team bus to go by tents set up Friday night for fans who were camping out near United Supermarkets Arena.
“I wanted them to see that (UK) brings the best out in people …,” Calipari said. “I’ve been to all kind of arenas. This was a classy crowd.”
Not all visiting courts are classy, he added. Without naming names (Indiana?), he said, “I’ve been to arenas where I won’t take my team back. It’s disgusting. Like, why should I do that and help another program.”
Nick Richards called Texas Tech’s home court “one of the best atmospheres we’ve played in.”
Quickley cited atmospheric pressure when asked why UK lost leads of 10 points in the second half and six in overtime.
“You got 16,000 people rooting against you, booing you, calling you call kind of stuff,” he said. “Sometimes It can be a little bit distracting.”
Richards looked forward to more of the same. “I think we go to Auburn soon (next Saturday),” he said. “That’s going to be a really good game. We love playing Auburn, and very excited for it.”
When asked why, he said, “Basically the crowd.”
Big 12/SEC standings
The two leagues split this year’s Big 12/SEC Challenge. That left the SEC with a 30-40 record in the event, which was played for a seventh straight season.
The SEC has won the Challenge once, winning six of the 10 games in the 2017-18 season. The Big 12 won four of the previous six Challenges. The conferences also tied 5-5 in 2016-17.
Kentucky improved its record in the Challenge to 4-3. Florida, which lost to No. 1 Baylor, also has a 4-3 record. Tennessee, which lost at Kansas, fell to 4-2.
UK on GameDay
ESPN announced that its College GameDay show will originate from Auburn next Saturday. The show will be in conjunction with Kentucky’s game at Auburn that evening beginning at 6 p.m. EST.
It will be the 19th time UK has played in a GameDay game. That will tie North Carolina for the second most in show history.
Duke has the most appearances with 20.
It will be the first time Auburn has played in a game linked to ESPN’s College GameDay show.
