Close counts in horseshoes and Kentucky basketball games this season
Competitive games that test a player’s grace under pressure continued to be the theme for this Kentucky season on Saturday.
This year of living dangerously saw UK and Ole Miss trade the lead nine times inside the final five minutes. It was the 19th time in 25 games this UK season that the margin separating the teams was seven points or fewer inside the final seven minutes, and it was the 13th time the difference was one possession inside the final six minutes.
Better free-throw shooting allowed Kentucky to prevail 67-62. The Cats made eight of eight from the line inside the final 2:10. Ole Miss missed the front end of two one-and-ones inside the final minute.
A “rock fight” is what UK Coach John Calipari called it.
“As you go through seasons, all you want to see your team do is fight,” Calipari said. “They’re not going to be perfect. They’re not going to make every shot. You just want to see them fight.”
UK, 20-5 overall and 10-2 in the Southeastern Conference, came close to being perfectly imperfect in terms of three-point shooting. The Cats made only two of 22 three-point shots.
“You’re thinking that is the stat that will win the game,” said Ole Miss Coach Kermit Davis, who added that his team’s plan was to invite Kentucky to shoot threes.
UK players suggested there was significance in winning while shooting so poorly from beyond the arc (and at 39 percent overall).
“Man, we won,” Tyrese Maxey said in an apparent attempt to put 2-for-22 in perspective. To win in such a circumstance, “that’s a big step for us,” he said.
Perhaps this season’s bountiful practice at playing under win-or-lose pressure helped Kentucky shoot free throws well down the stretch. UK’s only miss in 14 second-half attempts came when Immanuel Quickley (of all people) missed one of two technical free throws with 13:36 left.
“That’s what it’s all about,” said Quickley, who made two free throws with 6.6 seconds left to put UK up 65-62. “That’s what you dream about as a kid.
“The only thing going through my mind is what we’re going to do on defense.”
Nick Richards gave UK a 63-62 lead by making two free throws with 1:11 left. That made him 4-for-4 inside the final 2:10.
“How many of you were saying the 7-footer can’t make four in a row?” Calipari teased reporters in the postgame news conference.
“No pressure,” Richards said. “Just the same routine all the time. I’m not thinking, ‘It’s going to give us the lead’ or ‘it will get us closer.’”
By contrast, Ole Miss star guard Breein Tyree missed the front end of two one-and-ones inside the final minute. Ole Miss fell to 13-12 overall and 4-8 in the SEC.
A late Ole Miss first-half surge had put Kentucky behind 27-25 at the break.
Kentucky took 13 three-point shots in the first half. That was more than UK had taken in any of the last three games or in nine games earlier this season. UK came into the game averaging 12.4 three-point shots in games against SEC teams this season.
Kentucky played defense without fouling in the first half. Ole Miss made only 11 of 30 shots. UK did not get whistled for its first foul until 8:23 remained in the half.
Meanwhile, 29 seconds later, UK was eligible to shoot the one-and-one.
Tyree, the leading scorer in SEC play, did not score until hitting a pull-up jumper over Quickley with 11:29 left in the half. He had only two points until coming alive with eight points in less than three minutes late. That put UK behind at halftime.
The Rebels twice led by as much as seven points inside the next three minutes.
Then it was UK’s turn to rally. Quickley led the way. In one stretch, he scored 11 of UK’s 17 points. His two free throws put UK ahead 55-54 with 4:55 left. That was UK’s first lead in more than eight minutes and set up another possession-by-possession test of wills for Kentucky.
“We’d rather win by 30 every game,” said Quickley, who finished with a team-high 17 points. “But, the SEC is way too good. … Teams are good. They scout us very well. They know our plays.”
The Ole Miss coach saluted Kentucky’s ability to win close games this season.
“That’s probably why some teams are in first place and other teams aren’t,” Davis said. “They’re finding ways to win those kind of games. And Kentucky sure has.”
Next game
No. 12 Kentucky at No. 25 LSU
9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN)
