Despite off shooting night, Quickley’s ‘a winner’ and so is Kentucky
As Kentucky Coach John Calipari might say, Immanuel Quickley showed Saturday night that he’s not a robot nor a computer. His shooting needed a reboot. But that doesn’t mean he couldn’t contribute in a meaningful way nor that UK can’t win when a game isn’t a “Pick Quick” campaign advertisement.
Quickley, who was coming off back-to-back career-high scoring games in which he made 12 of 18 three-point shots, made only three of 10 shots from the field against Auburn.
But Quickley made all 11 of his free-throw attempts as he scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds.
Not so coincidentally, Kentucky defeated Auburn 73-66 to clinch the program’s 49th Southeastern Conference regular-season championship.
Maybe making it a more delicious victory, Kentucky had to prevail in yet another possession-by-possession test. But this time without Quickley’s scoring as a trump card.
What did that say about this Kentucky team?
“It’s a resilient team,” Quickley said.
Added freshman Tyrese Maxey: “I think this team is trying to do whatever it takes to win. At the end of the day, Coach Cal says, don’t let your brothers down. And that’s why we’re all playing so hard. Trying to go after every single loose ball. Every rebound. So, we don’t let each other down.”
UK, 24-5 overall and 14-2 in the SEC, needed such an effort. It was the 23rd time in 29 games that the margin was seven points or fewer inside the final seven minutes, and the 15th time a single possession could tie the score inside the final six.
Kentucky made six of six free throws inside the final six minutes.
Quickley made two of two in that span.
What did it say about Quickley that he impacted the game in multiple ways despite shooting well?
“He’s a winner … ,” teammate Nate Sestina said. “He’s a mentally tough kid. You see how at the free-throw line nothing fazes him.”
Quickley, who came into the game with the third-best free-throw shooting accuracy in Division I (91.5 percent), smiled when asked if opponents should know not to foul him.
“I guess you should say you should know better,” he said. “But, when you’re playing defense, you don’t think, ‘Don’t foul, don’t foul.’ You just think about playing defense. At times, there’s nothing you can do but foul.”
Quickley has seemingly perfected a lean-in move when a defender gets caught off-balance. That came from film study of such NBA players as James Harden, Lou Williams and Kevin Durant, he said.
Plus, Quickley added, “I caught a couple people with their hand in the cookie jar. … When you’re not shooting well, you try to get to the line.”
With Maxey scoring 12 of his 17 points in the first half, Kentucky led 40-37 at halftime.
Auburn matched Quickley’s three three-point baskets inside the first four minutes. That helped build a 16-9 lead. Danjel Purifoy, who had missed all eight of his three-point shots in the last three games (and was 3-for-20 in the last six), made three inside the first five minutes.
While the inevitable cool down in Auburn’s three-point shooting ensued, Kentucky stuck to the role of the team playing downhill. Only four of UK’s 29 shots in the first half were three-point attempts.
UK did not take a three-point shot until Quickley missed with 10:47 left.
When asked why he did not shoot well, Quickley did not cite some murky analytical formula.
“The ball didn’t go in,” he said with a smile. “When I make shots, the ball goes in. When I miss shots, the ball doesn’t go in.”
While Auburn twice led by nine points, Kentucky used a 12-0 run midway through the half to get ahead. UK’s first lead came with 7:40 left when Quickley made two free throws to make it 25-23.
As in the game at Auburn, momentum swung back and forth.
Auburn came into the game as the SEC’s comeback kings. The Tigers earlier rallied from deficits of 17, 19, 11 and 15 to win league games.
The mountain Kentucky built in the second half never got steeper than seven points until Maxey made two free throws with 1:28 left to put UK ahead 73-64.
Kentucky won with the kind the contributions from others that Calipari had repeatedly called for. Keion Brooks scored four points and grabbed three rebounds in 12-plus minutes. Sestina chipped in 11 points (his second double-digit game since Ohio State on Dec. 21).
Of these timely contributions on a night Quickley did not shoot well, Sestina said, “Just kind of shows the kind of team we are. … You can’t just rely on Tyrese, Ashton (Hagans) and Immanuel to score our points and get stops.”
Next game
Tennessee at No. 8 Kentucky
9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN)
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 8:18 PM.
