As long as Hagans defends and protects the ball, ‘we’re going to win’
Ashton Hagans made only two of 13 shots against Auburn on Saturday. Yet Kentucky Coach John Calipari saluted the sophomore point guard.
“When he goes five assists, one turnover, three steals and he defends like (he does), we will win,” Calipari said. “He can go two-for-13. The only person it bothers? Him. And his head goes down. And, ‘I can’t believe it. I missed this dunk.’
“Forget it.”
Calipari suggested that shooting is not make-or-break in Hagans’ game. Hagans’ shooting percentages dropped to 40.4 percent overall (103 of 255) and 26.7 percent from three-point range (16 of 60).
“For our team, it really doesn’t matter,” Calipari said. “If you defend, you get five, six, seven assists and one turnover and you do the rebounding and all of the stuff you’re doing, we’re going to win.”
UK players are still trying to prevent, say, poor shooting from affecting their confidence and resolve, Calipari said.
“They have attitudes,” he said of players. “Which are, ‘If I’m not making (shots), you know, I hang my head.’
“And they are still trying to break through that.”
SEC title
Kentucky clinched its 49th Southeastern Conference regular-season championship. As a result, each UK game in the SEC Tournament in Nashville (March 11-15) will have a 1 p.m. EST starting time.
Immanuel Quickley used UK’s games with Auburn last season to put perspective on the title.
“We beat them in the regular season last year,” he said, “but they beat us when it mattered (in the Elite Eight). The regular-season championship is good. But you want to be hot during March.”
In assessing UK’s team, Tyrese Maxey said, “We hang our hats on the defensive end, especially this hat.”
In his hand, he held a blue cap commemorating the SEC championship.
Home and away I
Kentucky’s 2-for-13 three-point shooting continued a curious trend. It meant that since December, UK has made 27 of 110 three-point shots in home games (24.5 percent), while making 60 of 121 (49.6 percent) in away games in that span.
Former Auburn coach Sonny Smith suggested a possible explanation.
“It appears to me that if you play at Kentucky, there’s a certain amount of pressure on you that other players don’t seem to have. …,” he said. “They may play better on the road because of that.”
Home and away II
For games since December, three-point shooting isn’t the only clear difference between home and away games for Kentucky.
In the seven home games going into the Auburn game, an average of 4.6 more fouls had been called on opponents than on Kentucky.
In nine away games, an average of 2.0 more fouls were called on UK than on opponents.
Home-and-away factored in Auburn’s change of strategy. In beating visiting UK on Feb. 1, the Tigers drove repeatedly to the basket. As a result, UK was whistled for 29 fouls and Auburn made 33 of 44 free throws.
In the rematch, Auburn relied on three-point shooting. Of the Tigers’ 61 shots, 34 were from three-point range. That 55.7 percent of Auburn’s shots coming from beyond the arc contrasted with the 42.3 percent taken from that range in earlier SEC games.
Auburn came into the game ranked last in three-point shooting accuracy in league games (27.4 percent).
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl explained. “Because I didn’t think if we drove (and) there was contact, I wasn’t confident we would shoot free throws,” he said with a knowing smile.
Guard J’Von McCormick noted the 44 free throws Auburn shot against UK at home. “So, that was going to be a big factor in this game,” he said. “Knowing that they, I guess, gave us a good whistle at our home court. So, (the UK players) were going to get a good whistle at theirs.”
$10,000 richer
A fan made a half-court shot as part of the Central Bank promotion. Nick Hostetter made the shot on the first try. He won the $10,000 prize.
GameDay
ESPN announced that its “College GameDay” show will originate from Dayton next Saturday. The game later that day against George Washington will be Dayton’s first appearance on the show.
Dayton was No. 4 in this week’s top 25 poll conducted by The Associated Press. That is Dayton’s highest ranking since the 1955-56 season. At 26-2, the Flyers are off to the best start in program history. The current 17-game winning streak is the longest active winning streak in Division I.
Etc.
Quickley scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half. During UK’s eight-game winning streak, he has averaged 14.9 points in the second halves. … UK improved its record against Auburn in Lexington to 49-2. … The victory prevented Auburn from beating Kentucky twice in a season for the first time.
