Kentucky’s Hagans to miss Florida game. Will take time off for ‘personal reasons.’
Kentucky will play at Florida without its starting point guard and one of its team leaders, UK Coach John Calipari tweeted about an hour before tip-off.
Ashton Hagans did not make the trip to Florida, Calipari tweeted.
“He and I met a couple days ago and he asked to step away for a couple days for personal reasons,” Calipari tweeted. “I support his decision. We are going to need him at 100% for the postseason.”
Calipari later elaborated during his pregame radio interview with Tom Leach.
“He needed some time to get his mind and body right,” Calipari said of Hagans. “And I agree with him.”
Calipari was asked if time off would fix whatever problem exists.
“I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t,” the UK coach said.
He said the impact of losing Hagans would be felt by everyone. Kentucky has played much of the season with eight primary rotation players.
“It’s putting a little bit on everybody,” Calipari said. “You’ve got to try to stay out of foul trouble.”
Calipari told Leach that he would ask freshman Dontaie Allen about playing against the Gators on Saturday. Allen, Kentucky’s 2019 Mr. Basketball from Pendleton County, has not played in a game this season as he rehabilitates a knee injury suffered in December 2019.
“I’ll probably grab Dontaie before the game and say, ‘Look, I don’t want to use your (redshirt) year, but do you want to play if we need you? And let him make that decision.
“He’s been in practice.”
Hagans, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Cartersville, Ga., leads UK in assists (191) and steals (58). He is also averaging 11.5 points per game.
Hagans has continued to play this season despite injuries to a shoulder, a knee, the other shoulder, his back and most recently, a thigh.
In late February, Hagans was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award. He was the Southeastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year last season.
“You’re not going to find a player that is better on the defensive end both on and off the ball than Ashton Hagans has been,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said earlier this season. I think he’s the frontrunner for National Defensive Player of the Year.”
In league play this season, Hagans ranked second in assists (5.6 per game) and fourth in steals (1.8 per game).
When asked Friday about UK’s trio of starting guards — Immanuel Quickley, Tyrese Maxey and Hagans — Florida Coach Mike White said, “I can’t imagine there’s a better defensive backcourt in the country.”
UK will be one guard short against a Florida team that leads the SEC in shooting (46.7 percent) and three-point accuracy (37.2 percent) in league play.
Calipari dismissed the idea Friday of anything significant involving cameras catching Hagans and teammate Nick Richards exchanging words late in Kentucky’s loss to Tennessee on Tuesday.
“The heat of the moment … ,” Calipari said. “When you coach young kids, this is what pops out. And you won’t believe this, I get emotional sometimes. I don’t mind when other people get emotional. I get it.”
When asked about how teammates deal with the recent bumps on Hagans’ road, Keion Brooks said Friday, “Just continue to let him know we love him and care about him. … Everybody goes through their lulls, their bad stretches. We’re not going to give up on him. We’ll continue to let him know he’s a great player and he’s going to break through.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2020 at 12:01 PM.
