Based on team effort at Tennessee, these basketball Cats are coming
In Kentucky basketball’s streak-snapping 77-64 win over Tennessee on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena, it seemed most every Wildcat found a way to contribute:
▪ Johnny Juzang bolted out of the blue to score a career-high 13 points, going a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor, including 3-of-3 on three-pointers.
▪ Keion Brooks grabbed nine rebounds, including a team-high three offensive boards, in 26 valuable minutes.
▪ Immanuel Quickley, the savvy sophomore, heeded his head coach’s advice on the way to a team-high 18 points, though — yikes — he actually missed a free throw, going 6-for-7.
▪ Nick Richards scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and, in the heat of battle, had the outright audacity to tell head coach John Calipari to “give me the ball.” Said a proud Cal later, “Think about that?”
▪ Ashton Hagans committed five head-scratching turnovers but still scored 10 points and pulled down one of the more important rebounds of the entire 40 minutes. “No one else on our team can get that ball but him,” said Calipari.
▪ And Tyrese Maxey, having found himself on his head coach’s bad side, sat a good portion of the second half, but still finished with 15 points and four assists.
“Anytime you play against a team that has the balance that they have, and I think they’re playing really well, too,” said Rick Barnes, the Tennessee coach who had won four straight over his good friend Calipari in Knoxville heading into Saturday. “I think right now they’re trending in the way that John wants his team to go.”
Key word there: T-e-a-m. It was an ensemble cast that pushed Kentucky to 8-2 in the league and 18-5 overall. With EJ Montgomery failing to follow up on his stellar Tuesday night performance against Mississippi State, and Nate Sestina glued to the bench because of foul trouble, Calipari received clutch contributions from unexpected sources.
Top of the pops was Juzang, of course. The freshman from California was pretty much a non-factor until he returned from an illness. He never lost his fearlessness, however. (Cal referenced his late three-point attempt and miss in the loss at South Carolina.) Now the 6-foot-6 guard is starting to back up that self-confidence with production.
“He’s always in the gym,” said Maxey.
Then there’s Brooks. The freshman forward scored just four points, but was the main reason the Cats outrebounded the Volunteers 33-29.
“You’ve got to have a team full of guys,” Calipari said afterward. “We had a couple of guys who did not play well. . . . So here comes Keion. And here comes Johnny.”
Links in the chain.
“They’re a very hard team to guard, they really are,” Barnes said. “Their offense, they know what they’re looking for. They do a good job of trying to spread it around. . . . They’re solid defensively.”
They’re also coachable. During his Friday media session, Calipari said he had told Quickley that the guard needs to take more two-point shots. Coach’s logic: Being a terrific foul shooter — 92 percent for the year — Quickley needed to drive the ball to the rim and draw fouls. So what did the Maryland native do Saturday? He not only drove the ball, he used his basketball IQ to draw contact and fouls.
“We’re going to need him to keep ballin’,” Maxey said.
Speaking of ball, the Cats were one of the odd-teams-out in the NCAA Tournament Committee’s preliminary announcement Saturday of the top 16 seeds at this point in the season. According to the committee, Kentucky was right on the cusp of being a No. 4 seed in one of the regions.
But this is also a Kentucky team that on four successive Saturdays played four straight road games in four straight hostile environments. At Arkansas. At Texas Tech. At Auburn. At Tennessee. Kentucky won three of the four. The one loss, at Auburn last Saturday, was no head-hanger. Ask LSU, which blew a double-digit lead and lost in overtime to Bruce Pearl’s crew Saturday at Auburn Arena.
Based on Saturday, and their play the last three weeks, the Cats are coming.
