Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win over Lamar
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 81-56 win over Lamar on Sunday night at Rupp Arena:
1. Unlike Allen Iverson, John Calipari is looking forward to practice
In his postgame press conference, Kentucky’s head coach didn’t want to talk as much about the just completed 25-point win over the Cardinals as he did about the week ahead. “This team needs practice,” he said.
And practice time is exactly what his team is going to get. After an opening glut of games, the Cats will be on a one-game-a-week schedule until they play a pair of games in Las Vegas in late December — Utah on Dec. 16, then Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 21. That means Calipari will have more time in his gym to work on the problem spots that have popped up in these first six games.
“It’s a little early for camp, but we’re going to have camp,” he said.
Camp meaning the famous, or infamous, Camp Cal, that stretch usually reserved for the Christmas break when there are no classes or 20-hour rules to contend with. It’s just basketball and basketball and more basketball. Until then, Calipari will have to contend with classes and NCAA timeshare rules, but he won’t have to practice one day, then play the next.
2. Nick Richards is showing that long-coveted consistency
I was skeptical. I admit it. When UK’s junior center scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Cats’ 91-49 pasting of Eastern Kentucky back on Nov. 8, I said let’s wait and see. After all, we had supposedly seen a new-and-improved Nick Richards before. The Nick Richards that had supposedly turned the corner. The Nick Richards who was finally becoming the force in the post that Calipari has wanted to see.
Well, maybe, just maybe, it’s finally happening. After scoring just six points with six rebounds in the loss to Evansville, Richards has followed up with three consecutive solid-to-better efforts, starting with his his 21 points and 10 rebounds in the victory over Utah Valley and his 19-point, six-rebound game against Mount St. Mary’s on Friday night at Rupp.
Sunday, Richards scored 10 points — “We didn’t go to the post as much tonight,” Calipari said afterward — and grabbed 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. He was five of nine from the floor and blocked seven shots. Five of his rebounds came on the offensive end.
“It’s just a process,” he said afterward, adding that he had to stay patient. The patient part hasn’t always been easy for the fan base, so used to seeing Calipari’s recruits develop in just one season. Not all are alike, however. They are all on their own path. (Wonder where I picked that up?) And Richards, who had played a limited amount of basketball before arriving on campus, appears to have hit the point in his career where he’s capable of stringing together consistent efforts.
True, as Calipari said, the competition is going to get tougher with each passing week, building toward the Ohio State game on Dec. 21 and the Louisville showdown on Dec. 28. But Richards is showing that he has made strides. Right now, there’s no reason to think he won’t keep trending up.
3. Those three-pointers are finally starting to fall
Through its first four games, Kentucky was making but 21.3 percent of its three-pointers, a lousy percentage that ranked 342nd out of the 353 teams that play Division I college basketball. In other words, not good. Not by a long (missed) shot.
Since then, however, Cal’s prediction that those three-pointers would finally start falling is coming to pass. After making six of 15 three-point attempts on Friday in the 20-point victory over Mount St. Mary’s, UK was 10 of 22 from three-point land for 45.5 percent against Lamar. That’s Kentucky’s most made three-pointers in a game since the Cats went 11 of 24 from three against Auburn on Feb. 23 last season at Rupp. It’s also the highest percentage in a game in which UK has attempted 20 or more threes since that Auburn game, when the Cats made 45.8 percent of their threes.
“We’ve found a groove,” said freshman Keion Brooks, who made one of this two three-point attempts. Tyrese Maxey was four of six from beyond the stripe on the way to his game-high 21 points. And after going 0-for-9 from three to start the season, Ashton Hagans was three of four from deep.
“The zone on them ended up not being a good decision,” said Lamar Coach Tic Price, “but after they knocked down some shots that gave them some good momentum and made it difficult for us to stop bleeding.”
Indeed, after Lamar had tied the game at 19 with 8:51 left in the first half, Kentucky went on a 22-2 run the remainder of the half. During that stretch, the Cats hit four three-pointers. All four belonged to Maxey, who said afterward, “I believe every time I shoot it’s going in.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2019 at 9:41 PM.
