Shooting guards take on bigger role for UK
LEXINGTON, Ky. – If what Boston University did to top-ranked Kentucky on Friday night really is the blueprint – as Wildcats coach John Calipari said it would be and Kansas coach Bill Self said it should be after his own team got wrecked — Devin Booker and Aaron Harrison are critical.
UK's two shooting guards were quiet through three games. Booker, a freshman, shot just 25 percent and averaged five points. He hit 1 of 11 3-pointers. Harrison, a sophomore, made only 33.3 percent of his field-goal attempts and averaged 7.7 points.
It's little wonder, then, that Self suggested sagging off the shooters and muddling the middle with a zone that aims to eliminate the Cats' ridiculous size. The Terriers took that plan and ran with it, all the way to the 16-minute mark of the second half still within a single bucket of Kentucky.
"I guess they watched us a couple times and figured it out," Harrison said.
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Then the Wildcats (4-0) returned the favor, solving the riddle and raining jump shots to ruin that plan in the second half of an 89-65 victory. Booker and Harrison combined to score or assist on 22 consecutive UK points as an eight-point lead with 11:38 to go ballooned to 20 with 5:48 left.
"We just figured it out," Harrison said. "That's what good teams do."
The Cats continued their trend of trouncing teams in the second half. They've outscored opponents by an average of 19.5 points after the break.
Booker had a hand in 17 straight points during the latest closing kick. He buried a 3-pointer, threw a lob to Trey Lyles for a dunk, hit Lyles again for a slam, drained another three, fed Willie Cauley-Stein for a jam, canned another beyond the arc and sank a pull-up jump shot.
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He had 11 of his career-high 15 points and three of his career-high seven assists in a span of 4:31 in the second half. Booker hit 4 of 6 3-pointers for the game and afterward called that a relief after a rough start.
"It's nice to see," Calipari said. "When he makes shots, we become a little bit different."
Booker, a McDonald's All-American rated the sixth-best shooting guard in the Class of 2014 by Scout.com, has always made shots. Then suddenly, to start his college career, he wasn't.
"It's an adjustment," Booker said. "I feel like it's coming along now. I had a lot of talks with Coach and my dad. They just said, 'Keep shooting. It's going to fall.' Came out (Friday) and it did. When I kept missing, it was like, 'What do I have to do?' But when you have a coach like that — he has the confidence in me to tell me to keep shooting — it makes it easier on me."
Harrison knows that feeling. He came in as McDonald's All-American last season, rated the top shooting guard in the Class of 2013, and started laying bricks. He hit just 30.6 percent of his 3-pointers during the regular season as a freshman.
But all Kentucky fans remember now is that he figured it out in the postseason, sinking 48 percent from deep, including consecutive clinching 3-pointers in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four to vault the Cats into the NCAA title game.
"If you play shooting guard, you're going to have to shoot, and you're going to have bad days, and you're going to miss fix, six, seven straight," he said. "You just have to keep your confidence up and keep shooting."
Harrison didn't do that particularly well from outside Friday. He made only 1 of 6 threes. But he still found a way to score a team-high 19 points (most by any UK player this season), showing off the full range of his game – to which he's added several new dimensions.
He sank a 6 of 9 shots inside the arc, including a pull-up jump shot, a slashing slam, and a baseline drive that he finished with a hanging, up-and-under reverse scoop shot. He also drew defensive attention and dished four assists with zero turnovers.
"I mean, that's huge," Calipari said.
It probably won't matter what defense Montana State (0-3) throws at Kentucky on Sunday. The Bobcats lost by 16 to a Grand Canyon team the Wildcats whipped by 40. Advanced-statistics guru Ken Pomeroy rates Montana State the 330th-best Division I team in the country.
But for Booker and Harrison, it's all about seeing – and letting future opponents see – more shots fall.
"That's where my role comes in," Booker said, "to make them have to play us or get up closer. I also have to relieve pressure for our bigs that are getting double-teamed down there. They're leaving us open on the wings, so by us knocking down shots, that'll relieve the pressure for them."
Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.