Who's overrated? UK players have different message from blowout win
John Calipari praised Reid Travis, PJ Washington as Wildcats beat No.1 ranked Tennessee. Matt Stone, Louisville Courier Journal
LEXINGTON, Ky. – As No. 5 Kentucky pounded its way to a 24-point lead over No. 1 Tennessee, John Calipari could be spotted on the Rupp Arena sideline screaming in anger.
No, he was not upset with his players. It was the UK student section that had drawn his ire for chanting “Over-rated” at the suddenly hapless Volunteers.
“I know how good Tennessee is and that's why I told our fans, enough of the, ‘They're overrated,’” Calipari said after Kentucky’s 86-69 win. “They're not overrated. Probably underrated. People don't realize.”
Perhaps Calipari should have let the fans chant, denigrating the Wildcats’ own dominant performance by casting doubt about the quality of the opposition. Because if Tennessee is actually as good as Calipari claims, managing the hype for his team with four weeks remaining until the NCAA Tournament could become a problem.
UK head coach John Calipari tells the crowd to stop chanting "over-rated" during the University of Kentucky mens basketball game against Tennessee at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday, February 16, 2019. (Photo11: Mike Weaver/Special to Courier Journal)
Kentucky basketball: What we learned from the Wildcats' win over Tennessee
Kentucky never trailed after PJ Washington put the Wildcats on the board with a 3-pointer 77 seconds into the game.
With each Washington post-move in the first half, Kentucky looked more and more like the superior team, but Tennessee managed to keep things close, trailing by six at intermission. A 14-0 run to open the second half stretched the lead to 20, and the Wildcats would eventually lead by as many as 24 points.
“Plain and simple, they beat us every way you could be beaten,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.
Tennessee would pull as close as 11 points, but unlike Tuesday against LSU or even recent wins over at Auburn and Mississippi State, Kentucky was able to stop the bleeding before the game became a toss-up again, closing with a 6-0 run for the 17-point victory.
It was a night when Kentucky answered many of the lingering questions about whether its recent 10-game winning streak, which ended on a controversial last-second tip-in by LSU Tuesday, was evidence of a team growing towards a possible Final Four run or covering up for possible fatal flaws lingering under the surface.
“I hit them right after the game with LSU and just said, ‘Hey, that was a tough loss, but you know what? We needed it,’” Calipari said. “Because our team is changing, we’re not the defensive team that we have been. We have individuals changing how they were playing when they were successful. … We need to get back to what we were, and you know what? Sometimes you got to get knocked in the head to know that.”
Proving capable of stopping a team’s late-game run was not the only sign of progress for Kentucky.
Freshman point guard Ashton Hagans had struggled for much of the last four games, bottoming out with just 4 points and 1 assists against LSU. Against Tennessee, he looked closer to his best self with 9 points, 7 assists, 2 steals and just 1 turnover.
By the numbers: Kentucky basketball's win over Tennessee
While taking only four shots, graduate student Reid Travis was the “difference maker” according to Calipari, shutting down Tennessee star Grant Williams on defense while quieting some growing concerns about his recent offensive impact with contributing 11 points to go with 8 rebounds.
In one first-half stretch, sophomore forward Nick Richards finally looked like the potentially game-changing weapon of the bench with a stunning offensive move paired with a series of strong rebounds.
Freshman guard Tyler Herro continued to show he’s more than a shooter with 13 rebounds and his first career double-double. Freshman guard Keldon Johnson bounced back from recent inconsistency to look the part of a soon-to-be NBA draft lottery pick with his most points in seven games.
“We come out with that confidence that we can beat any team regardless of who it is,” Johnson said. “I just know my brothers got my back and I go out there and compete, and I know when it comes down to it I’m going to trust them and they’re going to trust me and we’re going to get the job done.”
