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LEXINGTON — It wasn’t hard for senior Jarrod Polson to know exactly what Kentucky needed when he got a rare opportunity to play here Saturday.
Kentucky was down 25-14 midway of the first half against Belmont in a game it had to win to avoid falling out of the national rankings and stop an all-out panic attack among the UK fans with rival Louisville next on the schedule.
“We just needed energy,” said Polson after he helped jump start the Cats in what turned out to eventually be a 93-80 victory. “Getting to play a lot of minutes (21) was fun and I just tried to bring energy. We were down 11. The crowd was kind of dead. I tried to push the ball, which is what (Kentucky coach John Calipari) Cal wanted.”
He did that, too, along with freshman teammate Dominique Hawkins and without them, Kentucky would not have won.
Polson hit a 3-pointer almost immediately and added one assist in his 21 minutes. Hawkins had two points, four rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes. But Hawkins also hit the floor for looses balls with a reckless abandon that has been missing most of the season on this highly-touted team.
“They just play with so much passion. It’s fun to play with them, but it’s fun to watch, too,” Kentucky sophomore center Willie Cauley-Stein said. “They just care so much about the little things. You need a whole team of that and when you get a whole team of that, you will be a special team.”
Say amen Calipari and Big Blue fans.
That whole team of passion has been missing as Calipari tries to bring along his young team. That’s why he sat freshman point guard Andrew Harrison, who struggled with fouls and poor decisions, beside him on the bench and pointed out what a smaller, less talented Polson was doing to help the team with his experience and passion.
“I was really proud of Jarrod, and you say, ‘What did Jarrod add to the game?’ Energy. Energy. Nothing else,” Calipari said. “So now you understand what energy does for our team, and if you're sitting there and you're not one of the guys playing, you're saying ‘Man, I've got to play with energy.’
“What does Dominique (Hawkins) add*to the game? Energy and toughness.I put him in for James (Young) and he dives on the floor and gets that ball that basically ends the game.”
Calipari said what they did was no surprise because of the way they have practiced. He says Hawkins’ exertion rate and heart rate “is incredible” to where he sometimes tries to get him to slow down in practice — a problem he’s not had with other freshmen.
“But he just keeps busting to the next level. And we get other guys that never understand you have a long way to go,” Calipari said. “What he does is he gets everything he can out of his body. It's incredible. Everything. How about the play late where my man went off the ball in the middle of the lane with two hands and looked down so he fumbled it, and Dominique got it and laid it in? He didn't run back on defense.
“He stuck his nose in there*— the other guy was 6-7", 6-8 and he looked down and fumbled it, he grabbed it and laid it in. It's great for our guys to see.”
Once again Julius Randle was dominating at times with 29 points (8-for-10 field goals, 13-for-19 free throws) and 10 rebounds because he overpowered smaller players inside.
“But we get up nine and he wants to bring it up the court and throw a scoop pass. Oh, my gosh, that is being a freshman,” Calipari said.
He admitted Andrew Harrison “didn't play particularly well” in just 20 minutes. He had seven points, no assists, two turnovers and two rebounds. But more than the numbers, he often could not get UK into an offensive rhythm like Polson did.
“I sat him next to me so I could talk him through what Jarrod was doing because he can do everything Jarrod can do to another level, but he's not. Do you see what he's doing? I'm just going to keep working with him because at the end of the day, I want Andrew to be the best point guard in the country,” Calipari said.
“I don't want there to be any question. Right now, most games, he's not the best point guard on the court. We've just got to get it changed. He has the talent, he has the ability, he has the mindset, I've just got to keep working with him.”
Belmont coach Rick Byrd, who had guided his team to a win at North Carolina (something UK couldn’t do), knew what an impact Polson and Hawkins made even if he might not have been exactly who they even were when they entered the game.
“I was surprised. They hadn’t played a lot of other guys. There was a guy or two that we didn’t have on the scouting report. I know for us when we have a guy who doesn’t get a lot of time and he comes in and plays well and gets things done, it lifts the team up,” Byrd said. “There are more guys not playing than are playing and all of those unknown guys, when their buddies get in, can make a difference.
“For that matter, to the regulars, it’s a big deal. They know how hard the guys practice and don’t get to play much. When they come in and contribute it’s a big lift for your basketball team.”
It was in this game and the hope for Calipari has to be that other players noticed the way the crowd — and the coach — reacted to the enthusiastic play by the two in-state players.
“They make the hustle plays and play with such great emotion,” Randle said. “They are full of energy.”
That’s because they don’t know any other way to play.
“Dominique is a great defender, something I need to do better, and he brings so much energy,” Polson said. “He just makes the extra effort plays. We play a lot together in practice, so I see what he does and those are things I try to do along with running the offense. I was just happy for a chance to play and happy we could do something to help our team because I really do believe we can still have a special year.”
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