Cats want more from Aaron Harrison on offense

By: LARRY VAUGHT

LEXINGTON — Aaron Harrison appreciates Kentucky coach John Calipari talking about getting him more shots. However, the sophomore guard wasn’t worried about his numbers since UK dominated Kansas 72-40 on Tuesday in Indianapolis.

“He just said he wanted me to get more touches and things like that. We won pretty handily, so I’m not worried about it that much,” said Harrison, who was 3-for-8 from the field against Kansas and had eight points, two rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes.

“I don’t think they need an individual (to be the lead scorer). I just think Coach wants to keep it going and just for the team’s sake. But other than that, I think we won the game on the defensive end, and I think that’s what’s important.”

Still, Calipari made it clear to Harrison — who hit two game-winning shots in last year’s NCAA Tournament — that he wanted more from him on offense.

“He said he wanted me to be more aggressive on offense. And he said we were just sloppy offensively at the beginning of the game, which we definitely were. I think we were all just catching our breath and things like that,” Harrison said. “It’s definitely to our advantage having 10 guys that can all play. And we take pride in defense and wearing people down, so I think it’s working.”

He could sense that UK’s platoon system wore down No. 5 Kansas.

“I know how they feel. I practice with these guys every day and it’s really hard to get a shot off in the lane,” Harrison said referring to the 11 blocked shots UK had against Kansas. “I just think you have to hit a lot of 3’s to be able to beat us and they had a rough shooting night. But they’re a good team. I can tell they’ll be okay down the road. It just gives me more confidence just to know that the big guys have my back and I can play aggressively.”

Harrison said the Cats have not been lulled into a false sense of security going into Friday night’s game with Boston University because of Tuesday’s impressive win.

“We all know we have a long way to go. We didn’t play well offensively. We offensive rebounded really well, but I think we can execute on the offensive end a lot better,” Harrison said.

Harrison said if the offense was better, it would be “more fluid” in the half-court.

“I think we did settle down once the game got going and did get it more efficient, but I think we should start off like that. We just need to start off better on offense,” he said.

Harrison was impressed with how UK’s freshmen handled their first marquee game, something the team didn’t do as well his freshman year when it fell behind early and lost to Michigan State in the Champions Classic.

“It was fun to see them in that atmosphere. I remember my first big game like that and I was real nervous. And I think they handled it really well,” Harrison said.

He hopes it helps that the freshmen have veteran players like him to help them this year.

“It’s really different. I mean, just going out, and not even starting a game, just knowing that the game’s on you and you have to play the whole game, and it’s on you to win or lose. But for them, I think it’s less stressful to be in their situation,” Harrison said.

The platoon system helps that as well.

“I think the platoon system did help us because last year in the same game we were a little worn down. We weren’t used to that intensity and we needed a couple of breaks that we didn’t get,” he said. “We’re all in great condition, and put in a lot of work this summer. I think it helps us because we can wear teams down and there’s a lot of guys coming at you, so it’s hard to handle.”