Mature senior Poythress has fun in win over Alabama

By: LARRY VAUGHT



Alex Poythress hit four 3-point shots — he had not made one since the end of January and was just 2-for-16 this season — and even imitated Jamal Murray by doing the bow-and-arrow after the last two in a rare show of emotion for the senior.

"I just looked over and saw Jamal smiling, so I did it," Poythress said about his bow-and-arrow moments after UK's win over Alabama. "It was not really planned or anything."

Teammates vouched for that.

"He's probably the last player you would expect to do that," freshman Isaiah Briscoe said.

"He's supposed to be the mature senior, but it was kind of nice to see him having fun, too," Hawkins said.

Poythress had blistered Alabama in two previous games and maybe that led to his confidence because in the second half he even scored on a drive and finger roll around a defender.

He finished with 20 points and seven rebounds. He was 7-for-8 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3's.

"I thought Alex was outstanding, not just that he made jump shots. He made free throws. He was scoring around the basket. He rebounded," Kentucky coach John Calipari said.

Even late in the game when an Alabama student heckled him, Poythress just gave him a t thumbs up and the Alabama student even started laughing.

"I just felt the team needed me to do a lot tonight," he said.