Alex Poythress (22) fights for a shot against Florida. Poythress has 9 points and 12 rebounds in the UK win. (Clay Jackson photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT
Archie Goodwin knows what it means to Kentucky when freshman teammate Alex Poythress plays well.
“We knew we needed Alex to play well to win,” said Goodwin. “If Alex does not play good, most of the time we don’t win. When he plays to his potential, we can win.”
Maybe Poythress still didn’t play to his full potential, but his career-high 12 rebounds, nine points and two assists in 32 minutes here Saturday helped UK beat No. 11 Florida 61-57. That’s much better than in UK’s loss at Florida when he was 1-for-9 from the field and had five points and four rebounds in a 69-52 loss about a month ago.
“I heard he spoke to the media yesterday and basically said, ‘I haven’t played hard enough all year. I’m going to give everything I can,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari after the game. “There was one spell that he gave up. He’s done that throughout the year. This is the first game he did that. Took him out. His teammates got all over him. And he said, ‘Put me back in.’
“He grew up today because he went back in and finished those last seven minutes and was a beast. First time he’s been able to do that, get by, slumping shoulders, head goes down. Now I got to put him back, he’s got to play again, and he did it today.”
Poythress said he realized it was time for him to do more now.
“It’s just time for me to grow up really,” Poythress said. “Sometimes I have put my head down when I got frustrated. I didn’t do that but once today and then I knew I couldn’t do that. It’s time to play ball.
“It’s never too late. There’s always time to change. Our season’s not over yet, so you just keep on going. There’s always time to change. I just looked myself in the mirror and realized I could’ve been better this whole year, could’ve been better in some areas. It’s time to grow up.”
Florida coach Billy Donovan, who tried to recruit Poythress, thought the freshman made a big impact in the game.
“He stepped up and rebounded the ball well,” Donovan said.
Poythress said he was not worried about potential NCAA Tournament scenarios for Kentucky.
“We’re not worried about the NCAA Tournament right now. Right now, we’re just focused on the SEC Tournament. We have to take it one game at a time and try to get an SEC championship,” Poythress said.
12 Responses to UK’s Alex Poythress said he would do more and he did against Florida
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As frustrating as this team has been at times, this season, it was pure joy watching their play yesterday. First time this season that they played as a team. Total team effort by all.
How gracious of Alex, 30 games into the season, to say “maybe I can do more” How can we ever repay him? Hopefully by encouraging him to move on after the year and possibly taking Wiltjer with him. White boy can’t run, jump, defend, and now, apparently shoot either.
Wow! Congratulations, Mike, for your apparent perfection at age 18. I guess at age 18, you were perfect, and in the rare times you had to learn anything, learned it instantly or at least within minutes. People mature at different rates, and learn lessons at different rates as well.
I can remember in the not-so-distant past, players at UK who didn’t achieve a whole lot during the season bringing it during the tournament. Not everyone can make an instant impact or have instant success. I’m glad Alex was a big enough man to admit publicly that he realized he wasn’t doing as much as he could have been, and has tried to change, even at this late date.
As for Wiltjer, he appears to be rushing his shot a bit. He doesn’t have the greatest foot speed, but he is trying and is actually one of the better passers on the team.
Go Cats!
It is frustrating for fans to watch a player athletically gifted yet mentally/emotionally not up to speed. I’m guessing a lot of these players succeeded in high school with their athleticism while the much more challenging issues of mental toughness and emotional maturity weren’t called upon as much as they are in upper tiers of college basketball. Parity is much more of a factor in big time college BB and the athleticism that used to be a trump card for a player no longer dominates. If a kid’s head isn’t on straight (how many 18-19 year old’s are??) it shows. Alex, where have you been? We’re glad you’re in now. Welcome to adulthood.
People mature at different rates. I’m glad Alex has seemingly turned the corner, and hopefully, he doesn’t look back. Go Cats!
Mike: it is pretty easy to criticize when you are sitting on your couch pounding on your keyboard. Wiltger is definitely not the most athletic guy, but i think he tries hard and has won a few games for us with his shooting. Who knows what causes a shooting slump, but I think he wants to do well for this team and what else can you ask? He is just a young man, not a pro. Take it easy.
Ditto Greg. I was going to blast on Mike, but you did it very well and with a lot less anger than I would have. I know these guys have been overly frustrating, but damn.
On the radio show today, with Larry, Ryan and Anthony, they gave Alex’s freshman stats compared with Mashburn’s freshman stats. It was amazing and surprising to learn that Alex is VERY comparable to Mash. Mash was much better at steals and assists, but Alex was very close in rebounds and points and was tremendously better in offensive efficiency. Mash played in 3 fewer games (28), but that is not such a large number that it would skew the stats that much.
That being said, Alex would have been infinitely better (relatively speaking) if he had played with fire and passion for the whole season. I would love to have seen that and seen him become a freshman legend, like Wall or Davis. He will still make a lot of money at the next level, but he missed out on a great opportunity to be something really special here. Better late than never though. If he continues to play like yesterday he may still capture a special little page in the annals of UK history.
UKAA should take the names of people like MIke and never allow them to enter the doors of Rupp Arena ever again. IMO if you can’t support the team positively just be quiet. your condescending comments only make things worse.
Mike, what is it with you and this vendetta you have against Alex. As Karen said he is a 18 year old who is on the biggest stage in college baskeyball and under a tremendous microscope. Unless your last name is Jordan don’t think you have much room to be such a critic. Give the kid a break, come back and say something positive when AP is MVP of the SEC Tourney.
If you keep up with this board, you find that the people posting the most are very savvy, basketball wise and normally don’t like to blast anyone that they may disagree with…however, they generally don’t stand for posters calling out our players by name, especially freshman, who respond better to encouragement than negativity. These are just some things that make this a friendly and enjoyable site to visit.
mike’s a floater, sometimes it takes two or three flushes.