Doron Lamb isn’t the same guy who John Calipari got on about not warming up properly before UK’s preseason exhibitions in Canada last year.

Not the same guy at all. Different player. Different results. Different haircut. Different work ethic.

“That extra time he’s spending on the basketball court before practice, after practice,” coach John Calipari said. “You’re seeing the benefit of it.”

This year, Lamb has put an emphasis on shooting when he’s tired. Late-game shots can be the most crucial.

“It is worth it,” Lamb said. “I just have to keep doing what I’m doing so far. I can’t let up. It’s paying off.”

It’s easy to say that now since he has emerged as UK’s best offensive option, especially if you define “offensive option” as “best at scoring points for your team.” Lamb, UK’s leading scorer heading into the Samford game, led UK with 26 points.

“You want to spend the extra time, you’re going to see a result,” Calipari said. “It doesn’t happen in a day. But when you start linking days together, weeks together, months together, you start seeing it.”

On this day, the efficient Lamb did it on efficient 8-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-6 on 3-pointers. No wonder he took himself out of the game after his right wrist bent backward (it’s fine, he said).

He’s scored against the big teams, too: 17 against Kansas, 14 against North Carolina, 19 against Indiana. His season average is 16.7 points per game, 3.8 points more than the next-highest player.

Lamb has done it by maintaining his accurate shooting (making 52 percent of his 3-pointers) and adding a few wrinkles with shifty moves while attacking the basket.

But he’s kept an old one, too: his baseline floater, a move he credits to his mom.

“She told me to do that because when I was young, I would always go to the rack, but I would always get blocked,” Lamb said. “She told me to shoot a floater over the big guys. I used to go to the park and shoot floaters with her.”

Now, he’s putting in the time to work on his shots in the gym. When he’s fresh, when he’s tired, whenever.

And it’s paying off.