Harrison twins leading Cats’ sudden surge
March 15, 2014
By David Schuh | Men’s basketball columnist
Something is very different about UK this weekend in Atlanta.
The Cats haven’t wilted. They’ve taken punches and responded. And for probably the first time this season, they’ve followed one good performance with another in beating the University of Georgia on Saturday.
This time, it has them in the SEC Championship, and UK head coach John Calipari can thank a certain set of twins for that.
“Tweak” or not, freshman guard Andrew Harrison has made a giant leap. He’s finally doing everything a good college point guard should: Finding teammates, avoiding turnovers and being patient with his own offense.
It has paid serious dividends on the scoreboard and the stat sheet. Not only has UK led for more than 68 minutes in two games against teams fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives, but Andrew Harrison has been the catalyst.
He didn’t just set a career-high with eight assists on Friday night, but he did one better on Saturday. He isn’t just passing more, he’s passing smarter — drawing defenders to himself to create for his teammates.
One of the major beneficiaries of that is his brother, Aaron.
In his first two postseason games, Aaron Harrison has 36 points on 63 percent shooting. He’s made seven 3-pointers, playing off of his brother’s newly adopted drive-and-dish style.
It was clear that the Harrisons were the reason for UK’s 12-point win on Saturday. They were, however, quick to praise their teammates, which ironically included each other.
“My teammates are making me look good right now,” Andrew Harrison said of his recent spike in production. “I’m finding them, but they’re knocking down the shots.”
This is the team Calipari envisioned he’d have all along. It’s starting a little late, but the best point and shooting guard in the 2013 high school senior class have become what they were supposed to be.
And it’s almost bizarre how quickly and magically UK has found itself as a team. The Cats are suddenly doing all the right things that they lacked in nine losses this season.
“We’re not the same team that we were two or three weeks ago,” Calipari said. “And they’re just starting to come together. It took time; we’re starting five freshmen.”
“We’re now one of those teams you’d hope we would have been two months ago.”
Maybe it just clicked at a convenient time. Maybe the Harrison’s found something in their games in the five days of practice before Friday. Maybe it’s just blind luck that will run out against the No. 1 team in the country on Sunday.
But the Cats walked into the Georgia Dome on Friday and Saturday with an extra something in their arsenal.
Let’s see how far it can take them.
