Approach No Different for UK, NKU

“The committee put Northern Kentucky versus Kentucky,” John Brannen said. “It’s a good story line, first time ever versus the greatest program in college basketball history. It’s an opportunity for us to continue to play well, hopefully. We’ll take it as that.”

Brannen is the second-year coach of a Northern Kentucky program that’s making it’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in its first year of eligibility. UK, meanwhile, is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the 56th time.

But when Kentucky (29-5) and Northern Kentucky (24-10) take the floor at around 9:40 p.m. in Indianapolis’ Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Friday, the two teams won’t be approaching the game any differently.

“We’re just trying to come out the same way they are, even with more intensity,” De’Aaron Fox said. “We don’t want to go into the game being the prey just because we’re Kentucky, they’re Northern Kentucky. We’re not looking at it that way. We’re looking at as another basketball game.”

Northern Kentucky will be motived, no doubt. Particularly for the five Norse who hail from Kentucky, facing the state’s flagship program is special. Ultimately, though, that’s not trumping their season-long approach of treating UK as a “faceless opponent.”

“We don’t look at the seeding,” Cole Murray said. “We don’t look at the tradition of the other school or anything like that. We just come in every day and do it like we’ve been doing it. It’s helped us be successful this far.”

That success came in the form of a 12-6 record in the Horizon League and eventually a three-game run through the conference tournament. 

“They look great,” Dominique Hawkins said. “They’re in the tournament so they’re a great team. We’re going to respect them. They’re going to come out fighting.”

Hawkins and fellow senior Derek Willis both have some added familiarity with NKU’s point guard, Lavone Holland II. Both played against Holland in high school and Hawkins with him in AAU. Not only that, Hawkins’ Madison Central team downed Holland’s Ballard squad in the state championship game on a buzzer-beating 3.

“I remember he’s a tremendous guard,” Hawkins said. “He gets in the lane easily. He can break you down one on one. He’s so athletic. He dunks on people. He’s a pretty good guard.” 

Holland, a junior, leads NKU in minutes per game (30.9) and assists per game (4.1) and ranks second in scoring average (14.3). Drew McDonald, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound sophomore, leads the Norse in scoring average (16.4) as a five man with a dangerous outside shot. 

“They have a five man that can shoot 3s,” John Calipari said. “Their guards are not afraid. They’ll shoot 3s. They’ll fly up and down the court. They run good stuff in the half court. They space the court. Their pick-and-roll stuff is good. Their man-to-man is more of a let’s make sure you’re going to take a tough shot, and we’re going to rebound and run. They do play a 2-3 zone. I’ve seen a little bit of 1-3-1. Run good out-of-bounds plays on the baseline.

“John’s done a good job. They’ve won (24) games. This is a legitimately good team.”

A legitimately good team hungry for more. The thing is, though, UK is no different.

“In the NCAA Tournament, you know it’s March Madness,” Bam Adebayo said. “If you can’t get excited about this, I don’t know what you need to get excited about. Everybody’s going to play us like their Super Bowl, so you can’t come out drowsy or not enthusiastic. You gotta come out and play hard.”

The Cats have big things in mind. Friday marks their first step on that path.

“I want to go out with a bang, obviously,” Isaiah Briscoe said. “I’m not going to shy away from it, but, obviously, I want to win. I want to win the national championship. We gotta work hard, we gotta play together, we gotta play Kentucky basketball. If we do all that, great things will happen.”