Richards Emerging as Cats Cement Claim to Top Ranking
Kentucky players, more often than not, face a difficult decision at the end of the season on whether to stay another year or head to the NBA.
Last spring, Nick Richards only saw one option.
“Nick walked in my office at the end of the year and said, ‘I’m not even (going to test the waters), I don’t want to. I know I’m not ready,’ ” Calipari said.
Half a year later, Richards is beginning to reap the rewards of his honesty and self-awareness.
After making a speedy return from a sprained left ankle suffered in Kentucky’s first exhibition, Richards has now turned in back-to-back impressive performances. On Tuesday night, he gutted his way through 25 key minutes to help UK topple Michigan State. On Friday night, he poured in 21 points and snagged 10 rebounds as the Wildcats (2-0) dominated Eastern Kentucky University (1-1) to ensure they’ll be ranked No. 1 come Monday, 91-49.
“I’m pretty comfortable on the floor,” Richards said. “My teammates are trying to find easy ways for me to get baskets and I’m just trying to do my job on the defensive end to help them out on ball screens and just try to get rebounds and blocks as much as possible.”
It was the second-best scoring performance of Richards’ career, coming nearly two years after a 25-point outing his freshman season. He displayed an impressive arsenal of alley-oop finishes and post moves, including a running jump hook five minutes into the second half.
Though Richards’ offense is certainly plus, it’s his defense and rebounding that really impact his team. He blocked four shots and was a presence in the interior of UK’s defense for all of his 31 minutes as the Cats held EKU to 25% shooting and 0.59 points per possession.
“He was good today,” Calipari said. “How many blocks did he end up with? Four blocks. I mean if he gets four blocks every game he leads the nation in shot blocking.”
What Coach Cal is asking of the 6-foot-11 sophomore isn’t complicated: run the floor and treat every shot that goes up as if it will miss. It’s just that Richards is so gifted that he need only do a couple simple things and the rest will fall in place.
“Now you think if we can get Nick doing those two things, forget about everything else,” Richards said. “Just do those two things.”
The reason Richards is more consistently able to do those things is simple too.
“Nick, so much better than a year ago,” Calipari said. “Then you say, well, you must be really pumping him up, saying great things. No. He’s in the greatest shape he’s ever been in and he’s built his own confidence now. Doesn’t matter what I say now and it doesn’t matter what I say if you’re not in great shape, you’re not going to have confidence. He still has a ways to go but he’s way better.”
It’s somewhat of a marvel that Richards has played a combined 56 minutes over the last four days considering he sprained his ankle less than two weeks ago, let alone that he’s played so well. Richards worked hard to make it happen, spending long hours in the training room
“We’re not really deep on the bench with our bigs, so you gotta make a sacrifice to help the team win,” Richards said. “It’s going to be a great season for all of us. We’re all going to make sacrifices. We’re all going to find ways to help each other win.”
EKU head coach A.W. Hamilton agrees that the season could be a special one for the Wildcats. And having watched him for a couple hours on Friday night, Hamilton believes Richards is one of the biggest reasons why.
“If he plays like that, Kentucky’s probably going to win the national championship,” Hamilton said. “That’s what I think.”
