Andrew Harrison had 23 points and seven assists in UK’s win over Georgia on Tuesday night. (Chet White, UK Athletics)

Aaron Harrison Sr. might want to extend his stay in Lexington if his son is going to play like that.With his father in town the last couple days to work with him and his brother, Andrew Harrison had his best game of the season thanks in part to a little advice he kept in mind throughout.”Just keep being aggressive,” Andrew Harrison said. “Don’t lose confidence in yourself. Just make sure you realize what you can do on the basketball court and do it and just play with confidence and have fun.”Aggressive, confident and having fun. Check, double check and triple check.Andrew Harrison scored a season-high 23 points in a 69-58 win for top-ranked Kentucky (22-0, 9-0 Southeastern Conference). He made 8 of his 16 field-goal tries and 3 of 6 from 3-point range, but he found open teammates just as often, adding seven assists to just one turnover.”Hard work pays off and, like I said, it’s a blessing,” he said, referencing the extra time spent in the gym with his father. “We’ve been working hard, the whole team has, and I got to play well today. I’m excited about that.”When opportunities presented themselves, he attacked in the open floor, a pleasing development for his coach.”I don’t want you pulling it out, playing it slow and bully ball,” John Calipari said. “It doesn’t work. Play, attack, go.”When assessing his strengths, Andrew Harrison’s 6-foot-6 frame and ability to physically overwhelm smaller opponents is one of the first things mentioned. Calipari, however, doesn’t want that to cause him to forgo the other things he can do well.”He just wants me to use my speed, to show everybody my speed,” Andrew Harrison said. “Even when I have smaller guards on me I still could have a speed advantage on them. He just wants me to show that.”On Tuesday night, he certainly did.”Andrew played amazing today,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who had 15 points and 13 rebounds. “He played out of his mind. He was hitting jump shots, he was locked in, kept the pace high, just made some great passes. If he could do this, what he did today, every day, we could be a really scary team.”Andrew Harrison came up especially big in the second half, as Georgia threatened to come back from a deficit that grew to as large as 18 points in the minutes after halftime. Many times the Bulldogs made big baskets to cut the UK lead to a little as five points, but it was Andrew Harrison who had the answer.”Just the flow of the game,” he said, sounding like the point guard he is. “They were guarding all my teammates and they left me with a shot I could make and I took it.”With UK’s offense sputtering a bit after halftime and Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker combining to make just 1-of-10 3-pointers, Andrew Harrison scored 11 of the Wildcats’ 27 points in the second half.He often did it while sharing the floor with Tyler Ulis, as the two point guards combined to play 32 minutes after halftime. The two would alternate handling point-guard responsibilities, stressing the Bulldog defense.”They’re both intelligent players, both good players,” Calipari said. “Both can score, both are skilled.”As well as they played together, there’s no guarantee Calipari will go back to the two point-guard look at Florida on Saturday.”But next game it may be Aaron playing out of his mind,” Calipari said. “I mean, that’s just how this is. That’s why I keep saying, you know, we don’t want to teach one guy to lead. That guy struggles, we lose.  He feels bad, I’m sad, we lose. Well, just step back, man. We’re fine. You’re struggling today. Step back.  Let Karl go get all the rebounds. You step back and let us win this thing.”

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