UK will face Cincinnati on Saturday after beating Hampton in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. (Chet White, UK Athletics)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fourteen words. That’s all it took for Aaron Harrison to get his point across. They were simple words, nothing poetic, nothing to make you look deeper into their meaning. But they were powerful and they proved to be prophetic.”We know what we can do and it’s going to be a great story,” he said.At the time, the words fell on many a deaf ear. The Cats had dropped to 21-8 after losing at South Carolina and a once-promising 2013-14 season was looking more and more disappointing.What followed, of course, was a trip to the national championship game. As for Harrison, he did his part, hitting two of the biggest shots in UK’s illustrious postseason history, vaulting the Cats over Michigan and then Wisconsin on game-winning 3-pointers from the wing.So why are those 14 words being brought up again now over one year later and with the Cats standing tall at 35-0? Well, because Harrison may be on to something again.After a ho-hum 23-point opening game victory over 16th-seeded Hampton on Thursday, Harrison wasn’t happy. The only one of UK’s active rotation of players without a field goal, the second team All-Southeastern Conference selection said UK’s next game Saturday against Cincinnati (23-10) would be different.”I think everyone will see a different team on Saturday, definitely,” he said.Uh oh.The reason behind Harrison’s words is he didn’t think the Cats played with much intensity against Hampton. He wasn’t the only one though.”We did some good things, we did some bad things,” Willie Cauley-Stein said.”We kinda came out sluggish and we gotta come out of the gate better than that with what we did (Thursday),” Dakari Johnson said.”Came out a little sluggish at the beginning,” Trey Lyles said.Aaron Harrison wasn’t the only one who vowed a change on Saturday though. His twin brother, Andrew, joined in this time.”For me, I started off sluggish,” Andrew Harrison said. “It won’t happen again.”Again, uh oh.As it has been written before, in March, the Harrison twins tend to step their games up to new heights. While Aaron Harrison had an uncharacteristically off night against Hampton, Andrew rebounded from a tough first half with a strong second half. In the final 20 minutes, Andrew Harrison went 3 for 3 from the field, scored seven points, grabbed three rebounds, dished out two assists and had a steal.So does it carry a bit more weight when it’s Aaron Harrison who makes a statement about what the team is going to do?”Yeah, especially if he’s saying it,” Cauley-Stein said. “Him and his brother are kind of the throttle on the team. If they’re saying they’re going to come out playing different, then they’re going to come out playing different. In return, everybody’s going to come out playing different. They’re kind of the fuel to the fire.”Whether it comes to fruition or not is still to be seen, but it appears there’s a hearty amount of fuel in the tank for Saturday’s third-round matchup between two schools just 85 miles apart. While they haven’t played since 2005, the proximity of the schools coupled with the David vs. Goliath theme that nearly every team will use when playing undefeated Kentucky, makes UK head coach John Calipari believe the Bearcats will be more than ready.”They’ve got a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country,” Coach Cal said. “They’ve got a chance. They’re next up on the docket. I would imagine they’re dreaming about it, thinking about it, having people in the stands. Make sure you take video of this because I want my grandkids to see it. And I don’t blame them. … It should be a great game. It should be a war.”Which makes the attitude and confidence held by the Harrisons one that Calipari welcomes from his team. This time of year, Coach Cal says, is time for him to love his team, but not a time for him to drag his team. Instead, he wants his team to become more empowered, and to take more ownership in how everything goes and is carried.”It’s their team,” Calipari said. “They know it’s not my team.”And the longer this season goes, the more Coach Cal wants that empowerment to grow, and the players do as well. The end result, well, that could make opponents say “uh oh.””Later in the season we go I feel like we’re all going to need each other the most,” freshman guard Devin Booker said. “We know that. We’re coming together even closer toward the end of the year and I feel like it’s going to be dangerous.”