Road Warrior Knox Carries UK to Memorable Comeback
All anybody talked about was the house of horrors Kentucky was about to walk into.
But as Kevin Knox heard the talk about the challenge the Wildcats would face in traveling to face West Virginia, all he could think about was how fun that all sounded.
“I love playing away games,” Knox said. “I love going against people on the road. That’s something I loved growing up, just other teams yelling, hyped, student section, all that.”
Knox got his wish, as Saturday night’s game between the Wildcats and Mountaineers was talked about as the toughest ticket in years in the notoriously hostile WVU Coliseum. With ESPN College GameDay in town and the West Virginia faithful primed and ready for the evening tip, it was a step up from the high school gyms in Florida where Knox learned to love playing on the road.
The thing is, Knox stepped up his game too. The freshman poured in 34 points and seven rebounds, playing an instrumental role in sending the road crowd to the exits disappointed and the Big Blue Nation crowd back home into hysterics. Kentucky (16-5) picked up its biggest win of the season over No. 7/7 West Virginia (16-5), 83-76.
“It’s just a big win,” Knox said. “I mean, us freshmen, a lot of people doubted us coming into this game. We were down, I think, 10 points. So, it’s a big game for us, especially for a lot of freshmen on this team. The locker room was just crazy. There was a lot of jumping, hype, smiling and all that stuff. (John Calipari) was really happy for us.”
Actually, Knox undersold the deficit by a fair bit.
UK fell behind 10-3 in the opening minutes, trailed by 15 at halftime and was faced with the unenviable task of overcoming a 17-point deficit with 17 minutes to play. Every time, it was Knox the Cats turned to. He made 11-of-17 field goals, 5-of-8 3s and 7-of-8 free throws, while only Hamidou Diallo (13 points) joined him in scoring double figures, and he did it all while committing just one turnover against West Virginia’s vaunted pressure defense.
“He didn’t settle,” Calipari said. “He didn’t settle. He went at it. He took fouls. He went at the basket.”
For every huge shot from beyond the arc, Knox had another physical finish at the rim. When UK was floundering in the opening minutes, Knox delivered a pair of rim-rattling dunks to steady the ship. When the Cats needed to make a run to get back in the game early in the second half, Knox scored 12 points to key a 21-2 spurt, the last two coming on a dunk to give a 58-56 lead.
“I mixed the game up, went to the basket, got to the free-throw line, hit some big shots,” Knox said. “They were on me about driving the basketball, and then sometimes when they didn’t close out I hit the shot. So, I mean, I just kept playing aggressive, kept doing what they asked me to and it went well for me.”
Then, when West Virginia clawed back to a 74-all tie in the final 90 seconds, it was Knox who drilled the go-ahead 3 to put UK up for good. Of course, the player who loves going on the road had to let the opposing crowd know about it.
“I was hitting some big shots today so I had to talk a little trash because they were talking trash to us, so I had to go back at them,” Knox said. “This is what I love. I love road games. I love playing in big crowds and all that. That’s just something I live for.”
Knox has had a solid freshman season by most any reasonable measure, but Kentucky doesn’t exactly do reasonable measures. On a team as young as his, Knox knows more is demanded of him than what he had been delivering, in spite of the solid averages of 14.6 points and 5.7 rebounds he sported coming in. That’s why he responded to a challenge from Coach Cal to make more shots from outside by committing to make 500 jumpers a day.
Knox has now made 16 of 23 from the field and 9 of 12 from 3 over his last two games.
“It’s paying off,” Knox said. “I’m going to keep doing it, keep working hard, keep working out with the coaches, keep getting up shots. It’s going to pay off in games.”
Knox and Kentucky clearly have some momentum after completing the third-largest comeback in Kentucky basketball history and doing it against a top-10 team. They don’t plan to squander it.
“We’re just going to keep with this momentum and keep going forward,” Knox said. “Never take steps backwards. Just keep going up from here. I mean, this is a big win, like I said, it gives us all the confidence. Next game we come out with energy because we just won a big game. This is, like I said, a big game for us and we’re just going to keep moving forward.”
