Travis Reprises Role as Go-To Guy
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Reid Travis spent his last two seasons at Stanford as the featured scorer. Oftentimes, the Cardinal’s game plan began and ended with getting the ball to the big man in the paint.
Just hours before Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament opener, Immanuel Quickley requested the return of the player who averaged 20 points a game in 2017-18.
“I think Quick even said that at shoot-around,” Travis said. “He said, ‘We need that Stanford Reid today.’ “
The comment was half in jest, but there was some truth to it too. With PJ Washington sidelined for Kentucky’s first-round game against Abilene Christian, Travis would need to carry the scoring load inside.
“Coach (John Calipari) was definitely telling me that, that they were going to me,” Travis said. “Certain plays that we had where I was going to get the ball and try and be effective down there and just score or draw a foul or get somebody a shot. I felt comfortable in that role.”
It turns out being a go-to guy is like riding a bicycle to Travis, because it took him no time to slide back into the role. He scored 10 points in the game’s first 10:32 and 18 for the game as second-seeded Kentucky (28-6) rolled to a 79-44 victory over No. 15 Abilene Christian at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena.
Travis has had his moments as a scorer this season, but his average on the year is at 11.4 points per game – a modest total relative to his past. He seemed destined from the start to surpass that easily.
“We put in a lot of stuff, especially with PJ out,” Travis said. “He’s a big force for us down there and we play off of each other a lot in the post. With him out, it felt like I had to be more aggressive down there and really just try and assert myself early. It was good my teammates were able to find me and I felt like that helped me set the tone early.”
Travis ended up taking turns with Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro, UK’s other two double-figure scorers. Johnson came up just two shy of his career high with 25 points, while Herro scored 12 of his 14 points before halftime.
“Every game somebody different can take over,” Johnson said. “That’s what it’s really about with this team. You see Tyler—Tyler can take over a game just in the blink of an eye and sometimes it’s me and sometimes it’s Reid dominating down low.”
Travis’s domination didn’t just come as a scorer. He also had nine rebounds, helping UK to its largest rebounding margin (plus-27) since the third game of the regular season. It was also, in fact, the largest margin by a Kentucky team in NCAA Tournament history.
“We thought we had an advantage there mainly because of our size, and Reid’s strength,” Coach Cal said, “and it was one of the things we said, if we’re going to beat these guys, our rebounding has got to be really—we’ve got to separate from them in that, so I thought we did it.”
Even as Travis was doing an impression of his former self, he couldn’t help but remember times have changed. After all, he finally played in the first NCAA Tournament game of his career Thursday night.
“It was a great game,” Travis said. “Just a lot of emotions and just thoughts going into it. It was my first time, but also the first time of a lot of my teammates. It was great just to get the first one out of the way. Definitely enjoyed it and had fun with it.”
