Heads Held High, Cats Cope with Abrupt Ending
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – John Calipari was trying to express what it been like to coach Reid Travis over the last year when he was faced once more with the fact that the ride is over.
It stopped him right in his tracks.
“It just sucks,” Coach Cal said.
Travis’s lone season as a Wildcat ended in the Elite Eight with an overtime loss to Auburn, 77-71. Kentucky was one game away from its fifth Final Four under Calipari and a homecoming from Travis, as next weekend’s games will be played in his hometown of Minneapolis.
“It’s tough to kind of grasp right now,” Travis said. “There are just a lot of emotions as far as just being disappointed, but also just proud of this team and what we did this year.”
The Cats weren’t able to do quite enough against the red-hot Tigers, who extended their win streak to 12. UK held Auburn to just seven 3-pointers, their fewest in nine games, but Jared Harper and Bryce Brown combined for 50 points – including 12 by Harper in the overtime period.
“That was an emphasis for us, to take them off the line and make them to finish at the rim, make tough 2s,” Travis said. “They were able to finish today. They got a little deeper than we wanted them to on those tough 2s. Instead of midrange, getting all the way to the paint and finishing at the rim.”
PJ Washington did plenty of finishing at the rim himself. He scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in just his second game back from a sprained foot that kept him out of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, playing 37 minutes.
“I just tried to go out there and give everything I had,” Washington said. “Unfortunately we came up short, but I can live with it because I gave everything. I feel like my teammates did too.”
The same can be send for the season as a whole, which saw UK respond to early-season adversity with humility and an unimpeachable work ethic. The result was a 30-win season and an incomparably close team.
“We came a long way in such a short time,” Washington said. “We had a lot of work and everybody bought into it, everybody bought into the process. Nobody complained about it and everybody just stick with each other and wanted it for each other.”
That only makes falling short more painful. Travis was feeling the temptation to dissect every one of his mistakes in the loss and how not making it could have changed everything. He knew he needed to resist.
“Right now, I’m not trying to overanalyze it because I’m the same way with every loss,” Travis said. “You lay in bed at night and you’re going to replay every play. It’s going to be vivid in my mind. Right now I’m trying to kind of enjoy these moments with my teammates. This is the last time this group’s going to be together.”
With this group, even the painful moments are precious.
“This team…what a joy it was to coach this year,” Calipari said. “I mean, I had more fun and I still challenged them, I still held them accountable. I was on guys, but I knew that they would respond and I knew that they were going to be in that gym and going to work and share and sacrifice for each other. That’s why I wish the season kept going.”
Unfortunately, it won’t go on. The bond this team built will though.
“This group is a lot,” Washington said. “I love everybody here. I appreciate everything everybody’s done for me on this team. I cherish my teammates the most.”
