Quickley’s Shooting Helping Transform Cats
Play had been blown dead after a foul and Immanuel Quickley was just messing around.
He faded away on a deep 3 from the right wing, drawing awed reactions from the crowd as the shot swished perfectly.
That’s just how good the sophomore guard is feeling right now.
“It feels like I’m in my gym back home and I’m shooting every shot,” Quickley said. “I feel like the rim’s a wide-open ocean.”
Quickley stayed hot on Saturday in scoring a game-high 19 points in a 76-67 victory for No. 14/13 Kentucky (12-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) over Alabama (8-7, 1-2 SEC). Over a UK winning streak that now stands at four games, Quickley has scored at least 15 points in each game and averaged 18.8 points coming off the bench.
“He’s also becoming a better leader and just believing in himself more and just playing the role that we need,” said Ashton Hagans, who nearly had a triple-double with 15 points, nine assists and nine rebounds.
No points were more important than Quickley’s last five, when he buried a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws in back-to-back final-minute possessions to seal the win for UK. The 3 came on a called in-bounds play out of a timeout to beat the shot clock to extend UK’s lead to seven, showing just how much faith John Calipari has in his sharpshooter.
“We knew we were going to run something like that,” Calipari said. “And then when I called timeout, and you’re the guy shooting the ball, and then I ice you. I ice you, and you’re my guy. And he still makes it.”
As UK lost three of its first 11 games, concerns arose about whether the Cats had sufficient outside shooting to live up to their preseason billing. Quickley seems bound and determined to answer that on his own. After making 5 of 6 from deep against Alabama to headline UK’s 9 for 15 performance as a team, Quickley has made 14 of 23 treys over his last four games to raise his percentage on the season to .419.
For Calipari, there’s no mystery about the reason behind Quickley’s success.
“He’s a confident kid, and what he does, he spends so much time in the gym, he expects to make them,” Calipari said. “If you know you’re not 100%, you’re not spending the time you can, you still look in the mirror. And if you’re giving 80% and then you get in the game and it doesn’t play out for you, you know, he’s—the kid lives in the gym.”
Quickley’s work involves time in the gym until as late as midnight with classes out of session. During the school year, he regularly wakes up at 6 a.m. to get work out. And of late, he has taken to watching film of Tyler Herro, recognizing his role is similar to the one the current Miami Heat star played last year.
“Really, I’ve been doing it all my life,” Quickley said. “Nothing’s changed. Shots are just starting to fall right now, which is a good thing. Hopefully I can keep it going. I feel like every shot is going in that I take. My teammates are finding me in great spots, coach is putting me in great position to be successful and I hope I can keep doing that.”
Considering Quickley’s makeup, his approach doesn’t figure to change. That’s good news for a Kentucky team playing its best in the midst of Quickley’s emergence.
“With him shooting like that, this is a completely different team,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “I watch a lot of college basketball and I’m a big college basketball fan, so even if we’re not playing or have a scout I’m in the middle of I’ll put a game on and watch. I saw them play early in the year against Michigan State. If he shoots 5 of 6 from 3, I don’t know who’s better than him in the country.”
????@IQ_GodSon rn in his own words: “Steaming hot. If you touch me, you might burn.” ??#BBN #TGT pic.twitter.com/61pnprWR9B
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 14, 2020
