Photo by UK Athletics
Freshman Tyler Herro is realistic about how his defense has improved this season — in part because it could not have got much worse. “Once I started playing better on defense, then my offense did get better just like Coach (John Calipari) said it would,” Herro said. “At the beginning of the season I couldn’t guard anybody and now I think I am a pretty good defender. I just have to continue to build on that.
“Defense is about pride and having more heart so you don’t get beat one on one. The coaches have helped me a lot watching film and learning about angles. (Assistant) Coach (Tony) Barbee has helped me a lot.”
Herro’s defense will be on display in the NCAA Tournament. Kentucky is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and opens play Thursday night at 7:10 on CBS-TV against Abilene Christian in Jacksonville. If UK advances, it will play the Seton Hall-Wofford winner on Saturday in another game that likely will be on CBS because of UK’s seeding and national brand.
Herro came to UK with a reputation as a shooter/scorer. He’s averaging 14.2 points per game with a team-high 57 3-pointers. He has a team-best 27 double-figure scoring games and is on pace to break the UK single season record at the foul line where he’s hitting 94 percent.
Still, turning Herro into a reliable defender is one reason UK became a better team the second half of the season. Auburn coach Bruce Pearl says it’s not always that hard to convince a shooter to pay more attention to defense.
“If you want to win and if you want to get paid (for playing in the NBA), those are two strong arguments,” Pearl said for a shooter becoming a better defender.
Pearl knows plenty about Herro because of his time coaching at Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He did not actively recruit Herro, who originally committed to home-state Wisconsin before flipping to UK, but friends told him plenty about the talented guard.
“I knew about him but I just thought he was out of our league just from a standpoint of that I knew how good he was and Wisconsin and Marquette were going in on him,” the Auburn coach said during the SEC Tournament last week in Nashville. ” It didn’t surprise me at all to see Kentucky go get him. He is an amazing competitor. He is big, strong and athletic. Way more talented than people give him credit for and I am really happy for his success.”
Pearl is not the least bit surprised by what Herro has done offensively.
“It’s not a surprise what he has done but he got better. John (Calipari) put him in good positions to be successful. He wasn’t as effective early. He wasn’t as bought in. He progressed through the system,” Pearl said. “The fact that he has done this doesn’t surprise me because of the talent but he grew as a player and accepted the coaching. Right now he is very, very comfortable for them and can really impact a game.”
In the last 15 games, Herro has been in double figures 14 times. He’s 77 of 153 from the field (51 percent) and 25 of 59 from 3-point range (42 percent). He’s gone 38 of 39 at the foul line and had eight straight games with four or more rebounds, including 13 one game, before managing just three in Saturday’s loss to Tennessee.
“I really should have been like this the whole season,” Herro said. “I just wasn’t confident like I should have been. I put in the work and my coaches and teammates put me in good positions. But now it’s March and anything can happen like we saw against Tennessee (when UK blew an eight-point lead in the final three minutes). You have to play every game like it could be your last because we know we are going to play some great teams in the NCAA. If we want to win, we just have to be ready for anything and take nothing for granted.”
