Kellan Grady, right, admitted Sunday he had no impact on Saturday's loss to Tennessee. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Give Kellan Grady for rapidly admitting he let his team down in Kentucky’s 69-62 loss to Tennessee Saturday in the SEC Tournament.
“I didn’t play well. I am not running from my accountability,” Grady said Sunday after UK found out it would open NCAA Tournament play against Saint Peters in Indianapolis on Thursday. “I am not running from my accountability.
“It was beyond 1-for-8 (from the field). I didn’t have an impact on the game. I trust I will be better come Thursday.”
Grady, one of the SEC’s best 3-point shooters most of the season, is 18-for-45 overall from the field and 5-for-23 from 3-point range in the last six games since going 7-for-9 from 3-point range against Alabama on Feb. 19.
So I asked Grady Sunday night if he felt like he was in a shooting slump like UK fans believe he is?
“You can call it what you want. Yesterday (against Tennessee) was not good. The numbers the last five or six games probably suggest I’m below what I’ve been doing all year,” Grady said. “It’s up to me to take advantage of open shots and shoot them with confidence.”
Grady had just two points —off a steal — against Tennessee and was 0-for-5 from 3-point range. He was 2-for-3 from 3-point range against Vanderbilt in the SEC tourney opening game but still took only five shots.
“We didn’t play well as a team (against Tennessee) and I certainly didn’t play well,” Grady said. “It was frustrating. That was a big, high-stakes game. To kind of cripple up in a game like that was disappointing.
“It was a reality check. It was humbling for me. Here’s an opportunity to reset and hopefully shoot with confidence and make some shots going forward.”
Grady has played more minutes than any other Wildcat — he averages 32.7 minutes per game — but does not think he is worn down physically or mentally.
“I am sure we could speculate whether that is a possibility,” Grady, a Davidson transfer, said. “I have been playing 35 minutes a game my whole college career so I am not going to use that as an excuse.
“Bottom line is I shot like crap and didn’t play well. There’s nothing else to attribute that to other than my own failure.”
