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At halftime Kentucky freshman Chris Livingston had not taken a shot or free throw in 12 minutes against Mississippi State.
Coach John Calipari had been upset both with his defense and rebounding much like he had been in the first half of Saturday’s loss at Georgia. But in the second half Wednesday night, Livingston played like the player many expected him to be all season.
He made three of six shots, went 6-for-6 at the foul line and scored 13 points in the 71-68 victory. He also had three of his five rebounds in the second half and another assist to give him three in the game. He also had two blocks and one steal in his 32 minutes.
“At one point (graduate assistant) Tyler Ulis came up to me and said, ‘We need to get Chris something because he has a guard on him,’” Calipari told Tom Leach on the UK Radio Network postgame show. “We ran a play that looped him into the post.
“Then he kicked one out for a 3 (to Antonio Reeves). He made a basket, hit a 3, missed one and then made a steal.”
His 13 points were one shy of his career high and he hit clutch free throws late in the game when UK was on the verge of blowing a 13-point lead in a game it had to win to stay in NCAA Tournament contention. His three steals were also a career high.
Former UK All-American Jack Givens picked Livingston — who was involved in a 10-run for UK when he scored seven points and had his assist to Reeves — as his defensive player of the game for the UK Radio Network
“When you have a player struggling as he was and it seemed for a while coach Cal had no confidence in his ability to defend and rebound but when you fight back as he did in the second half and become the factor he was you have to recognize that guy,” Givens said.
What he also did was hit a jumper from the top of the key after UK had gone over four minutes without scoring after taking a 56-43 lead. The Bulldogs had cut the lead to 56-52 when Livingston hit the shot with 4:28 to play.
Later he hustled to help keep possession for Kentucky after a Cason Wallace air ball.
When Reeves missed a 3-pointer and UK leading 66-64, it was Livingston who chased down the rebound, got fouled and hit two free throws with 8.1 seconds to go.
“He was an all-star today,” Calipari said.
2 Responses
Livingston is a solid basketball player, and this UK roster is full of really good basketball talent. That talent has never blended into a cohesive unit to play as a team. I believe that is a primary responsibility of the coaching, but I accept that the players have more than passing responsibility to become selfless members of the team, always playing for the broader good than the individual good.
I enjoyed watching Livingston take over the game on UK’s offensive end last night as he did.
The only thing that held Livingston back was Calipari’s outdated offense.