Chris Livingston is starting to remind John Calipari of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

He was a McDonald’s All-American and a top 15 national recruit but Kentucky freshman Chris Livingston admitted Saturday that there had been plenty of difficult times for him this season.

“I would be lying if I said I was just happy-go-lucky the whole time, and honestly you must be tough to go through what I went through and what a lot of players go through being at Kentucky,” Livingston said after a 66-54 win over Tennessee in Rupp Arena.

“I was just waiting for my turn. I just stayed with the process and trusted the process and look where we are now.”

Where Kentucky is now is back in position to not only be in the NCAA Tournament but perhaps have a chance to be a factor in March Madness and Livingston’s play is one reason why.

He is averaging 11.8 points and has made 16 of 29 shots from the field and five of 10 from 3-point range. He is also averaging 5.8 rebounds and over 30 minutes in the last four games. In UK’s first 23 games, he played 30 or more minutes just once.

He scored 13 points in the second half of Wednesday’s win at Mississippi State and came back with 12 points, 10 rebounds, one block and one steal against Tennessee in 36 minutes of play.

Senior Oscar Tshiebwe, last season’s national player of the year, said Livingston just had a normal learning curve.

“Coming in as a freshman, you think because you’re dominant in high school you’re going to be dominant in college. I’ve been in college for four years, you think you’re going to come in from high school and dominate me? That’s not going to happen,” Tshiebwe said.

“Chris in the beginning he struggled because they think this is going to be like high school. He figured out here you need to build muscle, you need to be a beast to compete at this level. He struggled in the beginning but now he has seen how college is, he found out he’s a beast and now he needs to go out as a beast and dominate.”

Kentucky coach John Calipari has been upset at times with Livingston’s defense and rebounding. But with injuries to Sahvir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick, Livingston had a chance to play more and he’s taken full advantage of the opportunity. However, he compared Livingston to former UK star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is now a NBA star, in both his postgame press conference and radio show.

“He reminds me a little bit of Shai. Like, really smart. Cares, like, too much. Was listening to too many voices. And building your confidence, he was doing it in practice and then you got to have a demonstrated performance in the game,” Calipari said.

“He’s now that guy. Now part of it, C.J. is out, but the way he’s playing now people coming back are going to be fighting for minutes too because he needs to be on the court.
But he’s not the only one. He’s building his own self esteem, his own confidence.”

Calipari said he had been the team’s “hardest worker” in practice and it was showing.

Livingston said with players out with injuries other players, including him, knew they had to do more.

“We all knew it was the reality. We knew we had to stay out of foul trouble, stay hydrated, and count on each other.,” Livingston said. “We knew we were going to be limited with the few injuries that we got but we knew we had to hold down the fort until our teammates come back.”

Livingston said he considers himself a smart player and that has helped him.

“It just means being able to be locked in with your teammates and the calls that they call, understanding the game plan, learning the scheme on defense and just things like that,” he said.