Archie Goodwin (Vicky Graff Photo)
Former Kentucky guard DeAndre Liggins, a member of UK’s 2010 Elite Eight team and 2011 Final Four team, is now 37 years old but La Familia general manager Twany Beckham says not to worry about what kind of impact he can make in The Basketball Tournament.
“When you see DeAndre, he looks like he’s 25,” Beckham said. “DeAndre is one of those guys who works his butt off. He still looks like he did when we were teammates, and he’s still actively playing (overseas). He’s in shape.”
Beckham felt that La Familia needed more toughness this season even though it reached the TBT Final Four last summer.
“DeAndre has got what you can’t teach, and that’s just the will and that dog to play defense and do all the little things on the court that don’t show up in the box score,” Beckham said. “I’m excited to have him. He’s hungry to get back to play in front of our fan base again and I’m excited to have him.”
Beckham is also excited to have former UK guard Archie Goodwin, the leading scorer on UK’s 2012-13 team, back. Goodwin played in the TBT last year but not for La Familia.
“He was always one guy I really really liked a lot about his game,” Beckham said. “Archie was pretty interesting. We saw Archie, playing on a different team last year in Philadelphia, and he was one of the probably top five TBT players last year.”
Beckham was able to connect and reached a “mutual understanding” with Goodwin about possibly playing for La Familia this year.
“We had a kind of a mutual understanding that we would at least give ourself the opportunity to have a conversation before he committed anywhere this year,” Beckham said. “So we got on the phone in and he was all about it.
“He wanted to come back to Lexington. I don’t think he’s been back since he left (in 2013), and I’m excited to have him. He’s excited to get here to Lexington and play in front of our fans again.”
