By Ashley Scoby
Special to NKyTribune
And the same could probably be said about Kentucky’s Aaron Harrison when he senses the danger of a potential loss. If a game is near its end, you would feel comfortable placing a bet on Harrison making some kind of a clutch play. Tuesday night in Rupp Arena against Vanderbilt was no different.
Kentucky found itself ahead by only four points, 58-54, with 2:36 to play against a feisty Vandy team. Harrison – who hadn’t scored a single point in the first half – leaped out of bounds to save an air-balled Devin Booker three-point attempt, then took Booker’s assist to nail a three-pointer and make it 61-54 with 2:09 to play.
“It’s fun to be the guy that people look to to take the big shot,” Harrison said.
He finished as Kentucky’s leading scorer, with 14 points, all of them coming in the second half. In the first 20 minutes, Harrison was 0 for 1 from the field, with one turnover and a single rebound.
Head coach John Calipari noted that Harrison was one player who didn’t come out at the beginning of the game with enough energy, so he only only played for seven minutes in the first half.
And at half time?
“I told him I love him,” Calipari said.
When asked about that conversation with Calipari, Harrison smiled and said, “I guess it’s really, really, really tough love.”
Tough love or not, Harrison found his way, going 3 of 6 from the field in the second half (2-3 from behind the arc) and 4-4 from the free-throw line.
It’s probably no coincidence that Harrison turned it on after halftime, when the Commodores had proved they were going to keep hanging around. And it’s probably even less of a coincidence that Harrison scored seven of UK’s last nine points, when the outcome could have been in doubt.
If there’s such thing as a “clutch gene,” then Harrison has it, as his UK career would attest. Poor start or not, there is something in Harrison’s mind that changes when games are near their end.
“I think it’s just part of wanting to be the guy who makes the plays and wants to win for the team,” he said. “That’s what I want to do. It’s exciting to hit the big shot and see my teammates’ reactions. That’s the best part.”
As far as those teammates go, they took a balanced approach offensively: Eight of 10 players logging minutes and scored five points or more. Only one other besides Harrison – Dakari Johnson with 10 – scored in double figures.
Somehow, none of that mattered.
“I think that what makes them the best team in the country is they can have guys have off nights,” said Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings. “They can have a poor shooting night. Their margin for error is quite substantial. I’d like to think that we tried real hard and did a good job. … They just have weapons. That’s why they’re good.”
Just consider one of those weapons extra dangerous in crunch time.
Ashley Scoby is a senior journalism major at the University of Kentucky and a sports writer for KyForward.com. She has reported on the Wildcats for wildcathoops.com, vaughtsviews.com and kysportsreport.com as well as for newspapers in Danville and Glasgow. She will join Sports Illustrated magazine as a summer intern in June.