By Keith Taylor
Special to NkyTribune
Dominique Hawkins spent the first three years of his career at Kentucky competing against Andrew and Aaron Harrison, Tyler Ulis and Devin Booker. The senior guard simply hopes the experience translates into more playing time this season.
Looking back on his first three seasons, Hawkins said the experience has been “pretty unbelievable.”
“I’ve played with a lot of guys who are now playing professionally and have had incredible years,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be able to play with guys like that and be a part of a team that went to Final Fours and championships.”
During his career, Hawkins has played on two Final Four teams, including the school’s national runner-up team in 2014. A year ago, Hawkins was hampered by injuries, which limited his production. Although a hand injury to open the season set him back, Hawkins came back and connected on a career-high three 3-pointers and 13 points to lead the Wildcats past rival Louisville last December.nHe missed seven games because of an ankle sprain last January, but has since fully recovered and is back better than ever.
Going into his final season with the Wildcats, Hawkins has noticed and overall difference in his skill level and has gained more confidence, especially in transition and on the perimeter.
“I feel like I’ve gotten so much better than I was,” Hawkins said. “My freshman year I remember that I wasn’t confident at all offensively. Now this year I’m attacking the basket and shooting shots.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari has taken note of Hawkins’ improvement, especially on the offensive end of the court.
“Dom’s going every day to get better,” Calipari said. “There are times where he’s doing something and the guy will score anyway, and he looks at me, then he’ll go score on the guy. And he’s even getting to where he talks a little bit, which is not his nature, but he does. It’s good stuff.”
A noted defender, Hawkins has struggled to keep pace with the newcomers in practice, especially Malik Monk. Hawkins said Monk “can score in multiple ways and does it with ease.”
“They all gave me fits in practice,” Hawkins said. “Right now Malik is giving me a lot of trouble. This is the first time that I’ve guarded a guy and I’ve actually said it’s hard to stop him because he can score in multiple ways. Right now I’m going to say Malik.”
Although the team’s offense is expected to be an improvement over last year’s squad, especially in the post, Hawkins said the Wildcats have put a premium on defense during the first half of preseason workouts.
“Coach has put in our head we have to emphasize defense,” Hawkins said. “When we go to defensive drills we battle against each other to make each other better. There’s been this one-on-one drill we’ve been doing (where) you can’t let a guy score on you three times. We’ve basically been competing so hard at that. It’s been fun doing it as well.”
At the end of the day, Hawkins said defense will be the team’s main staple, a trait the senior guard has been comfortable with throughout his collegiate career.
“As you see with this team, we should be known for defense. We have the size, the length and the speed. Defense is what wins championships. If we have a great defense that’s what’s going to take us there.”
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter