Olivier Sarr with one of his blocked shots at Mississippi State. (SEC Photo)
With Kentucky coach John Calipari watching the game on his phone from the locker room after getting ejected and UK’s season on the line, UK assistant coach Bruiser Flint made a potential season-saving decision at Mississippi State. Late in the game and both overtimes he kept five-star recruits Brandon Boston and Isaiah Jackson on the bench where another five-star recruit, Terrence Clarke, was also because he was out with an injury.
Instead, Flint rode the hot hand of Dontaie Allen, Devin Askew, Davion Mintz, Lance Ware and Olivier Sarr and got a desperately needed victory to end a six-game losing skid and start Southeastern Conference play 1-0.
Today I asked Flint what he hoped Boston and Jackson might have learned watching the way the team fought and played to win. He had the right answer.
“I think we all learned,” Flint said. “We just went with the guys playing well at the time. That group was playing well together.”
But he also made one other significant comment about what happened.
“Those guys were great on the bench. That was the biggest thing,” Flint said. “They were great with the other players. At the end, we just wanted to win the game. We have lost some tough games. That is what it is all about. They understood we wanted to win.”
Watching on TV it certainly looked like Boston, Jackson and others on the bench were fully engaged and cheering for teammates just like UK fans were doing as they watched Allen, who was named SEC freshman of the week today, go off and Kentucky buckle down on defense.
“We have had some great practices. We just need some results,” Flint said. “In the huddle all we talked about was winning the game. Guys just wanted to see results of hard work we have been putting in.”
Flint said Boston is putting in the work to get better even if his offensive numbers do not indicate that. He leads the team in scoring at 13.6 points per game but is 40 of 111 (36 percent) from the field and 5-for-33 (15.2 percent) from 3-point range. He has 17 turnovers and just 10 assists. He is second on the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.
“His overall game has been better for the things we are asking him to do,” Flint said. “He is just not making shots. He’s played better defensively, done rebounding that we asked him to do. His communication has been better.
“I just hope he can have a breakout game and make some baskets. A lot of the other things we have been asking him to do, he has been doing better. Rebounding a little bit more. Not turning the ball over.”
Flint said he understands media — and fans — look at shots made and maybe not everything else a player is doing.
“I just hope he can knock shots down because he has been working at it,” Flint said.