Kentucky Basketball: Ashton Hagans emerging at right time for Wildcats
Kentucky Basketball took care of business against Georgia. But what Ashton Hagans did in the game should make Wildcats fans very optimistic going forward.
It was a pretty solid all-around game for Kentucky Basketball on Tuesday night, winning on the road at Georgia 68-48. The Wildcats held the Bulldogs to 4/27 shooting from three-point range and limited their starting backcourt to just seven combined points on 2/14 shooting overall.
It was literally the worst game of Keldon Johnson‘s career, going scoreless for the night on 0/6 shooting in 27 minutes. But it was okay, because besides the great team defense, someone else came though for the Wildcats on the offensive end.
Coming into the season, freshman Ashton Hagans was part of a three-headed perimeter monster for Kentucky, alongside Quade Green and Immanuel Quickley. But throughout the non-conference, all struggled to get things going, not having defined roles and rotations. It was cleared up when Green decided to transfer out of the program to Washington, making the ball handling situation much easier for the team to deal with.
And ever since then, Hagans has gone off He’s scored in double figures in every game (0 times before Green leaving), including 18 points, four assists and five steals in a win over Texas A&M last week. Then came tonight, where for the first time this season, he completely took over on offense for the Wildcats.
Hagans took 18 total shots (eight more than the next highest) and finished with a season-high 23 points in 35 minutes played. He’s eclipsed the 30-minute plateau in the past two weeks and has solidified his role as a key clog on the team.
For Kentucky fans, the hope is that Hagans goes on the same kind of run that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had last season around this time, elevating to become the most important player on the team besides Kevin Knox. In turned the Wildcats from a good team to a legit threat in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
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The next few games are brutal for Kentucky Basketball, with games against Auburn, Mississippi State and Kansas (all ranked currently) coming up. But with an improving Hagans coming into his own, he Wildcats are more than capable of winning any of those battles.