UK sticks with Andrew Harrison

ByMyron Medcalf ESPN logo
Monday, January 12, 2015

Despite a strong showing by Tyler Ulis on Saturday, Kentucky Wildcats coach John Calipari said Monday that he will continue to start Andrew Harrison at point guard.

Ulis finished with zero turnovers in 28 minutes and hit a crucial 3-pointer in the second overtime of No. 1 Kentucky's 70-64 win at Texas A&M on Saturday.

"We've got a good group of kids, man," Calipari said during Monday's SEC media teleconference in response to a question about Ulis. "They've all stepped up at different times. They've all played bad at times, yet the team covered for them. It was like the game at Mississippi. I couldn't have Tyler in at the end. ... I'm fine with where our team is."

After five consecutive weeks of being the nation's unanimous No. 1 team, the Wildcats lost two first-place votes to No. 2 Virginia in the latest AP Top 25 poll released Monday.

In Kentucky's past five games, Ulis has gone 11-for-28 from the field while producing 26 assists and just four turnovers (zero in the last three games).

During the same stretch, Harrison has gone 9-for-35 from the field with 27 assists and 15 turnovers.

The latter's struggles, however, will not alter Calipari's platoon rotation, the coach said.

But he added that he has some questions about his squad that will be addressed in Monday's team meetings.

"Have we lost our edge? Have we lost our swagger?" Calipari said. "Have we lost a little bit of our focus? ... And the question becomes, how do we get it back? And if we lost it, what are the reasons that we lost it?

"We're not exactly where we were, and that's all good because I don't want us to be like it's March right now."

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