John Calipari Won’t Bench Struggling Andrew Harrison

Kentucky’s Andrew Harrison has struggled during his sophomore campaign in Lexington. After a solid freshman year, Harrison has not lived up to expectations in 2014-15. His scoring, rebounding field goal percentage, three point percentage and free throw percentage are all down from last year, and some UK fans are clamoring for freshman Tyler Ulis to take over the starting point guard job. However, Wildcats coach John Calipari told reporters that he’s sticking with the sophomore.

From ESPN:

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.