Kentucky Basketball: Aaron Harrison, Mr. Clutch

Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

As much as I despise ESPN’s resident huckster, Skip Bayless, I do believe in one of his theories: that of the “clutch gene.” Some players just have the ability perform at their best when the stakes are highest. There are players that, when the game is on the line, you want the ball in their hands because as a fan you feel confident that they will make the play. On this year’s edition of the University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball Team has its own Mr. Clutch, Aaron Harrison.

By now, everyone inside and outside of the Big Blue Nation knows of Harrison’s exploits during the 2014 NCAA Tournament. He hit gamewinning shots against rival Louisville, Michigan and Wisconsin to help the Cats advance to the 2014 NCAA Title game, saving what could have been a disastrous season. With the game on the line, he took and made the biggest shots of his career. And we all rejoiced.

Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

With this year’s team, head coach John Calipari started using the platoon system. With a near embarrassment of talent, Coach Cal devised a system that would let him play his top 10 players and equally divide the playing time minutes. Even with the injury to Alex Poythress, Dominique Hawkins has rotated into the starting lineup to maintain the integrity of the platoon system. But, the question remains, when the games get tight, what lineup are we going to see on the floor for the Cats?

Against Louisville, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, Cal has shown which players he has trust in when the game is in the balance. So far, it appears to be that the Harrisons (Andrew and Aaron) and Willie Cauley-Stein appear to be the constants. With the Texas A&M game as the outlier, all three have performed very well helping the Wildcats remain undefeated. And Aaron has been at the forefront, making plays to win the games and not just making the big time shots.

Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Against Louisville, the offense was stagnant against the Cardinal zone as the Kentucky lead narrowed in the second half. Aaron began attacking the zone on the bounce, driving toward the rim to get into the paint and forcing the zone to react and create openings for other players. On one drive in particular, he drove from the right side, stopped just short of the lane and threw a pass to Tyler Ulis for a wide open, back breaking three.

Last night, against Vanderbilt, Aaron was scoreless in the first half. As the Commodores proved that they wouldn’t go away, the Cats went with lineup of Ulis, the Harrisons, WCS and Kary-Anthony Towns. Aaron scored 9 of Kentucky’s last 11 points, with Andrew adding the other two, to finish with a team high 14 points. Aaron hit a three from the left corner (*side note: why do teams leave him open on the left side?) and attacked the basket to help the Cats pull out another victory.

I’m sure there’s not another player in the country that I’d want to take a shot with the game on the line. I have nothing but absolute confidence in Aaron Harrison. As this season progresses, he’s showing us that not only can he hit clutch shots, but he can make the all around basketball plays when the game is hanging in the balance. As the Wildcats continue their journey toward title no. 9, it’s good to know that we’ve got a stone cold killer wearing Blue and White.