Nick Richards is rewarding Cal’s confidence in him

It’s been a slow process, but Nick Richards is starting to show marked improvement for the Kentucky basketball team.

I’ll admit it, I was overly critical of Nick Richards earlier this season. I called him a liability for the Kentucky basketball team earlier in the season. However, it now appears that John Calipari considers Richards to be a valuable member of this team going forward.

When the Wildcats kicked off conference play, Nick Richards played a grand total of 3 minutes against the Georgia Bulldogs. In those 3 minutes he logged 1 turnover and 2 personal fouls. That’s not the type of stat line that’s going to impress many people.

In the following seven games versus SEC opponents, Richards averaged 16 minutes per contest. In those 16 minutes, he put up 5.2 points and 4.3 rebounds. Those numbers still are not eye-catching and the Wildcats were 4-3 during that stretch.

Over the last 4 games, Richards has played 17 minutes per game and averaged 6.8 points and 6 rebounds. Granted, that’s not a huge leap forward, but considering where Richards was to where he is now, that is a marked improvement for the freshman.

Let’s not forget that one of the Kentucky basketball programs’ best big men had a slow start to his career. Willie Cauley-Stein averaged only 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds during his freshman campaign, and that was in 7 more minutes of playing time per game.

For my money, Richards has played two of his best games of the season the past two weeks. Against West Virginia, Richards had 9 points and 8 rebounds, including the game-sealing putback dunk late in the game. He also stepped up big last night in the loss to Tennessee.

John Calipari obviously noticed Richards’ effort last night. His effort was not only felt on the offensive side of the ball, but on the defensive side as well. The rejection on Grant Williams’ attempted dunk that led to a Quade Green layup on the other end got all of Big Blue Nation to their feet.

Nick Richards may not be living up to the lofty expectations that BBN has for their highly recruited big men, but he’s showing increased effort and improvement on both ends of the floor. The fact that Richards was on the court late in the second half with the game on the line, shows you the confidence Cal has in him.