Kyle Tucker

@KyleTucker_CJ

LEXINGTON, Ky. – When Skal Labissiere pulled that Lazarus act last week, bolting back to life long after his freshman season at Kentucky had been declared dead, he just kept thanking assistant coach Kenny Payne. When it comes to big men, Payne apparently has healing hands.

“I spent a lot of time with him,” Labissiere said. “He’s definitely been on my side the whole year, pushing me every day, and that’s all I can ask for. I’m very thankful for him.”

The magic usually kicks in before the final week of the regular season, but it always eventually does. When he was recruiting them, Payne gave post players Anthony Davis, Nerlens Noel, Julius Randle, Trey Lyles, Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns – all of whom became NBA lottery picks in the last four years – the same message.

“There are going to be times that I’m going to be more committed than you’re going to be, and I’m OK with it, because at the end of the day, I’m never letting go,” Payne said. “When you give me 100 percent effort, I’m going to find a way to beg for 110. It may be from me hugging you. It may be me threatening to kill you, but I’m doing it out of love. Because success is not optional.”

Labissiere really put that theory to the test this season, though. The 6-foot-11 forward with a smooth jump shot came to Kentucky hyped as another potential No. 1 overall pick, like Davis and Towns before him, but fell out of the starting lineup after 11 games and nearly disappeared altogether during Southeastern Conference play.

He averaged 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds during his first 16 league games and was widely written off as a bust. During a particularly low moment, Labissiere said something that stopped Payne in his tracks: It’s like I’m the only one who has been through this.

“And I had to take a step back and say, ‘Wow, he really doesn’t know,’” Payne said. “He didn’t recognize that Anthony Davis didn’t walk in the door just dominating. Even though Karl talked to him about it, he didn’t really understand that Karl struggled in the beginning. And as hard as he thinks (coach John Calipari) is pushing him, Cal was all over Karl Towns.”

No one remembers now that Davis jumped from 11.6 points per game through his first 13 at Kentucky to 15.4 over his final 27 and blossomed in a matter of months from a good player to one of the all-time greats who dominated the 2012 national championship game.

It’s easy to forget that Towns also surged from eight points per game through his first 20 with the Wildcats to 12.7 over his final 19 and transformed from a role player on last year’s loaded team to the guy who carried UK into the Final Four.

“So I had to explain to Skal what Anthony went through,” Payne said, “how Coach Cal told the team: ‘We are not throwing Anthony Davis the ball when there’s a defender on his back. We’re not. We’ll throw him an alley-oop, but we’re not throwing him the ball until he gets in the gym and works on hooks and jump shots and turnarounds and step-throughs and drop steps and right-hand hooks and left-hand. He’s gotta prove that.’ I had to explain to Skal the process the other great players went through.”

That process includes lots of one-on-one time with Payne, who puts Labissiere through extra 20- or 30-minute workouts before afternoon practices and again at night whenever there’s time within the NCAA-allowed 20 hours per week of training. These short sessions are legendary for both their intensity and effectiveness.

Payne, a 6-foot-8 former University of Louisville star and first-round draft pick, likes to run his big men hard before the technical work begins. He wants to know they can perform while struggling to breathe. Once their lungs are burning, he pummels them – or has them pummeled by student managers who whack them with heavy pads – while they try to grab rebounds and get off shots.

“He gives us such a mental toughness,” said Towns, who is now running away with Rookie of the Year in the pros, “that when we go to the NBA, it’s unmatched by anyone else because of everything you have to go through at Kentucky and in his private workouts.”

Payne has become the Wildcats’ post whisperer, their “secret weapon,” Towns said. Calipari came to Kentucky with a reputation for recruiting and developing elite point guards – which he has validated here with a parade of pivots that includes John Wall, Brandon Knight, Marquis Teague, Andrew Harrison and now Tyler Ulis.

But thanks in part to Payne, the Cats could also now be considered Big Man U.

“He was very valuable,” said Davis, who is now one of the five best players on the planet. “He started working with me when I first got to Kentucky on my post moves. Left hook, right hook, even my jump shot. Everything. Even now, to this day, I’ll call him – ‘What did you see? What do I need to get better at?’ – and he’s always there. That’s kind of where it all started for me, getting that post work.”

Davis calls Payne “Uncle Kenny,” and isn’t surprised that Towns and Labissiere now credit him with their development, too.

“That’s what he does. He wants people to get better,” Davis said. “Even in summertime, I go back and try to get some work in with him, because I love his workouts, and he always pushes me.”

Calipari, who would love to see the 49-year-old Payne get his first head-coaching shot soon, is quick to point out that he doesn’t just work with the big men. He’s a full-service coach – who led UK to a blowout victory at South Carolina after Calipari was ejected in fewer than three minutes – but the giants are obviously his specialty.

“He has a great relationship with these kids. He doesn’t BS them. He doesn’t tell them what they want to hear,” Calipari said. “He tells them the truth. That’s one. And two, he’s extremely hard on them. He is harder on them than I am. He accepts nothing but their best.

“We’re not here to placate. We’re not here to alibi. We’re not here to enable. We’re here to move you from Point A to Point B to Point C. We’ve done this. There’s a process to it.”

Sometimes, though, that process stalls. About a month ago – he can’t remember the exact game – Payne was sure Labissiere was on the verge of a breakthrough. He was so excited, he couldn’t keep it to himself.

“I went to the kid and I said to him, ‘Skal, tonight you’re going to have a special night,’” Payne said. “I felt it, because I saw him run, I saw him fight the workouts, fight through it even though it’s hard and he thinks he can’t go anymore. I saw him embrace the rebounding drills. I thought it was that day, that game. And I was absolutely – I can’t lie to you – I was devastated, because I expected him to get it, because I knew he’d done the work to get it, and he had a bad game.

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“That helped me realize that it’s not about what we’re doing; it’s about how he perceives it. He’ll get it, but he’s going to get it on his terms and in his time, and once he gets it and sees the success, he’ll build on it.”

That day finally came last Tuesday at Florida, when Labissiere broke out of his slump with 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds in just 15 minutes. Then he backed that up with a jaw-dropping 18 points, nine rebounds, six blocks and two assists in Saturday’s regular-season finale against LSU.

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He outplayed Ben Simmons, the Tigers’ freshman All-American with whom Labissiere was often compared before the season started. Their college experiences have since differed dramatically, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing for Kentucky’s resurgent rookie.

“I gave him an analogy: How would you feel if you walked into college basketball the way Ben Simmons did, absolutely dominating it?” Payne said. “Would you appreciate the process? By you struggling and learning and seeing that it’s not as easy as you thought it was, you should walk away from this situation knowing there’s nothing that you can’t do.”

Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Email him atktucker@courier-journal.com.

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