'Completely different' Nick Richards shows up in first UK Bahamas game

Jon Hale | Courier Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption John Calipari: Nick Richards 'is not the same player' UK coach John Calipari breaks down his team's first Bahamas exhibition win.

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas – It was only fitting Nick Richards was the Kentucky player who stood out in the Wildcats’ first Bahamas exhibition game.

The Jamaica native was not quite playing at home, but it might have felt a little like it in Kentucky’s 85-61 win over the Bahamas national team.

“Playing against another Caribbean team is just a humbling feeling,” Richards said. “I wasn’t really wearing the name Jamaica on my chest, but I represent Jamaica just without wearing the name.”

Richards, who said none of his family in Jamaica was able to make the short flight to the Bahamas due to work schedules, scored a team-high 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go with three rebounds and two blocked shots in 17 minutes.

MORE: What we learned in Kentucky exhibition win over the Bahamas national team

Kentucky jumped out to a 13-0 lead largely behind Richards’ dominance. By halftime he had scored 14 points without missing a shot from the field or free-throw line.

The performance was a far cry from the version of Richards that played no more than eight minutes in any of Kentucky’s postseason games last season amid a deep slump that saw him relegated to the bench early in most games in February and March.

“Nick looks like a completely different player,” said freshman guard Tyler Herro, who watched from afar as Richards struggled down the stretch as a freshman. “What he’s doing with the ball on the inside, blocking shots, that’s a credit to him and how much hard work he’s put in over the summer and since last season. I’m really excited for him.”

Talent has never been Richards’ issue at Kentucky.

His performance against the Bahamas national team was a reminder of his most dominant showing as a freshman when he totaled 25 points and 15 rebounds in a November win over Fort Wayne. Richards would score in double digits just five more times in the final 29 games.

MORE: How to watch (or listen to) Kentucky basketball's Bahamas games

Richards scored no more than two points in any of Kentucky’s last 10 games and was held scoreless three times in that stretch.

UK coach John Calipari has pointed to a lack of confidence as Richards’ chief problem.

“I keep saying the same thing, which is if things don’t go well it’s not last year,” Calipari said. “You’re way better.”

Like Richards did after the Fort Wayne game, Calipari credited noted sports psychologist Bob Rotella for helping build the sophomore 7-footer’s confidence. Richards said he now speaks to Rotella close to once a week for 30 to 40 minutes.

“He’s just a guy that tries to help you try to find the positive things in life,” Richards said. “You can have like 10 turnovers and he still tries to tell you what the positive is about that.”

Richards’ improved confidence was evident in a pre-Bahamas trip practice open to the media a week ago, but performing in practice and showing up in nationally televised games, even an exhibition, are different tasks.

“It’s not really like a moment where it just clicked,” Richards said. “It’s a thing that just gradually gets better and better throughout practice and every day. The confidence level, it’s not really where I want it to be. It’s always going to get better."

BACKGROUND: Meet Bob Rotella, the man who helps Calipari figure out his Cats

Despite starting all 37 games as a freshman, Richards’ late-season slump had relegated him to fourth in most projections of the intense battle for minutes at UK’s post positions.

Classmate PJ Washington might be the Wildcats’ best player after turning down the NBA draft to return to school. Freshman forward EJ Montgomery was the highest-rated recruit in Kentucky’s latest batch of five-star signees. Graduate transfer Reid Travis twice earned All-Pac 12 honors at Stanford and also tested the NBA draft waters this spring.

In his quest for more confidence, Richards is trying not to get too far ahead of himself. He knows one positive exhibition game won’t end all the doubts, both external and internal.

Perhaps that’s why he shies away from a question about being the forgotten man in the post rotation.

“I wasn’t feeling that,” Richards said. “I was just trying to play a role that was successful for the team. I didn’t really notice people were saying that, to be honest. I was just trying to play my role on the team, doing what coaches tell me to do.”

Jon Hale: jahale@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @JonHale_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jonh.