Fox impressive in Kentucky debut, but John Calipari wants more defensively
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sure, Kentucky freshman point guard De’Aaron Fox raced past Stephen F. Austin’s defense all night and showed terrific vision to break Kyle Macy’s record for assists in a collegiate debut with 12, but head coach John Calipari wanted to talk a little defense after the Cats’ 87-64 win over Stephen F. Austin.
“The issue for him is defensively and rebounding,” Calipari said of Fox after the game. “I got on De’Aaron and he started rebounding at the end of the game. He ended up with four rebounds. It’s typical freshman stuff.”
Typical freshman stuff on one side of the ball, but top 10 pick potential on the other end of the floor. Fox broke an assist record that’s stood since 1977 and scored 12 points in No. 2 Kentucky’s season opener to record a double-double in his first official game.
It was an impressive debut from the Texas native, but one he can build on. Fox recorded half of his points from the free throw line and shot just 3-9 from the field on Friday night. He didn’t realize he’d broken Macy’s record until after the game, but gave credit to his teammates for making it happen.
“I know I wasn’t shooting the ball well,” Fox said. “My teammates were cutting and finishing when I was passing it to them so all the credit is to them.”
A team as talented offensively as Kentucky’s should make it easy for Fox’s assist numbers to be fantastic this season, but his game will truly take off when his defense is at a high level. It’s not as if he was a total liability on defense -- he recorded three steals in the game -- but it’s his ability to stay locked in for the full 30 seconds on defense that he must improve.
“If I’m away from the ball I do get kind of lazy,” Fox said. “I haven’t gotten backdoored yet, but if I do I feel like I’m quick enough to make up for it. When I’m off the ball I start standing up. It’s just little things that (Calipari) tells me I need to improve.”
For Fox, it’s likely not a matter of if he’ll ever get locked in fully on defense, but when. He played 30 of the game’s 40 minutes against Stephen F. Austin, but that number could go up when his defense matches the other parts of his game.
“If he catches up defensively he’ll play every minute he can be out there,” Calipari said. “But you can’t just be out there.
“He was really good today. He’s just so good with the ball. He’s long. He can finish around the goal. He’s a terrific passer. He’s special.”