John Calipari gives Immanuel Quickley a catchy slogan for SEC Player of the Year campaign
By SDS Staff
Published:
Kentucky’s Immanuel Quickley was the most productive player on the floor Saturday night in Rupp Arena ad No. 10 Kentucky held off Florida for a 65-59 victory. The Wildcats and Gators were tied 31-31 at the half. Quickley exploded for 22 of his career-high 26 points in the second half.
The performance had UK coach John Calipari answering questions about whether Quickley is deserving of the SEC Player of the Year honor. Cal weighed in, offering a catchy slogan for Quickley’s campaign.
“Yeah, he needs to have… you ready? I’m with IQ. I mean, he’s playing,” Calipari told reporters at his postgame press conference. “You know, he’s playing.”
Kentucky’s social media team jumped on “I’m with IQ.”
Smart answer … #ImWithIQ pic.twitter.com/XJ0CPbZNU6
— Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 23, 2020
Calipari deserves a lot of credit for Quickley’s big second half. The coach revealed he threatened to pull Quickley for not taking certain shots.
“But in the first half he dribbled past three or four shots, and that’s why I grabbed him at halftime,” Calipari told the media. “I said, If you don’t shoot open shots I’m putting Johnny in, because I know he will shoot every shot.
“You don’t, and if you miss them, get in the gym tonight. I don’t know what to tell you. But you can’t be a team that wants to play deep into March and have guys passing up wide-open shots to take a tough shot because they want it to look harder in case I miss. If I miss I kind of get embarrassed, so — you can’t have that mindset, and today we didn’t.”
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
