Davion Mintz's recent hot streak a result of rediscovered confidence

Davion Mintz is currently playing his best stretch of basketball this season.

The graduate student was a holdover from Kentucky’s forgettable run in 2020-21, but he was a player that every single member of the Big Blue Nation was glad to have back. His role has seen a decline this year compared to last, although it’s greatly benefitted Kentucky as more talent surrounds him. That’s resulted in Mintz taking a step back, which took some time for him to adjust.

Mintz wasn’t playing poorly to start the 2021-22 campaign by any means–coming off the bench as UK’s “sixth starter”–but the shots weren’t always falling on a consistent basis. He scored five in the opener against Duke, 13 against Robert Morris, a goose egg against Mount St. Mary’s, and then a 12-point outing against Ohio.

Unfortunately, a poorly-timed illness would knock Mintz out of the lineup for over two weeks. When he finally came back, the lingering effects of the time away from the floor took a while to shake off. When Mintz finally returned following a three-game absence, he shot 9-35 (25.7 percent) overall in the next five games, including 5-23 (21.7 percent) from beyond the arc.

Mintz was in his head, battling his own mental. But he knew that his cold streak wouldn’t last forever. Similar to what his UK teammate Kellan Grady was going through earlier in the season, it was a matter of knowing that the hard work would pay off eventually. They’re too good of shooters to miss for that long of a period.

The last three games for Mintz? 10 points against High Point, 16 against LSU, and a season-high 19 against Georgia on Saturday night. He shot 16-30 during that span on an 8-18 clip from deep. It wasn’t just scoring the ball though. Mintz continued to play with high energy and his usual intensity on defense, something that has never left his game no matter how poorly he’s shooting the ball.

“Davion was outstanding,” Calipari said postgame. “And I know you’re saying ‘Well he made shots’. No. He defended, he came up with balls, he tried to take charges, he flew.

“I told him. He was outstanding. He only had one turnover. There was one play he made, he passed up a shot and drove into a bad shot. And I jumped him, ‘Shoot the ball! If it doesn’t go we’ll rebound, we can’t rebound your bad shot!'”

Mintz has been notably more aggressive in the last few games, particularly when it comes to attacking the rim. He was the sole reason Kentucky had a chance to beat LSU down the stretch, effectively playing point guard as Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington were both out. Against Georgia, he was back to playing off the ball alongside Washington, who was more than willing to share the love.

With every made shot at the basket, Mintz’s confidence has continued to build.

“I think it was more of a mental thing for me,” Mintz said of his cold stretch. “Just kinda getting the groove back, getting to my spots again, and then honestly just confidence. Knowing that I’m a shooter and the team, the coaches, the people that matter don’t care how much I miss, they just want me to keep shooting. And then once I felt the encouragement and really just gained my confidence back and saw a few go in, that’s my turning point. I knew that it was going to turn around for me and Coach (Calipari) did as well.”

After the game, Mintz was incredibly proud of himself for his performance, as he should be. His time at Kentucky has never been what he expected when first transferring from Creighton, but it’s moments like these that make it all worth it.

“It can’t rain forever,” Mintz said. “The sun has to come out eventually.”