TyTy Washington on league play, sustained offense, COVID, and more

TyTy Washington made his first public appearance as SEC Freshman of the Week on Tuesday, one of two Kentucky Basketball players handpicked to face the media. Washington and Jacob Toppin opened for John Calipari to form a three-man press conference to preview Kentucky’s Wednesday game against Missouri.

With the first Southeastern Conference game ahead, Washington turned to backcourt-mate Sahvir Wheeler for advice on adjusting to league play. Wheeler, an All-SEC point guard, told the freshman to brace for the physicality around the conference.

“He told me to expect it to get physical and be ready because these games are very important,” Washington said, “not only for us but the opponent we’re playing as well. He said everybody is going to try to step up their game to the next level.”

Wheeler knows firsthand what it’s like for an SEC team to see Kentucky on the schedule. He of course led Georgia to a surprise victory over Kentucky in Athens last season. Now Wheeler is with Washington in Kentucky’s backcourt trying to fend off SEC teams trying to pull off that same upset, starting with Missouri tonight.

On Kentucky’s identity

Team swagger was another hot topic in Tuesday’s press conference, in addition to the start of SEC play. Washington admitted the team took a while to find its swagger and the team’s identity.

What is Kentucky’s identity? The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker asked Washington to define it.

Washington replied, “We’re a defensive team who likes to get and run. I know we’re a fast team. We want to score a lot of easy buckets so we know that’s going to start on the defensive side of the ball. We feel like the harder we play on defense, the more we pick up and get into guys’ legs, the easier our offense will be for and easier to get out in transition a whole lot. That plays to our advantage. We try to get out and run as much as we can.”

On keeping up the offensive pace

Washington scored 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field in Kentucky’s 35-point win over Western Kentucky. It’s why he has the SEC Freshman of the Week trophy. The weekend before his 20-piece, Kentucky beat North Carolina by 28 in Las Vegas. Washington believes the aggressive pace can continue.

“We can sustain this offense,” he said. “Everybody sees what Oscar’s doing. Everybody knows Oscar is going to get baskets at the end of the day.”

But here lately, Washington revealed, “we’ve been moving the ball, practicing how to play with one another, moving the ball, running, spacing–spacing is huge for us—and finding other ways to score the basketball besides giving it to Oscar.

“And we started making shots.”

Making shots helps.

On COVID concerns

Asked about the growing COVID concerns around college basketball and how it affects the players’ mindsets, Washington said COVID keeps his mind busy at home, but it’s only basketball between the lines.

“I think about COVID a lot,” he said. “It changed everything. It changed the entire world. When I’m in my room, I think about little stuff like that.

‘But from a basketball standpoint, I’m vaccinated, so is our whole program. We got the boosters. When we’re out there on the court, (basketball) is our main focus. We did what we had to do to stay as safe as possible.”

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